title: Cheryl (singer)

text: On 4 June 2012, Cheryl performed a duet with Gary Barlow at the Diamond Jubilee Concert, which was organised and created by Barlow as part of the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II and watched by millions worldwide. In 2012, Cheryl returned to "The X Factor UK" as an assistant for Barlow at the judges' houses stage to help him select his contestants for the live shows of the competition. In November 2012, she was handed her own documentary entitled "Cheryl: Access All Areas", which attracted 811,000 viewers on ITV2 and 177,000 on +1.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: In November 2012, after months of speculation, Girls Aloud reunited for the group's 10th anniversary. On 18 November, they released their comeback single, "Something New", which was also the official charity single for "Children in Need 2012". The single peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. The group released their second greatest hits compilation, "Ten", on 26 November 2012. The second single taken from "Ten", "Beautiful 'Cause You Love Me", was released on 17 December. A documentary entitled "" aired on ITV1 on 15 December and attracted 2.3 million viewers, a 10.5% share of the audience. In 2013, the group embarked on . In March 2013, following the completion of the tour, Girls Aloud released a statement to confirm that they were splitting permanently.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: In June 2014, Cheryl debuted the first single from her fourth studio album "Only Human", "Crazy Stupid Love", which features Tinie Tempah. Later in the month, she performed at Capital FM's Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium. "Crazy Stupid Love" was officially released in July and entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, selling 118,000 copies. It became Cheryl's fourth number one single on the chart, making her the third British female artist to achieve four numbers ones as a solo artist, after Geri Halliwell and Rita Ora. The song also peaked at number one in Ireland. The second single from "Only Human", "I Don't Care", was released on 2 November and similarly to its predecessor debuted at number one in the UK, becoming Cheryl's fifth number one in the country. This made her the first British female to have five solo number one singles in the UK, and she held the record for the British female solo artist with the most UK number-one singles until Jess Glynne overtook her in 2018. "Only Human" was released on 10 November and became Cheryl's fourth solo album to debut within the top 10 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was later certified silver in the UK. The album's title track was released as its third and final single in March 2015. The song, which originally peaked at number 70 as an album cut in October 2014, failed to reach the top 100 on the UK Singles Chart upon the single's release, therefore becoming Cheryl's lowest-charting single to date.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: In 2014, the singer also returned as a judge on the UK show of "The X Factor" for its eleventh series to replace Sharon Osbourne, signing a £1.5 million contract. She was joined by Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Mel B on the judging panel. She was again selected to mentor the girls category, with her final act Lauren Platt coming fourth. In 2015, Cheryl returned to "The X Factor" for its twelfth series; she was joined by Cowell and new judges Ora and Nick Grimshaw. She was selected to mentor the groups category for the first time and her last remaining group Reggie 'n' Bollie reached the final finishing in second place. Cheryl announced her departure from "The X Factor" in April 2016, choosing to focus on her music career and was replaced by Osbourne. She appeared in the fourteenth series as Cowell's adviser during the judges' houses stage.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: In July 2018, Cheryl stated that her fifth studio album was "pretty much finished", and revealed that she worked on the record with Naughty Boy and her former bandmate Nicola Roberts with whom she co-wrote every song. Later that year, Cheryl signed with 3 Beat to release new music, and announced that she would release a series of singles before releasing a full-length album. The first single, "Love Made Me Do It", was released in November 2018. Upon its release, Cheryl hinted in an interview with "The Guardian" that if her new material were to underperform she would retire from music. Cheryl's comeback was met with intense media scrutiny, and the single failed to make an impact in the charts peaking at number 19 in the UK and number 32 in Ireland. Her performance of the song on the fifteenth series of "The X Factor UK" was widely criticised in the media, with viewers arguing that its "overtly sexual nature" was "inappropriate" for pre-watershed television. The follow-up single, "Let You", was released in May 2019 and peaked at number 57 in the UK.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: Cheryl began serving as a dance captain on the BBC One dance competition "The Greatest Dancer", which premiered on 5 January 2019. In 2020, she returned for its second series, and later that year, BBC One said there were no plans to continue the show. She played music manager Coco Rayne in Sky Cinema's 2020 adaptation of the novel "Four Children and It" titled "Four Kids and It". In August 2021, Cheryl launched a 12-part podcast about R&B music titled "You, Me & R&B with Cheryl" on BBC Sounds, which drew criticism for not being hosted by a black artist.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: After having released no music since 2019 with the release of the single "Let You", Naughty Boy revealed in September 2021 that Cheryl had been working on new music with him and Roberts, stating "Me, Cheryl and Nicola put a few songs together. They're really incredible songs, but it depends when Cheryl is ready to release it. There's definitely an album there. You can't force these things. Cheryl is a real artist. She's not one of those artists you can force."


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: On 7 December 2022, it was announced that Cheryl would be playing Jenny in the West End play "" at the Lyric Theatre from 28 January to 23 April 2023. In a press release, Cheryl explained "I am really excited to be taking part in what is such a new challenge for me. I have always loved and been a big fan of theatre so I'm especially excited to be playing the role of Jenny in this production of 2:22. It is a brilliant role and subject matter with a very interesting plot! Danny Robins is such an intriguing character which is evident throughout this play and his style of writing has an odd sense of familiarity to me, being a fellow Geordie! I look forward to working with Matthew and the other cast members and can't wait to get going."


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: As a member of Girls Aloud, Cheryl teamed with Eylure to release five sets of false eyelashes, each set designed by a different member of the group. A range of festival-themed lashes followed in 2010, while limited edition "10th Anniversary" lash was released in 2012. Similarly, to celebrate their tenth anniversary, each member designed a charm bracelet for Pandora, available as either a complete bracelet or a "starter" bracelet. From 2009 to 2018, Cheryl served as the UK spokesperson for L'Oréal.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: Cheryl's first official book, entitled "Through My Eyes", was published on 30 September 2010 by Bantam Press. "Through My Eyes" purports to show her in the recording studio, backstage on tour, behind-the-scenes at "The X Factor", at photo shoots and at award ceremonies. She said the book is "filled with pictures that capture those moments, [her] memories and the people [she's] closest to". She is the subject of several unauthorised biographies, as well as books detailing her relationship with and divorce from Ashley Cole. Her autobiography, "", was published on 11 October 2012. The book's content was about her childhood, rise to fame as a member of Girls Aloud and her relationships with Simon Cowell and her ex-husband Ashley Cole. It has sold 275,000 copies , generating £2.5 million in sales. In August 2014, Cheryl released her debut fragrance, StormFlower.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: In 2004, Girls Aloud released a cover of the Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You" as the official single for the BBC's charity telethon "Children in Need". In 2007, the group announced a joint release of Aerosmith and Run DMC's "Walk This Way" with Sugababes as the official single for the UK's other major charity telethon Comic Relief. The song was recorded at Comic Relief co-founder and trustee Richard Curtis' request.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: In March 2009, Cheryl climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of Comic Relief. The climb, organised by Gary Barlow, was also undertaken by fellow Girls Aloud member Kimberley Walsh, as well as Alesha Dixon, Fearne Cotton, Denise Van Outen, Chris Moyles, Ben Shephard, Ronan Keating and Barlow himself. Between 3 February and 23 March 2009, Cheryl, Walsh, Barlow, Moyles and Cotton also raised money for Comic Relief by providing the voice for the BT Speaking Clock. All nine celebrities reached the summit of Kilimanjaro on Saturday, 7 March 2009. Cheryl, along with Cotton, Van Outen and Shephard, reached the summit first at sunrise. The trek raised £3.5 million for the charity. In February 2011, Cheryl launched her own charitable foundation with The Prince's Trust following a meeting with The Trust's president, Charles, Prince of Wales. The Cheryl Cole Foundation is meant to provide vital funds for The Trust in the North East, which was set up to help disadvantaged young people from Cheryl's region. On 13 June 2011, she auctioned 20 dresses with ASOS to raise funds for the foundation.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: In September 2011, Cheryl became the latest "Forces' sweetheart" when she visited British soldiers in Afghanistan. On 23 January 2015, Cheryl announced the launch of a second charity, once again alongside The Prince's Trust. The charity was named Cheryl's Trust, and was set up with the aim of raising £2 million to build a centre, which will support up to 4000 disadvantaged young people in her native city of Newcastle. To raise these funds, Cheryl has thus far teamed up with Prizeo in March 2015, setting up a styling session competition, and also launched a limited edition Belgian Chocolate Bar with Greggs in August 2015; 5p proceeds from each sale being donated towards the trust. In November 2016, she became the ambassador of the charity Childline.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: She spoke about her vocal ability saying, "I am very aware of my ability, I know I'm no Mariah Carey but I think the emotion in the song is what matters." In a review for her debut studio album "3 Words", Tom Ewing of "The Guardian" opined that "She's not as full a singer as the belters and divas she presides over each week [on "The X Factor"], but she's an expressive performer and a less showy backing lets that come through." "3 Words" is a pop and R&B record which incorporates elements of dance, disco and electropop in some of its tracks, while "Messy Little Raindrops" was described as a combination of "anthemic dance and synth-led R&B". "A Million Lights", her third studio album, also incorporates R&B and dance. She incorporated dubstep into "A Million Lights", MTV citing "Girl in the Mirror" as an example.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: Cheryl has named Britney Spears and Beyoncé as a few of her inspirations, performance and fashion-wise. She spoke on the reason Beyoncé was an influence on her, saying, "I love Beyoncé, I just think she is such a beautiful person inside and out, apart from what she does on the stage which is obviously incredible and aspirational. I just like her as a woman. She's empowering." She has cited Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, a former member of American band TLC, as another influence saying, "I wanted to be [Lopes] – I used to wear baggy jeans and Timberlands like a tomboy." Other influences she has cited are Rihanna, whom she described as "a perfect pop star", and Mary J. Blige, saying, "Mary's voice sounds so grown up and you can hear that she has experienced a lot in her life, her songs help me with every heartache." Cheryl has influenced other artists, including Selena Gomez. The 2006 Lily Allen song "Cheryl Tweedy" was written about her.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: It has been widely reported that Cheryl lip-syncs during live performances. Whilst performing "Fight for this Love" in 2009 on "The X Factor", media speculated that the performance was mimed, something that she denied though she admitted to having some pre-recorded vocals to help the live performance. In 2010, during her second performance on "The X Factor", in which she performed "Promise This", she "showcased her vocal and dancing skills with an energetic, raunchy routine that earned a standing ovation from her fellow judges." Similar to her 2009 performance of "Fight for This Love" on "The X Factor", the media speculated whether she lip-synced or not. An ITV spokesperson insisted that she did not mime, although the performance was pre-recorded.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: In June 2012, Cheryl performed "Call My Name" with live vocals on "The Voice UK". It was reported that "The Voice" executives always edit the vocals for every artist on the show, and they would "provide some finishing touches to her singing prior to it being broadcast." As the performance began, she swan-dived onto her backing dancers before they performed a highly elaborated routine. Following the broadcast, she received mixed comments from viewers, with a few accusing the singer of lip-synching, while others, including pop artists Emma Bunton and will.i.am, praised the performance. In an interview with BBC News, she addressed the negative comments, and said that "if you think my live vocal sounds so good it must be mimed, I'm happy. I take it as a compliment."


