In Which We Discuss War and Peace, Part 11 Chapter 19

Chapter 19

We're back to a broad view of the war.  Kutuzov orders the army to retreat through Moscow on the 1st of September, and they leave immediately.  By 10am, the majority of the army has passed through, and, at that same moment, Napoleon is standing on a hill gazing out over Moscow, which has been having some lovely autumn weather.

From a distance, Napoleon feels the Moscow-vibe that every Russian experiences as his or her mother, but every foreigner experiences as a 'feminine character'.  Napoleon thinks of her as a maiden and calls for a map to be brought so he can plan his ravishing.  He also refers to Moscow as 'asiatic' or 'oriental', which calls to mind a long-running annoyance of mine.  Namely, that, in the US, 'Asian' is colloquially used to refer only to east Asia, which is not accurate, and isn't even how it's used formally in the US.  It has lead to some Americans - several over multiple years - to insist that I am not Asian, despite having ancestry (grandparents) from Asia, specifically India.  This annoys me.  It is rude, stupid, and inaccurate.  The specific bit I'm recalling, however, is one person who claimed "you wouldn't call Russian Asian, would you?".  I'm quite pleased to have discovered that some people do.

Napoleon is happily planning to himself about how magnanimous he'll be when he is King of Russia when he's suddenly struck by doubts that this could really be happening.  This cycle repeats a few times.  I suspect it's to show us just how big a deal the capture of Moscow is to Napoleon, and also how pompous he is.  Finally, the news comes that Moscow has been abandoned.  Napoleon's agents are reluctant to tell him this because he'll be so disappointed not to have the battle he appears to be planning for, since he's been doing his daydreaming in front of the giant map of Moscow.  Eventually, they tell him and the French begin to move into Moscow.