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: As a member of Girls Aloud, Cheryl was initially recognised as a teen idol. She mentioned her rise to stardom: "[...] it was a really difficult transition to go through. Coming in to this industry and being an object. [...] I really struggled with that adjustment." She felt "uncomfortable" in wearing "short skirts and some outfits that were quite sexy" as a member of the group, but said "it wasn't trying to be sexual. I would never do something I didn't want to do". Her relationship with footballer Ashley Cole was subject of intense media scrutiny and she was labelled a football "WAG", a term she found "derogatory".


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: Cheryl's popularity grew significantly during her stint on "The X Factor" in its heyday, and the British press called her a "nation's sweetheart". As a judge, she was noted for her style, "disarming compassion and sensitivity". "The Telegraph"s Bryony Gordon dubbed her a "Princess Diana for the "X Factor" generation." Cheryl also received criticism. In 2010, "The Guardian"s Simon Hattenstone wrote about the public perception of her: "One day she might be the stoic saint coping with marital adversity or the Mother Teresa of "The X Factor", smiling beatifically as her kids perform for her; the next she might be the hard-nosed bitch who lip-syncs her way through a 'live' TV performance while her "X Factor" wannabes have to do it for real, and who is happy to advertise L'Oréal shampoo while wearing hair extensions." Alice Vincent of "The Telegraph" remarked that "Cheryl's career has been pockmarked by tales of demanding behaviour and superciliary attitude". Gordon, however, described her as being "self-critical" and "very polite about everything".


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: Cheryl has become a recognised and photographed style icon, being referred to as a "fashionista" by the press. During her television appearances, she wore "a string of fashion-forward outfits from Givenchy and Preen, to McQueen and Missoni." In both 2009 and 2010, she was named the best dressed woman by Glamour Magazine, after 14,000 votes from the magazine's readers were counted. She has been photographed for the covers of "British Vogue", "Elle" and "Harper's Bazaar". She has won "Glamour" Women of the Year Awards for TV Personality and Best Dressed and Style Network Award for Best Dressed Woman and Style Icon of the Decade. In February 2009, she appeared on the cover of "British Vogue". The media coverage of her appearance in the magazine boosted the magazine's circulation to 240,000, its best ever February figure. Cheryl topped "FHM"s 100 Sexiest Women in the World list in 2009 and 2010. In March 2010, she was declared by research company Millward Brown as the second most powerful celebrity in Britain. In October 2010, a wax statue of her was added to the gallery of Madame Tussauds in London at a cost of approximately £150,000. The waxwork was removed from public display in August 2019.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: Cheryl began dating England and Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole in September 2004, announcing their engagement after he proposed in Dubai in June 2005. The couple were married at a ceremony at Barnet, north west London on 15 July 2006. They signed an exclusive deal with "OK!", reportedly worth £1 million, regarding the rights of the photographs. On 23 February 2010, Cheryl announced she was separating from Cole, and on 26 May, she filed for divorce at London's High Court citing "unreasonable behaviour" from her estranged husband. The divorce papers state that Cole admitted being unfaithful to Cheryl with a number of other women. She was granted a "decree nisi" on 3 September. She continued to use her married name, but later began using the mononym Cheryl for her music releases.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: On 7 July 2014, Cheryl married French restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini after a three-month courtship. Following their separation, Cheryl began dating singer Liam Payne in early 2016, before being granted a "decree nisi" from Fernandez-Versini on 20 October 2016; the divorce was later finalised. On 22 March 2017, she gave birth to her son with Payne. Cheryl and Payne announced they had ended their relationship in July 2018.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: In December 2016, Cheryl appeared on the BBC One genealogy series "Who Do You Think You Are?", during which she researched her maternal family. Research shows that her paternal line is from Tyneside and that there were a number of coal miners amongst Cheryl's forebears. When tracing further back, in one of the branches of her paternal line, researchers find that her ancestry includes several mariners. The investigation into Cheryl's maternal line shows that her grandmother, Olga Ridley, was one of twin girls born to Edith Annie Burton, the housekeeper for a widower named Joseph Ridley who already had a number of children from his marriage. Joseph Ridley had fought in World War I in the Durham Light Infantry as a Pioneer in France and, from an examination of the census, before the war he had been a grocery warehouseman.


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: On 11 January 2003, Cheryl was involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant, Sophie Amogbokpa, and subsequently charged with racially aggravated assault over the incident. At her trial on 20 October she was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm but cleared of the racially aggravated assault charge, and sentenced to 120 hours of community service. She was ordered to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3,000 prosecution costs. Judge Richard Howard said, "This was an unpleasant piece of drunken violence which caused Sophie Amogbokpa pain and suffering."


title: Cheryl (singer)

text: Cheryl is a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party. She proclaimed her support for same-sex marriage in 2012.


title: War and Peace

text: War and Peace (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published serially, then published in its entirety in 1869. It is regarded as Tolstoy's finest literary achievement and remains an internationally praised classic of world literature.


title: War and Peace

text: The novel chronicles the French invasion of Russia and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society through the stories of five Russian aristocratic families. Portions of an earlier version, titled "The Year 1805", were serialized in "The Russian Messenger" from 1865 to 1867 before the novel was published in its entirety in 1869.


title: War and Peace

text: Tolstoy said that the best Russian literature does not conform to standards and hence hesitated to classify "War and Peace", saying it is "not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle". Large sections, especially the later chapters, are philosophical discussions rather than narrative. He regarded "Anna Karenina" as his first true novel.


title: War and Peace

text: Tolstoy began writing "War and Peace" in 1863, the year that he finally married and settled down at his country estate. In September of that year, he wrote to Elizabeth Bers, his sister-in-law, asking if she could find any chronicles, diaries or records that related to the Napoleonic period in Russia. He was dismayed to find that few written records covered the domestic aspects of Russian life at that time, and tried to rectify these omissions in his early drafts of the novel. The first half of the book was written and named "1805". During the writing of the second half, he read widely and acknowledged Schopenhauer as one of his main inspirations. Tolstoy wrote in a letter to Afanasy Fet that what he had written in "War and Peace" is also said by Schopenhauer in "The World as Will and Representation". However, Tolstoy approaches "it from the other side."


title: War and Peace

text: The first draft of the novel was completed in 1863. In 1865, the periodical ("The Russian Messenger") published the first part of this draft under the title "1805" and published more the following year. Tolstoy was dissatisfied with this version, although he allowed several parts of it to be published with a different ending in 1867. He heavily rewrote the entire novel between 1866 and 1869. Tolstoy's wife, Sophia Tolstaya, copied as many as seven separate complete manuscripts before Tolstoy considered it ready for publication. The version that was published in had a very different ending from the version eventually published under the title "War and Peace" in 1869. Russians who had read the serialized version were eager to buy the complete novel, and it sold out almost immediately. The novel was immediately translated after publication into many other languages.


title: War and Peace

text: It is unknown why Tolstoy changed the name to "War and Peace". He may have borrowed the title from the 1861 work of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: ("War and Peace" in French). The title may also be a reference to the Roman Emperor Titus, (reigned 79-81 AD) described as being a master of "war and peace" in "The Twelve Caesars", written by Suetonius in 119.


title: War and Peace

text: The "1805" manuscript was re-edited and annotated in Russia in 1893 and has been since translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Albanian, Korean, and Czech.


title: War and Peace

text: Tolstoy was instrumental in bringing a new kind of consciousness to the novel. His narrative structure is noted not only for its god's eye point of view over and within events, but also in the way it swiftly and seamlessly portrayed an individual character's view point. His use of visual detail is often comparable to cinema, using literary techniques that resemble panning, wide shots and close-ups. These devices, while not exclusive to Tolstoy, are part of the new style of the novel that arose in the mid-19th century and of which Tolstoy proved himself a master.


title: War and Peace

text: The standard Russian text of "War and Peace" is divided into four books (comprising fifteen parts) and an epilogue in two parts. Roughly the first half is concerned strictly with the fictional characters, whereas the latter parts, as well as the second part of the epilogue, increasingly consist of essays about the nature of war, power, history, and historiography. Tolstoy interspersed these essays into the story in a way that defies previous fictional convention. Certain abridged versions remove these essays entirely, while others, published even during Tolstoy's life, simply moved these essays into an appendix.


title: War and Peace

text: The novel is set 60 years before Tolstoy's day, but he had spoken with people who lived through the 1812 French invasion of Russia. He read all the standard histories available in Russian and French about the Napoleonic Wars and had read letters, journals, autobiographies and biographies of Napoleon and other key players of that era. There are approximately 160 real persons named or referred to in "War and Peace".


title: War and Peace

text: He worked from primary source materials (interviews and other documents), as well as from history books, philosophy texts and other historical novels. Tolstoy also used a great deal of his own experience in the Crimean War to bring vivid detail and first-hand accounts of how the Imperial Russian Army was structured.


title: War and Peace

text: Tolstoy was critical of standard history, especially military history, in "War and Peace". He explains at the start of the novel's third volume his own views on how history ought to be written.


title: War and Peace

text: Although the book is mainly in Russian, significant portions of dialogue are in French. It has been suggested that the use of French is a deliberate literary device, to portray artifice while Russian emerges as a language of sincerity, honesty, and seriousness. It could, however, also simply represent another element of the realistic style in which the book is written, since French was the common language of the Russian aristocracy, and more generally the aristocracies of continental Europe, at the time. In fact, the Russian nobility often knew only enough Russian to command their servants; Tolstoy illustrates this by showing that Julie Karagina, a character in the novel, is so unfamiliar with her country's native language that she has to take Russian lessons.


title: War and Peace

text: The use of French diminishes as the book progresses. It is suggested that this is to demonstrate Russia freeing itself from foreign cultural domination, and to show that a once-friendly nation has turned into an enemy. By midway through the book, several of the Russian aristocracy are eager to find Russian tutors for themselves.


title: War and Peace

text: The novel spans the period from 1805 to 1820. The era of Catherine the Great was still fresh in the minds of older people. Catherine had made French the language of her royal court. For the next 100 years, it became a social requirement for the Russian nobility to speak French and understand French culture.


title: War and Peace

text: The historical context of the novel begins with the execution of Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien in 1805, while Russia is ruled by Alexander I during the Napoleonic Wars. Key historical events woven into the novel include the Ulm Campaign, the Battle of Austerlitz, the Treaties of Tilsit, and the Congress of Erfurt. Tolstoy also references the Great Comet of 1811 just before the French invasion of Russia.


title: War and Peace

text: Tolstoy then uses the Battle of Ostrovno and the Battle of Shevardino Redoubt in his novel, before the occupation of Moscow and the subsequent fire. The novel continues with the Battle of Tarutino, the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, the Battle of Vyazma, and the Battle of Krasnoi. The final battle cited is the Battle of Berezina, after which the characters move on with rebuilding Moscow and their lives.


title: War and Peace

text: The novel tells the story of five families—the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs, the Kuragins, and the Drubetskoys.


title: War and Peace

text: In addition, several real-life historical characters (such as Napoleon and Prince Mikhail Kutuzov) play a prominent part in the book. Many of Tolstoy's characters were based on real people. His grandparents and their friends were the models for many of the main characters; his great-grandparents would have been of the generation of Prince Vassily or Count Ilya Rostov.


title: War and Peace

text: The novel begins in July 1805 in Saint Petersburg, at a soirée given by Anna Pavlovna Scherer, the maid of honour and confidante to the dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Many of the main characters are introduced as they enter the salon. Pierre (Pyotr Kirilovich) Bezukhov is the illegitimate son of a wealthy count, who is dying after a series of strokes. Pierre is about to become embroiled in a struggle for his inheritance. Educated abroad at his father's expense following his mother's death, Pierre is kindhearted but socially awkward, and finds it difficult to integrate into Petersburg society. It is known to everyone at the soirée that Pierre is his father's favorite of all the old count's illegitimate progeny. They respect Pierre during the soiree because his father, Count Bezukhov, is a very rich man, and as Pierre is his favorite, most aristocrats think that the fortune of his father will be given to him even though he is illegitimate.


title: War and Peace

text: Also attending the soirée is Pierre's friend, Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky, husband of Lise, a charming society favourite. He is disillusioned with Petersburg society and with married life; feeling that his wife is empty and superficial, he comes to hate her and all women, expressing patently misogynistic views to Pierre when the two are alone. Pierre does not quite know what to do with this, and is made uncomfortable witnessing the marital discord. Pierre had been sent to St Petersburg by his father to choose a career for himself, but he is quite uncomfortable because he cannot find one and everybody keeps on asking about this. Andrei tells Pierre he has decided to become to Prince Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov in the coming war (The Battle of Austerlitz) against Napoleon in order to escape a life he cannot stand.


title: War and Peace

text: The plot moves to Moscow, Russia's former capital, contrasting its provincial, more Russian ways to the more European society of Saint Petersburg. The Rostov family is introduced. Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov and Countess Natalya Rostova are an affectionate couple but forever worried about their disordered finances. They have four children. Thirteen-year-old Natasha (Natalia Ilyinichna) believes herself in love with Boris Drubetskoy, a young man who is about to join the army as an officer. The mother of Boris is Anna Mikhaylovna Drubetskaya who is a childhood friend of the countess Natalya Rostova. Boris is also the godson of Count Bezukhov (Pierre's father). Twenty-year-old Nikolai Ilyich pledges his love to Sonya (Sofia Alexandrovna), his fifteen-year-old cousin, an orphan who has been brought up by the Rostovs. The eldest child, Vera Ilyinichna, is cold and somewhat haughty but has a good prospective marriage to a Russian-German officer, Adolf Karlovich Berg. Petya (Pyotr Ilyich) at nine is the youngest; like his brother, he is impetuous and eager to join the army when of age.


title: War and Peace

text: At Bald Hills, the Bolkonskys' country estate, Prince Andrei departs for war and leaves his terrified, pregnant wife Lise with his eccentric father Prince Nikolai Andreyevich and devoutly religious sister Maria Nikolayevna Bolkonskaya, who refuses to marry the son of a wealthy aristocrat on account of her devotion to her father and suspicion that the young man would be unfaithful to her.


title: War and Peace

text: The second part opens with descriptions of the impending Russian-French war preparations. At the Schöngrabern engagement, Nikolai Rostov, now an ensign in the hussars, has his first taste of battle. Boris Drubetskoy introduces him to Prince Andrei, whom Rostov insults in a fit of impetuousness. He is deeply attracted by Tsar Alexander's charisma. Nikolai gambles and socializes with his officer, Vasily Dmitrich Denisov, and befriends the ruthless Fyodor Ivanovich Dolokhov. Bolkonsky, Rostov and Denisov are involved in the disastrous Battle of Austerlitz, in which Prince Andrei is badly wounded as he attempts to rescue a Russian standard.


title: War and Peace

text: The Battle of Austerlitz is a major event in the book. As the battle is about to start, Prince Andrei thinks the approaching "day [will] be his Toulon, or his Arcola", references to Napoleon's early victories. Later in the battle, however, Andrei falls into enemy hands and even meets his hero, Napoleon. But his previous enthusiasm has been shattered; he no longer thinks much of Napoleon, "so petty did his hero with his paltry vanity and delight in victory appear, compared to that lofty, righteous and kindly sky which he had seen and comprehended". Tolstoy portrays Austerlitz as an early test for Russia, one which ended badly because the soldiers fought for irrelevant things like glory or renown rather than the higher virtues which would produce, according to Tolstoy, a victory at Borodino during the 1812 invasion.


title: War and Peace

text: Book Two begins with Nikolai Rostov returning on leave to Moscow accompanied by his friend Denisov, his officer from his Pavlograd Regiment. He spends an eventful winter at home. Natasha has blossomed into a beautiful young woman. Denisov falls in love with her and proposes marriage, but is rejected. Nikolai meets Dolokhov, and they grow closer as friends. Dolokhov falls in love with Sonya, Nikolai's cousin, but as she is in love with Nikolai, she rejects Dolokhov's proposal. Nikolai meets Dolokhov some time later. The resentful Dolokhov challenges Nikolai at cards, and Nikolai loses every hand until he sinks into a 43,000 ruble debt. Although his mother pleads with Nikolai to marry a wealthy heiress to rescue the family from its dire financial straits, he refuses. Instead, he promises to marry his childhood crush and orphaned cousin, the dowry-less Sonya.


title: War and Peace

text: Pierre Bezukhov, upon finally receiving his massive inheritance, is suddenly transformed from a bumbling young man into the most eligible bachelor in Russian society. Despite knowing that it is wrong, he is convinced into marriage with Prince Kuragin's beautiful and immoral daughter Hélène (Elena Vasilyevna Kuragina). Hélène, who is rumored to be involved in an incestuous affair with her brother Anatole, tells Pierre that she will never have children with him. Hélène is also rumored to be having an affair with Dolokhov, who mocks Pierre in public. Pierre loses his temper and challenges Dolokhov to a duel. Unexpectedly (because Dolokhov is a seasoned dueller), Pierre wounds Dolokhov. Hélène denies her affair, but Pierre is convinced of her guilt and leaves her. In his moral and spiritual confusion, Pierre joins the Freemasons. Much of Book Two concerns his struggles with his passions and his spiritual conflicts. He abandons his former carefree behavior and enters upon a philosophical quest particular to Tolstoy: how should one live a moral life in an ethically imperfect world? The question continually baffles Pierre. He attempts to liberate his serfs, but ultimately achieves nothing of note.


title: War and Peace

text: Pierre is contrasted with Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. Andrei recovers from his near-fatal wound in a military hospital and returns home, only to find his wife Lise dying in childbirth. He is stricken by his guilty conscience for not treating her better. His child, Nikolai, survives.


title: War and Peace

text: Burdened with nihilistic disillusionment, Prince Andrei does not return to the army but remains on his estate, working on a project that would codify military behavior to solve problems of disorganization responsible for the loss of life on the Russian side. Pierre visits him and brings new questions: where is God in this amoral world? Pierre is interested in panentheism and the possibility of an afterlife.


title: War and Peace

text: Pierre's wife, Hélène, begs him to take her back, and trying to abide by the Freemason laws of forgiveness, he agrees. Hélène establishes herself as an influential hostess in Petersburg society.


title: War and Peace

text: Prince Andrei feels impelled to take his newly written military notions to Saint Petersburg, naively expecting to influence either the Emperor himself or those close to him. Young Natasha, also in Saint Petersburg, is caught up in the excitement of her first grand ball, where she meets Prince Andrei and briefly reinvigorates him with her vivacious charm. Andrei believes he has found purpose in life again and, after paying the Rostovs several visits, proposes marriage to Natasha. However, Andrei's father dislikes the Rostovs and opposes the marriage, insisting that the couple wait a year before marrying. Prince Andrei leaves to recuperate from his wounds abroad, leaving Natasha distraught. Count Rostov takes her and Sonya to Moscow in order to raise funds for her trousseau.


title: War and Peace

text: Natasha visits the Moscow opera, where she meets Hélène and her brother Anatole. Anatole has since married a Polish woman whom he abandoned in Poland. He is very attracted to Natasha and determined to seduce her, and conspires with his sister to do so. Anatole succeeds in making Natasha believe he loves her, eventually establishing plans to elope. Natasha writes to Princess Maria, Andrei's sister, breaking off her engagement. At the last moment, Sonya discovers her plans to elope and foils them. Natasha learns from Pierre of Anatole's marriage. Devastated, Natasha makes a suicide attempt and is left seriously ill.


title: War and Peace

text: Pierre is initially horrified by Natasha's behavior but realizes he has fallen in love with her. As the Great Comet of 1811–12 streaks across the sky, life appears to begin anew for Pierre. Prince Andrei coldly accepts Natasha's breaking of the engagement. He tells Pierre that his pride will not allow him to renew his proposal.


title: War and Peace

text: With the help of her family, and the stirrings of religious faith, Natasha manages to persevere in Moscow through this dark period. Meanwhile, the whole of Russia is affected by the coming confrontation between Napoleon's army and the Russian army. Pierre convinces himself through gematria that Napoleon is the Antichrist of the "Book of Revelation". Old Prince Bolkonsky dies of a stroke knowing that French marauders are coming for his estate. No organized help from any Russian army seems available to the Bolkonskys, but Nikolai Rostov turns up at their estate in time to help put down an incipient peasant revolt. He finds himself attracted to the distraught Princess Maria.


title: War and Peace

text: Back in Moscow, the patriotic Petya joins a crowd in audience of Tzar Alexander and manages to snatch a biscuit thrown from the balcony window of the Cathedral of the Assumption by the Tzar. He is nearly crushed by the throngs in his effort. Under the influence of the same patriotism, his father finally allows him to enlist.


title: War and Peace

text: Napoleon himself is the main character in this section, and the novel presents him in vivid detail, both personally and as both a thinker and would-be strategist. Also described are the well-organized force of over four hundred thousand troops of the French Grande Armée (only one hundred and forty thousand of them actually French-speaking) that marches through the Russian countryside in the late summer and reaches the outskirts of the city of Smolensk. Pierre decides to leave Moscow and go to watch the Battle of Borodino from a vantage point next to a Russian artillery crew. After watching for a time, he begins to join in carrying ammunition. In the midst of the turmoil he experiences first-hand the death and destruction of war; Eugène's artillery continues to pound Russian support columns, while Marshals Ney and Davout set up a crossfire with artillery positioned on the Semyonovskaya heights. The battle becomes a hideous slaughter for both armies and ends in a standoff. The Russians, however, have won a moral victory by standing up to Napoleon's reputedly invincible army. The Russian army withdraws the next day, allowing Napoleon to march on to Moscow. Among the casualties are Anatole Kuragin and Prince Andrei. Anatole loses a leg, and Andrei suffers a grenade wound in the abdomen. Both are reported dead, but their families are in such disarray that no one can be notified.


title: War and Peace

text: The Rostovs have waited until the last minute to abandon Moscow, even after it became clear that Kutuzov had retreated past Moscow. The Muscovites are being given contradictory instructions on how to either flee or fight. Count Fyodor Rostopchin, the commander in chief of Moscow, is publishing posters, rousing the citizens to put their faith in religious icons, while at the same time urging them to fight with pitchforks if necessary. Before fleeing himself, he gives orders to burn the city. However, Tolstoy states that the burning of an abandoned city mostly built of wood was inevitable, and while the French blame the Russians, these blame the French. The Rostovs have a difficult time deciding what to take with them, but in the end, Natasha convinces them to load their carts with the wounded and dying from the Battle of Borodino. Unknown to Natasha, Prince Andrei is amongst the wounded.


title: War and Peace

text: When Napoleon's army finally occupies an abandoned and burning Moscow, Pierre takes off on a quixotic mission to assassinate Napoleon. He becomes anonymous in all the chaos, shedding his responsibilities by wearing peasant clothes and shunning his duties and lifestyle. The only people he sees are Natasha and some of her family, as they depart Moscow. Natasha recognizes and smiles at him, and he in turn realizes the full scope of his love for her.


title: War and Peace

text: Pierre saves the life of a French officer who enters his home looking for shelter, and they have a long, amicable conversation. The next day Pierre goes into the street to resume his assassination plan, and comes across two French soldiers robbing an Armenian family. When one of the soldiers tries to rip the necklace off the young Armenian woman's neck, Pierre intervenes by attacking the soldiers, and is taken prisoner by the French army. He believes he will be executed, but in the end is spared. He witnesses, with horror, the execution of other prisoners.


title: War and Peace

text: Pierre becomes friends with a fellow prisoner, Platon Karataev, a Russian peasant with a saintly demeanor. In Karataev, Pierre finally finds what he has been seeking: an honest person of integrity, who is utterly without pretense. Pierre discovers meaning in life simply by interacting with him. After witnessing French soldiers sacking Moscow and shooting Russian civilians arbitrarily, Pierre is forced to march with the Grand Army during its disastrous retreat from Moscow in the harsh Russian winter. After months of tribulation—during which the fever-plagued Karataev is shot by the French—Pierre is finally freed by a Russian raiding party led by Dolokhov and Denisov, after a small skirmish with the French that sees the young Petya Rostov killed in action.


title: War and Peace

text: Meanwhile, Andrei has been taken in and cared for by the Rostovs, fleeing from Moscow to Yaroslavl. He is reunited with Natasha and his sister Maria before the end of the war. In an internal transformation, he loses the fear of death and forgives Natasha in a last act before dying.


title: War and Peace

text: Nikolai becomes worried about his family's finances, and leaves the army after hearing of Petya's death. There is little hope for recovery. Given the Rostovs' ruin, he does not feel comfortable with the prospect of marrying the wealthy Marya Bolkonskaya, but when they meet again they both still feel love for each other.


title: War and Peace

text: As the novel draws to a close, Pierre's wife Hélène dies from an overdose of an abortifacient (Tolstoy does not state it explicitly but the euphemism he uses is unambiguous). Pierre is reunited with Natasha, while the victorious Russians rebuild Moscow. Natasha speaks of Prince Andrei's death and Pierre of Karataev's. Both are aware of a growing bond between them in their bereavement. With the help of Princess Maria, Pierre finds love at last and marries Natasha.


title: War and Peace

text: The first part of the epilogue begins with the wedding of Pierre and Natasha in 1813. Count Rostov dies soon after, leaving his eldest son Nikolai to take charge of the debt-ridden estate. Nikolai finds himself with the task of maintaining the family on the verge of bankruptcy. Although he finds marrying women for money repugnant, Nikolai gives in to his love for Princess Maria and marries her.


title: War and Peace

text: Nikolai and Maria then move to her inherited estate of Bald Hills with his mother and Sonya, whom he supports for the rest of their lives. Nikolai and Maria have children together, and also raise Prince Andrei's orphaned son, Nikolai Andreyevich (Nikolenka) Bolkonsky.


title: War and Peace

text: As in all good marriages, there are misunderstandings, but the couples – Pierre and Natasha, Nikolai and Maria – remain devoted. Pierre and Natasha visit Bald Hills in 1820. There is a hint in the closing chapters that the idealistic, boyish Nikolenka and Pierre would both become part of the Decembrist Uprising. The first epilogue concludes with Nikolenka promising he would do something with which even his late father "would be satisfied" (presumably as a revolutionary in the Decembrist revolt).


title: War and Peace

text: The second part of the epilogue contains Tolstoy's critique of all existing forms of mainstream history. The 19th-century Great Man Theory claims that historical events are the result of the actions of "heroes" and other great individuals; Tolstoy argues that this is impossible because of how rarely these actions result in great historical events. Rather, he argues, great historical events are the result of many smaller events driven by the thousands of individuals involved (he compares this to calculus, and the sum of infinitesimals). He then goes on to argue that these smaller events are the result of an inverse relationship between necessity and free will, necessity being based on reason and therefore explicable through historical analysis, and free will being based on consciousness and therefore inherently unpredictable. Tolstoy also ridicules newly emerging Darwinism as overly simplistic, comparing it to plasterers covering over icons with plaster.


title: War and Peace

text: War and Peace is Tolstoy's longest work, consisting of 361 chapters. Of those, 24 are philosophical chapters with the author's comments and views, rather than narrative:


title: War and Peace

text: The novel that made its author "the true lion of the Russian literature" (according to Ivan Goncharov) enjoyed great success with the reading public upon its publication and spawned dozens of reviews and analytical essays, some of which (by Dmitry Pisarev, Pavel Annenkov, Dragomirov and Strakhov) formed the basis for the research of later Tolstoy scholars. Yet the Russian press's initial response to the novel was muted, with most critics unable to decide how to classify it. The liberal newspaper "Golos" (The Voice, April 3, #93, 1865) was one of the first to react. Its anonymous reviewer posed a question later repeated by many others: "What could this possibly be? What kind of genre are we supposed to file it to?.. Where is fiction in it, and where is real history?"


title: War and Peace

text: Writer and critic Nikolai Akhsharumov, writing in (#6, 1867) suggested that "War and Peace" was "neither a chronicle, nor a historical novel", but a genre merger, this ambiguity never undermining its immense value. Annenkov, who praised the novel too, was equally vague when trying to classify it. "The cultural history of one large section of our society, the political and social panorama of it in the beginning of the current century", was his suggestion. "It is the [social] epic, the history novel and the vast picture of the whole nation's life", wrote Ivan Turgenev in his bid to define "War and Peace" in the foreword for his French translation of "The Two Hussars" (published in Paris by in 1875).


title: War and Peace

text: In general, the literary left received the novel coldly. They saw it as devoid of social critique, and keen on the idea of national unity. They saw its major fault as the "author's inability to portray a new kind of revolutionary intelligentsia in his novel", as critic Varfolomey Zaytsev put it. Articles by D. Minayev, and N. Shelgunov in magazine characterized the novel as "lacking realism", showing its characters as "cruel and rough", "mentally stoned", "morally depraved" and promoting "the philosophy of stagnation". Still, Mikhail Saltykov-Schedrin, who never expressed his opinion of the novel publicly, in private conversation was reported to have expressed delight with "how strongly this Count has stung our higher society". Dmitry Pisarev in his unfinished article "Russian Gentry of Old" (, , #2, 1868), while praising Tolstoy's realism in portraying members of high society, was still unhappy with the way the author, as he saw it, 'idealized' the old nobility, expressing "unconscious and quite natural tenderness towards" the Russian dvoryanstvo. On the opposite front, the conservative press and "patriotic" authors (A. S. Norov and P. A. Vyazemsky among them) were accusing Tolstoy of consciously distorting 1812 history, desecrating the "patriotic feelings of our fathers" and ridiculing dvoryanstvo.


title: War and Peace

text: One of the first comprehensive articles on the novel was that of Pavel Annenkov, published in #2, 1868 issue of "Vestnik Evropy". The critic praised Tolstoy's masterful portrayal of man at war, marveled at the complexity of the whole composition, organically merging historical facts and fiction. "The dazzling side of the novel", according to Annenkov, was "the natural simplicity with which [the author] transports the worldly affairs and big social events down to the level of a character who witnesses them." Annekov thought the historical gallery of the novel was incomplete with the two "great raznotchintsys", Speransky and Arakcheev, and deplored the fact that the author stopped at introducing to the novel "this relatively rough but original element". In the end the critic called the novel "the whole epoch in the Russian fiction".


title: War and Peace

text: Slavophiles declared Tolstoy their "" and pronounced "War and Peace" "the Bible of the new national idea". Several articles on "War and Peace" were published in 1869–70 in "Zarya" magazine by Nikolai Strakhov. ""War and Peace" is the work of genius, equal to everything that the Russian literature has produced before", he pronounced in the first, smaller essay. "It is now quite clear that from 1868 when the "War and Peace" was published the very essence of what we call Russian literature has become quite different, acquired the new form and meaning", the critic continued later. Strakhov was the first critic in Russia who declared Tolstoy's novel to be a masterpiece of a level previously unknown in Russian literature. Still, being a true Slavophile, he could not fail to see the novel as promoting the major Slavophiliac ideas of "meek Russian character's supremacy over the rapacious European kind" (using Apollon Grigoriev's formula). Years later, in 1878, discussing Strakhov's own book "The World as a Whole", Tolstoy criticized both Grigoriev's concept (of "Russian meekness "vs." Western bestiality") and Strakhov's interpretation of it.


title: War and Peace

text: Among the reviewers were military men and authors specializing in war literature. Most assessed highly the artfulness and realism of Tolstoy's battle scenes. N. Lachinov, a member of the "Russky Invalid" newspaper staff (#69, April 10, 1868) called the Battle of Schöngrabern scenes "bearing the highest degree of historical and artistic truthfulness" and totally agreed with the author's view on the Battle of Borodino, which some of his opponents disputed. The army general and respected military writer Mikhail Dragomirov, in an article published in ("The Military Almanac", 1868–70), while disputing some of Tolstoy's ideas concerning the "spontaneity" of wars and the role of commander in battles, advised all the Russian Army officers to use "War and Peace" as their desk book, describing its battle scenes as "incomparable" and "serving for an ideal manual to every textbook on theories of military art."


title: War and Peace

text: Unlike professional literary critics, most prominent Russian writers of the time supported the novel wholeheartedly. Goncharov, Turgenev, Leskov, Dostoyevsky and Fet have all gone on record as declaring "War and Peace" the masterpiece of Russian literature. Ivan Goncharov in a July 17, 1878 letter to Pyotr Ganzen advised him to choose for translating into Danish "War and Peace", adding: "This is positively what might be called a Russian "Iliad". Embracing the whole epoch, it is the grandiose literary event, showcasing the gallery of great men painted by a lively brush of the great master ... This is one of the most, if not the most profound literary work ever". In 1879, unhappy with Ganzen having chosen "Anna Karenina" to start with, Goncharov insisted: "War and Peace is the extraordinary poem of a novel, both in content and execution. It also serves as a monument to Russian history's glorious epoch when whatever figure you take is a colossus, a statue in bronze. Even [the novel's] minor characters carry all the characteristic features of the Russian people and its life." In 1885, expressing satisfaction with the fact that Tolstoy's works had by then been translated into Danish, Goncharov again stressed the immense importance of "War and Peace". "Count Tolstoy really mounts over everybody else here [in Russia]", he remarked.


title: War and Peace

text: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (in a May 30, 1871 letter to Strakhov) described "War and Peace" as "the last word of the landlord's literature and the brilliant one at that". In a draft version of "The Raw Youth" he described Tolstoy as "a historiograph of the , or rather, its cultural elite". "The objectivity and realism impart wonderful charm to all scenes, and alongside people of talent, honour and duty he exposes numerous scoundrels, worthless goons and fools", he added. In 1876 Dostoyevsky wrote: "My strong conviction is that a writer of fiction has to have most profound knowledge—not only of the poetic side of his art, but also the reality he deals with, in its historical as well as contemporary context. Here [in Russia], as far as I see it, only one writer excels in this, Count Lev Tolstoy."


title: War and Peace

text: Nikolai Leskov, then an anonymous reviewer in ("The Stock Exchange Herald"), wrote several articles praising highly "War and Peace", calling it "the best ever Russian historical novel" and "the pride of the contemporary literature". Marveling at the realism and factual truthfulness of Tolstoy's book, Leskov thought the author deserved the special credit for "having lifted up the people's spirit upon the high pedestal it deserved". "While working most elaborately upon individual characters, the author, apparently, has been studying most diligently the character of the nation as a whole; the life of people whose moral strength came to be concentrated in the Army that came up to fight mighty Napoleon. In this respect the novel of Count Tolstoy could be seen as an epic of the Great national war which up until now has had its historians but never had its singers", Leskov wrote.


title: War and Peace

text: Afanasy Fet, in a January 1, 1870 letter to Tolstoy, expressed his great delight with the novel. "You've managed to show us in great detail the other, mundane side of life and explain how organically does it feed the outer, heroic side of it", he added.


title: War and Peace

text: Ivan Turgenev gradually re-considered his initial skepticism as to the novel's historical aspect and also the style of Tolstoy's psychological analysis. In his 1880 article written in the form of a letter addressed to Edmond Abou, the editor of the French newspaper , Turgenev described Tolstoy as "the most popular Russian writer" and "War and Peace" as "one of the most remarkable books of our age". "This vast work has the spirit of an epic, where the life of Russia of the beginning of our century in general and in details has been recreated by the hand of a true master ... The manner in which Count Tolstoy conducts his treatise is innovative and original. This is the great work of a great writer, and in it there’s true, real Russia", Turgenev wrote. It was largely due to Turgenev's efforts that the novel started to gain popularity with the European readership. The first French edition of the "War and Peace" (1879) paved the way for the worldwide success of Leo Tolstoy and his works.


title: War and Peace

text: Since then many world-famous authors have praised "War and Peace" as a masterpiece of world literature. Gustave Flaubert expressed his delight in a January 1880 letter to Turgenev, writing: "This is the first class work! What an artist and what a psychologist! The first two volumes are exquisite. I used to utter shrieks of delight while reading. This is powerful, very powerful indeed." Later John Galsworthy called "War and Peace" "the best novel that had ever been written". Romain Rolland, remembering his reading the novel as a student, wrote: "this work, like life itself, has no beginning, no end. It is life itself in its eternal movement." Thomas Mann thought "War and Peace" to be "the greatest ever war novel in the history of literature." Ernest Hemingway confessed that it was from Tolstoy that he had been taking lessons on how to "write about war in the most straightforward, honest, objective and stark way." "I don't know anybody who could write about war better than Tolstoy did", Hemingway asserted in his 1955 "Men at War. The Best War Stories of All Time" anthology.


title: War and Peace

text: Isaak Babel said, after reading "War and Peace", "If the world could write by itself, it would write like Tolstoy." Tolstoy "gives us a unique combination of the 'naive objectivity' of the oral narrator with the interest in detail characteristic of realism. This is the reason for our trust in his presentation."


title: War and Peace

text: "War and Peace" has been translated into many languages. It has been translated into English on several occasions, starting with Clara Bell working from a French translation. The translators Constance Garnett and Louise and Aylmer Maude knew Tolstoy personally. Translations have to deal with Tolstoy's often peculiar syntax and his fondness for repetitions. Only about 2 percent of "War and Peace" is in French; Tolstoy removed the French in a revised 1873 edition, only to restore it later. Most translators follow Garnett retaining some French; Briggs and Shubin use no French, while Pevear-Volokhonsky and Amy Mandelker's revision of the Maude translation both retain the French fully.


title: War and Peace

text: In the "Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English", academic Zoja Pavlovskis-Petit has this to say about the translations of "War and Peace" available in 2000: "Of all the translations of "War and Peace", Dunnigan's (1968) is the best. ... Unlike the other translators, Dunnigan even succeeds with many characteristically Russian folk expressions and proverbs. ... She is faithful to the text and does not hesitate to render conscientiously those details that the uninitiated may find bewildering: for instance, the statement that Boris's mother pronounced his name with a stress on the "o" – an indication to the Russian reader of the old lady's affectation."


title: War and Peace

text: On the Garnett translation Pavlovskis-Petit writes: "her ..."War and Peace" is frequently inexact and contains too many anglicisms. Her style is awkward and turgid, very unsuitable for Tolstoi." On the Maudes' translation she comments: "this should have been the best translation, but the Maudes' lack of adroitness in dealing with Russian folk idiom, and their style in general, place this version below Dunnigan's." She further comments on Edmonds's revised translation, formerly on Penguin: "[it] is the work of a sound scholar but not the best possible translator; it frequently lacks resourcefulness and imagination in its use of English. ... a respectable translation but not on the level of Dunnigan or Maude."


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The eighth and final season of the fantasy drama television series "Game of Thrones", produced by HBO, premiered on April 14, 2019, and concluded on May 19, 2019. Unlike the first six seasons, which consisted of ten episodes each, and the seventh season, which consisted of seven episodes, the eighth season consists of only six episodes.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The season was filmed from October 2017 to July 2018 and largely consists of original content not found in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, while also incorporating material that Martin has revealed to showrunners about the upcoming novels in the series, "The Winds of Winter" and "A Dream of Spring". The season was adapted for television by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The season was met with mixed reviews from critics, in contrast to the critical acclaim of previous seasons, and is the lowest-rated of the series on the website Rotten Tomatoes. While the performances, production values and music score were praised, criticism was mainly directed at the shorter runtime of the season as well as numerous creative decisions made by the showrunners regarding the plot and character arcs. Many commentators deemed it to be a disappointing conclusion to the series.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The season received 32 nominations at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, the most for a single season of television in history. It won twelve, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Peter Dinklage.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The final season depicts the culmination of the series' two primary conflicts: the Great War against the Army of the Dead, and the Last War for control of the Iron Throne. In the first half of the season, Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and many of the main characters converge at Winterfell to face the Dead. During the battle, Bran lures the Night King into the open where Arya destroys him; the army of White Walkers and wights crumbles. Meanwhile, Cersei Lannister remains in King's Landing and strengthens her forces to set traps for a weakened Daenerys. The second half of the season resumes the war for the throne as Daenerys suffers losses until she finally assaults King's Landing upon Drogon, her last dragon. She defeats Cersei's forces, burns the city and kills Cersei and her brother Jaime. Daenerys vows to "liberate" the whole world as she has liberated the capital of Westeros. Unable to sway her from her destructive path, an agonized Jon kills her. Drogon flies away with her body, but not before destroying the Iron Throne with dragonfire. The leaders of Westeros choose Bran Stark as King, who grants the North independence and appoints Tyrion his Hand. Sansa Stark is crowned Queen in the North. Arya sails west, and Jon leads the Wildlings north of the Wall.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The recurring actors listed here are those who appeared in season 8. They are listed by the region in which they first appear.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: HBO announced the eighth and final season of the fantasy drama television series "Game of Thrones" in July 2016. Like the previous season, it largely consists of original content not found in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. As Benioff had verified in March 2015, the creators have talked with Martin about the end of the series, and they "know where things are heading". He explained that the ends of both the television and the book series would unavoidably be thematically similar, although Martin could still make some changes to surprise the readers. When asked about why the television series is coming to an end, he said, "this is where the story ends."


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Series creators and executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss serve as showrunners for the eighth season. The directors for the eighth season were announced in September 2017. Miguel Sapochnik, who previously directed "The Gift" and "Hardhome" in the fifth season, as well as "Battle of the Bastards" and "The Winds of Winter" in the sixth season, returned to direct two episodes. David Nutter, who had directed two episodes each in the second, third, and fifth seasons, including "The Rains of Castamere" and "Mother's Mercy", directed three episodes for the eighth season. The final episode of the series was directed by Benioff and Weiss, who have previously co-directed two episodes, taking credit for one episode each.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: At the series' South by Southwest panel on March 12, 2017, Benioff and Weiss announced the writers for the series to be Dave Hill (episode 1) and Bryan Cogman (episode 2). The showrunners divided up the screenplay for the remaining four episodes amongst themselves.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Writing for the eighth season started with a 140-page outline. Benioff said that the divvying up process and who should write what section became more difficult because "this would be the last time that [they] would be doing this."


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: In an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", HBO programming president Casey Bloys said that instead of the series finale's being a feature film, the final season would be "six one-hour movies" on television. He continued, "The show has proven that TV is every bit as impressive and in many cases more so, than film. What they're doing is monumental." Filming officially began on October 23, 2017 and concluded in July 2018. Many exterior scenes were filmed in Northern Ireland and a few in Dubrovnik, Croatia; Paint Hall Studios in Belfast were used for interior filming. The direwolf scenes were filmed in Alberta, Canada.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The eighth season saw the return of Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully and Lino Facioli as Robin Arryn in the final episode, neither of whom appeared in the seventh season. Marc Rissmann was cast as Harry Strickland, the commander of the Golden Company.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have said that the seventh and eighth seasons would likely comprise fewer episodes, saying that after the sixth season, they were "down to our final 13 episodes after this season. We're heading into the final lap". Benioff and Weiss said that they were unable to produce 10 episodes in the series' usual 12 to 14-month timeframe, as Weiss explained, "It's crossing out of a television schedule into more of a mid-range movie schedule." HBO confirmed in July 2016 that the seventh season would consist of seven episodes and would premiere later than usual in mid-2017 because of the later filming schedule. Benioff and Weiss later confirmed that the eighth season would consist of six episodes and would premiere later than usual for the same reason.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Benioff and Weiss said about the end of the series: "From the beginning, we've wanted to tell a 70-hour movie. It will turn out to be a 73-hour movie, but it's stayed relatively the same of having the beginning, middle[,] and now we're coming to the end. It would have been really tough if we lost any core cast members along the way[;] I'm very happy we've kept everyone and we get to finish it the way we want to." The first two episodes are, respectively, 54 and 58 minutes long, while the final four episodes of the series are all more than an hour in length—episode three is 82 minutes (making it the longest episode of the series), episodes four and five are each 78 minutes, and the final episode is 80 minutes.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: A two-hour documentary, "Game of Thrones: The Last Watch", which documents the making of the eighth season, aired on May 26, the week after the series finale.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Ramin Djawadi returned as the series' composer for the eighth season. The soundtrack album for the season was released digitally on May 19, 2019 and was released on CD on July 19, 2019.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: On December 6, 2018, HBO released the first official teaser trailer for the eighth season. A second teaser trailer was released on January 13, 2019, which announced the premiere date as April 14, 2019. The trailer was directed by David Nutter. HBO released a promotional advertisement with Bud Light on February 3, 2019 during Super Bowl LIII. Later, first-look photos of several main characters were released on February 6, 2019. On February 28, posters of many of the main characters sitting upon the Iron Throne were released. The official full trailer was released on March 5, 2019.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The season premiere was reportedly pirated by nearly 55 million people within the first 24 hours of release. Of these numbers, 9.5 million downloads came from India, 5.2 million came from China, and 4 million came from the U.S. On April 21, 2019, it was reported that the second episode of the season was illegally leaked online hours before it aired due to being streamed early on Amazon Prime Germany. On May 5, 2019, it was reported that the fourth episode of the season was leaked online, with footage from the episode circulating on social media.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The season received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 55% based on 22 reviews with an average rating of 6.45/10, the lowest rating for a season of "Game of Thrones". The website's critical consensus reads: ""Game of Thrones" final season shortchanges the women of Westeros, sacrificing satisfying character arcs for spectacular set-pieces in its mad dash to the finish line".


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The first three episodes were met with generally positive feedback from critics. On Metacritic, the premiere garnered a score of 75 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". "The Long Night" was praised for the cinematography and grand scale of the battle between the living and the dead, but was criticized for what was considered its lack of catharsis, disorienting lighting, and the anticlimactic ending of the White Walker storyline that had been built up for seven seasons. "The Last of the Starks" and "The Bells" were said to have rushed pacing, writing, and deviation from character development, with "The Last of the Starks" being labeled as "anticlimactic" and "a huge letdown". "The Iron Throne" was described as "divisive", and according to Rotten Tomatoes, the series finale represents "a modest rebound" but it "went out with a whimper". "The Bells" and "The Iron Throne" are the worst-reviewed episodes of the entire series on the website, with an approval of 49% and 48% respectively, while the last four episodes of the season "plunged to record low scores".


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: David Sims of "The Atlantic" wrote that the final season "has been the same story over and over again: a lot of tin-eared writing trying to justify some of the most drastic story developments imaginable, as quickly as possible. As usual, the actors did their best with what was on the page." Lucy Mangan of "The Guardian" considered the season a "rushed business. It has wasted opportunities, squandered goodwill, and failed to do justice to its characters or its actors." Zack Beauchamp of "Vox" wrote that it "dispensed almost entirely with trying to make sense of its characters' internal motivations—let alone the complex political reality that its psychological realism initially helped create". Huw Fullerton of "Radio Times" said the final season was not "Thrones at its best" but still had "some sort of ending for the characters". For Fullerton, the season was "like the finale — some bits I liked, one or two I loved, an awful lot that leaves me scratching my head".


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Writing for "USA Today", Kelly Lawler felt that the series ultimately betrayed its "identity" of "tragedy and injustice" with a "pandering" ending. Judy Berman of "Time" said that the series failed to complete the answer to "conflicting ideas about freedom, justice and leadership", themes that had brought depth to the series. Ellen Gray of the "Philadelphia Inquirer" and Darren Franich of "Entertainment Weekly" agreed that the final season was not as complex as previous seasons. Franich stated that the "broseph mentality shined through," shunting the development and interaction between female characters. Franich criticized Cersei for doing nothing this season, regarding it "one complete failure of imagination", as well as the ultimate primary focus on the reactions and thoughts of the male characters, such as "Jon Snow, the least complicated main character." Writing for "The Hollywood Reporter", Maureen Ryan condemned what she considered the season’s reductive treatment of women, and "decisions set up and executed with little or no foresight or thoughtfulness", declaring the penultimate episode "The Bells" as "Game of Thrones at its worst".


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: A petition to HBO for "competent writers" to remake the eighth season of "Game of Thrones" in a manner "that makes sense" was started on Change.org after "The Last of the Starks" aired, but went viral after "The Bells" aired and saw Daenerys's arc take a significant turn. The petition described showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss as "woefully incompetent writers". By September 6, 2019, it received over 1.73 million signatures. "Digital Spy" reported that some fans of the series criticized the season for the way it handled several character arcs and the "rushed" pacing. The petition's creator stated that he never expected HBO to remake the season, but saw the petition as a message "of frustration and disappointment at its core".


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: The petition was labelled as "disrespectful to the crew and the filmmakers" by actress Sophie Turner (who plays Sansa Stark), "ridiculous", "weird, juvenile" by actor Isaac Hempstead Wright (who plays Bran Stark), "rude" by actor Jacob Anderson (who plays Grey Worm) and "fandom extremism" by actress Carice van Houten (who plays Melisandre). Emilia Clarke (who plays Daenerys Targaryen) indicated she was previously unaware of the petition, but gave a warmer response when she was asked what she would want to see happen if the eighth season were redone: "I can only speak to my own character, and the people that I interact with on the show. But I would've loved some more scenes with me and Missandei. I would've loved some more scenes with me and Cersei".


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Richard Roeper, writing for the "Chicago Sun Times", wrote: "Over the last 25+ years, I've reviewed thousands of movies and dozens of TV shows, and I don't think I've ever seen the level of fan (and to a lesser degree, critical) vitriol leveled at [this show] in recent weeks". However, Roeper noted that social media was not yet widely used during much of this time period.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Lenika Cruz, writing for "The Atlantic", wrote that with the end of the series, "there are folks who don't feel as though the hours and hours they've devoted to this show have been wasted", but "there are many others" who felt the opposite. Kelly Lawler of "USA Today" wrote that the ultimate ending of the series was not what some fans "signed up for".


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: CBS News has described several plot points that some fans are dissatisfied with: the character arcs of Daenerys and Jaime; the fates of Jaime, Missandei, Rhaegal, and the Night King; the Battle of Winterfell being visually too dark; the "basic existence of Euron Greyjoy"; and "Jon's treatment of Ghost".


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: In an interview with "The New Yorker", Emilia Clarke said she had to hold back her innermost anxiety from Beyoncé: "I was just, like, Oh, my God, my absolute idol in life is saying that she likes me, and I know for a fact that by the end of this season she's going to hate me. ... All I wanted to scream was 'Please, please still like me even though my character turns into a mass-killing dictator! Please still think that I'm representing women in a really fabulous way.'" Clarke said she was shocked at Daenerys's turn and her last scene because "it comes out of nowhere". Although she stands by the character, Clarke said it was a "struggle" reading the scripts. As for what she would have changed, she said she would have liked more scenes between Daenerys and Missandei and Daenerys and Cersei; "I just think more dissection and those beautifully written scenes that the boys have between characters — that we are more than happy to contently sit there and watch ten minutes of two people talking, because it's beautiful. I just wanted to see a bit more of that."


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: In an interview published as the final season premiered, Kit Harington said he felt "defiant" about the series at the time, adding that "whatever critic spends half an hour writing about this season and makes their [negative] judgement on it, in my head they can go fuck themselves. I know how much work was put into this ... Now if people feel let down by [this final season], I don't give a fuck—because everyone [working on the series] tried their hardest. ... In the end, no one's bigger fans of the show than we are". Harrington later said he expected the ending was going to divide fans, and he was concerned the final two episodes would be deemed sexist: "We have Cersei and Dany, two leading women, who fall". "The justification is: Just because they're women, why should they be the goodies? They're the most interesting characters in the show. You can't just say the strong women are going to end up the good people ... It's going to open up discussion ... And when have you ever seen a woman play a dictator?" Harrington also said he was disappointed his character Jon did not kill the Night King.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Nathalie Emmanuel, who played Missandei, was heartbroken when she read her character's sudden demise: "I think the fact that she died in chains when she was a slave her whole life, that for me was a pungent cut for that character, that felt so painful". Emmanuel, the only woman of color who was a regular cast member for the last several seasons, said, "It's safe to say that "Game of Thrones" has been under criticism for their lack of representation, and the truth of it is that Missandei and Grey Worm have represented so many people because there's only two of them." Emmanuel added that she wished she "had more time or scenes this season maybe with Daenerys or even with Cersei, scenes where we get to see her being brilliant before she dies. I think that might have eased the pain a bit more for people, and reinforcing a friendship that she and Dany had because we haven't really seen anything for a few seasons."


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Conleth Hill, who played Varys, told "Entertainment Weekly" that the seventh and eighth seasons were "kind of frustrating" and not his "favorite", noting that Varys "kind of dropped off the edge". Hill reacted with "dismay" to Varys apparently "losing his knowledge", commenting, "If he was such an intelligent man and he had such resources, how come he didn't know about things?" After being "very bummed to not have a final scene with [Littlefinger]", Hill was "bummed not to have any reaction to [Littlefinger] dying, if he was [Varys'] nemesis". Also, once the series ran out of book material as a source, Hill said that "special niche interest in weirdos wasn't as effective as it had been". However, Hill was "not dissatisfied on the whole" regarding the series.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Lena Headey had a "mixed" initial reaction to the manner of death for Cersei Lannister. Headey said she would rather have had Cersei die by "some big piece or fight with somebody". Fellow actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Headey discussed it and then appreciated the scene, viewing it as "the perfect ending" for Cersei and Jaime as they "came into the world together and now they leave together". Headey mentioned that a scene of Cersei's miscarriage was cut.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Sophie Turner said she would like to have seen "Sansa and Cersei reunited, or Arya and Cersei", but she was happy with the ending for her character. Maisie Williams said the biggest regret for her character Arya was not getting a scene with Cersei, and possibly killing her, "even if it means [Arya] dies too". She later embraced Arya's happier arc for the last season.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Gwendoline Christie, who played Brienne, said she was "dismayed" by her character turn, explaining that "It was partially because I read about this character [in Martin's novels] before I saw the show. So we all have our own ideas about how we think the character is going to develop. Sometimes your ideas become set in your mind, and sometimes David and Dan write something you didn't expect and find difficult to comprehend." "[Brienne] has been very impactful in the way I think about women and in the way they're portrayed in the media and the way they're treated in society", she noted.


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: Joe Dempsie (Gendry), also expressed disappointment over the series' finale, as did former cast members Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) and Natalia Tena (Osha).


title: Game of Thrones (season 8)

text: With 32 nominations, "Game of Thrones" broke the record of the most nominations received by a regular TV show in a single year.


title: Angel

text: Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include protectors and guides for humans, and servants of God. Abrahamic religions describe angelic hierarchies, which vary by religion and sect. Some angels have specific names (such as Gabriel or Michael) or titles (such as seraph or archangel). Those expelled from Heaven are called fallen angels, distinct from the heavenly host.


title: Angel

text: Angels in art are usually shaped like humans of extraordinary beauty, though this is not always the case—sometimes, they can be portrayed in a frightening, inhuman manner. They are often identified in Christian artwork with bird wings, halos, and divine light.


title: Angel

text: The word "angel" arrives in modern English from Old English "engel" (with a hard "g") and the Old French "angele". Both of these derive from Late Latin "angelus", which in turn was borrowed from Late Greek "angelos" (literally "messenger"). Τhe word's earliest form is Mycenaean "a-ke-ro", attested in Linear B syllabic script. According to the Dutch linguist R. S. P. Beekes, "ángelos" itself may be "an Oriental loan, like ἄγγαρος ("ángaros", 'Persian mounted courier')."


title: Angel

text: The rendering of ""ángelos"" is the Septuagint's default translation of the Biblical Hebrew term "malʼākh", denoting simply "messenger" without connoting its nature. In the Latin Vulgate, this meaning becomes bifurcated: when "malʼākh" or "ángelos" is supposed to denote a human messenger, words like "nuntius" or "legatus" are applied. If the word refers to some supernatural being, the word "angelus" appears. Such differentiation has been taken over by later vernacular translations of the Bible, early Christian and Jewish exegetes and eventually modern scholars.


title: Angel

text: In Zoroastrianism there are different angel-like figures. For example, each person has one guardian angel, called Fravashi. They patronize human beings and other creatures, and also manifest God's energy. The Amesha Spentas have often been regarded as angels, although there is no direct reference to them conveying messages, but are rather emanations of Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord", God); they initially appeared in an abstract fashion and then later became personalized, associated with various aspects of creation.


title: Angel

text: In Judaism, angels ( "mal’āḵ"; "messenger"), are understood through interpretation of the Tanakh and in a long tradition as supernatural beings who stand by God in heaven, but are strictly to be distinguished from God (YHWH) and are subordinate to him. Occasionally, they can show selected people God's will and instructions. In the Jewish tradition they are also inferior to humans since they have no will of their own and are able to carry out only one divine command.


title: Angel

text: The Torah uses the Hebrew terms (; "messenger of God"), (; "messenger of the Lord"), (; "sons of God") and (; "the holy ones") to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels. Later texts use other terms, such as (; "the upper ones").


title: Angel

text: The term () is also used in other books of the Hebrew Bible. Depending on the context, the Hebrew word may refer to a human messenger or to a supernatural messenger. A human messenger might be a prophet or priest, such as Malachi, "my messenger"; the Greek superscription in the Septuagint translation states the Book of Malachi was written "by the hand of his messenger" (). Examples of a supernatural messenger are the "Malak YHWH," who is either a messenger from God, an aspect of God (such as the "logos"), or God himself as the messenger (the "theophanic angel.")


title: Angel

text: Michael D. Coogan notes that it is only in the late books that the terms "come to mean the benevolent semi-divine beings familiar from later mythology and art." Daniel is the biblical book to refer to individual angels by name, mentioning Gabriel in Daniel 9:21 and Michael in Daniel 10:13. These angels are part of Daniel's apocalyptic visions and are an important part of apocalyptic literature.


title: Angel

text: In Daniel 7, Daniel receives a dream-vision from God. [...] As Daniel watches, the Ancient of Days takes his seat on the throne of heaven and sits in judgement in the midst of the heavenly court [...] an [angel] like a son of man approaches the Ancient One in the clouds of heaven and is given everlasting kingship.


title: Angel

text: Coogan explains the development of this concept of angels: "In the postexilic period, with the development of explicit monotheism, these divine beings—the 'sons of God' who were members of the Divine Council—were in effect demoted to what are now known as 'angels', understood as beings created by God, but immortal and thus superior to humans." This conception of angels is best understood in contrast to demons and is often thought to be "influenced by the ancient Persian religious tradition of Zoroastrianism, which viewed the world as a battleground between forces of good and forces of evil, between light and darkness." One of these is "hāššāṭān", a figure depicted in (among other places) the Book of Job.


title: Angel

text: According to Rabbinic Judaism, the angels have no bodies, but are eternally living creatures created out of fire. The Babylonian Talmud reads as "The Torah was not given to ministering angels." (לא נתנה תורה למלאכי השרת) usually understood as a concession to human's imperfection, in contrast to the angels. Thus, they occasionally appear in Midrashim as competition with humans. The angels as heavenly beings, strictly following the laws of God, become jealous of God's affection for man. Humans, by following the Torah, in prayer, by resisting evil instincts ("yetzer hara") and by "teshuva", are preferred to the flawless angels. As a result, they are also inferior to humans in the Jewish tradition. In the Midrash, the plural of "El" (Elohim) used in Genesis in relation to the creation of human beings is explained by the presence of angels: God therefore consulted with the angels, but made the final decision alone. This story serves as an example, teaching that the powerful should also consult with the weak. God's own final decision highlights God's undisputable omnipotence.


title: Angel

text: In post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels took on particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles. Although these archangels were believed to rank among the heavenly host, no systematic hierarchy ever developed. Metatron is considered one of the highest of the angels in Merkabah and Kabbalah mysticism and often serves as a scribe; he is briefly mentioned in the Talmud and figures prominently in Merkabah mystical texts. Michael, who serves as a warrior and advocate for Israel (), is looked upon particularly fondly. Gabriel is mentioned in the Book of Daniel () and briefly in the Talmud, as well as in many Merkabah mystical texts. There is no evidence in Judaism for the worship of angels, but there is evidence for the invocation and sometimes even conjuration of angels.


title: Angel

text: Philo of Alexandria identifies the angel with the "Logos" inasmuch as the angel is the immaterial voice of God. The angel is something different from God himself, but is conceived as God's instrument.


title: Angel

text: According to Kabbalah, there are four worlds and our world is the last world: the world of action (Assiyah). Angels exist in the worlds above as a 'task' of God. They are an extension of God to produce effects in this world. After an angel has completed its task, it ceases to exist. The angel is in effect the task. This is derived from the book of Genesis when Abraham meets with three angels and Lot meets with two. The task of one of the angels was to inform Sara and Abraham of their coming child. The other two were to save Lot and to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.


title: Angel

text: Jewish philosopher Maimonides explained his view of angels in his "Guide for the Perplexed" II:4 and II


title: Angel

text: Maimonides had a neo-Aristotelian interpretation of the Bible. Maimonides writes that to the wise man, one sees that what the Bible and Talmud refer to as "angels" are actually allusions to the various laws of nature; they are the principles by which the physical universe operates.


title: Angel

text: (Only these two angels are mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible; the rest are from extra-biblical tradition.)


title: Angel

text: Christians inherited Jewish understandings of angels, which in turn may have been partly inherited from the Egyptians. In the early stage, the Christian concept of an angel characterized the angel as a messenger of God. Later came identification of individual angelic messengers: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel. Then, in the space of little more than two centuries (from the 3rd to the 5th) the image of angels took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art. Ellen Muehlberger has argued that in late antiquity, angels were conceived of as one type of being among many, whose primary purpose was to guard and to guide Christians.


title: Angel

text: Angels are represented throughout Christian Bibles as spiritual beings intermediate between God and humans: "Yet you have made them [humans] a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor." (). Christians believe that angels are created beings, based on (; ). Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible refer to intermediary beings, as angels, instead of "daimons", thus giving raise to a distinction between demons and angels. In the Old Testament, both benevolent and fierce angels are mentioned, but never called demons. The symmetry lies between angels sent by God, and intermediary spirits of foreign deities, not in good and evil deeds.


title: Angel

text: In the New Testament, the existence of angels, just like that of demons, is taken for granted. They can intervene and intercede on behalf of humans. Angels protect the righteous (, ). They dwell in the heavens (, ), act as God's warriors () and worship God (). In the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus, angels behave as psychopomps. The Resurrection of Jesus features angels, telling the woman that Jesus is no longer in the tomb, but has risen from the dead.


title: Angel

text: Three separate cases of angelic interaction deal with the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. In Luke 1:11, an angel appears to Zechariah to inform him that he will have a child despite his old age, thus proclaiming the birth of John the Baptist. In Luke 1:26 Gabriel visits Mary in the Annunciation to foretell the birth of Jesus. Angels proclaim the birth of Jesus in the Adoration of the shepherds in Luke 2:10.


title: Angel

text: According to Matthew 4:11, after Jesus spent 40 days in the desert, "...the Devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him." In Luke 22:43 an angel comforts Jesus during the Agony in the Garden. In Matthew 28:5 an angel speaks at the empty tomb, following the Resurrection of Jesus and the rolling back of the stone by angels.


title: Angel

text: In 1851 Pope Pius IX approved the Chaplet of Saint Michael based on the 1751 reported private revelation from archangel Michael to the Carmelite nun Antonia d'Astonac. In a biography of Gemma Galgani written by Germanus Ruoppolo, Galgani stated that she had spoken with her guardian angel.


title: Angel

text: Pope John Paul II emphasized the role of angels in Catholic teachings in his 1986 address titled "Angels Participate In History Of Salvation", in which he suggested that modern mentality should come to see the importance of angels.


title: Angel

text: According to the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, "The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture."


title: Angel

text: According to Augustine of Hippo, "'Angel' is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is 'spirit'; if you seek the name of their office, it is 'angel': from what they are, 'spirit', from what they do, 'angel'." Gregory of Nazianzus thought that angels were made as "spirits" and "flames of fire", following Hebrews 1, and that they can be identified with the "thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities" of Colossians 1.


title: Angel

text: By the late 4th century, the Church Fathers agreed that there were different categories of angels, with appropriate missions and activities assigned to them. There was, however, some disagreement regarding the nature of angels. Some argued that angels had physical bodies, while some maintained that they were entirely spiritual. Some theologians had proposed that angels were not divine but on the level of immaterial beings subordinate to the Trinity. The resolution of this Trinitarian dispute included the development of doctrine about angels.


title: Angel

text: "Forty Gospel Homilies" by Pope Gregory I (c. 540 – 12 March 604) noted angels and archangels. The Fourth Lateran Council's (1215) "Firmiter credimus" decree (issued against the Albigenses) declared that the angels were created beings and that men were created after them. The First Vatican Council (1869) repeated this declaration in "Dei Filius", the "Dogmatic constitution on the Catholic faith".


title: Angel

text: Thomas Aquinas (13th century) relates angels to Aristotle's metaphysics in his "Summa contra Gentiles", "Summa Theologica", and in "De substantiis separatis", a treatise on angelology. Although angels have greater knowledge than men, they are not omniscient, as Matthew 24:36 points out. According to the "Summa Theologica", angels were created instantaneously by God in a state of grace in the Empyrean Heaven (LXI. 4) at the same time when he created all the contents of the corporeal world (LXI. 3). They are pure spirits whose life consists in knowledge and love. Being bodiless, their knowledge is intellectual and not through senses (LIV. 5). Differently from humans, their knowledge is not acquired from the exterior world; moreover they attain to the truth of a thing at a single glance without need of reasoning (LV. a; LVIII. 3,4). They know all that passes in the external world (LV. 2) and the totality of creatures, but they don't know human secret thoughts that depends on human free will and thereby are not necessarily linked up with external events (LVII. 4). They don't know also the future unless God reveals it to them (LVII. 3).


title: Angel

text: The New Church denominations that arose from the writings of theologian Emanuel Swedenborg have distinct ideas about angels and the spiritual world in which they dwell. Adherents believe that all angels are in human form with a spiritual body, and are not just minds without form. There are different orders of angels according to the three heavens, and each angel dwells in one of innumerable societies of angels. Such a society of angels can appear as one angel as a whole.


title: Angel

text: All angels originate from the human race, and there is not one angel in heaven who first did not live in a material body. Moreover, all children who die not only enter heaven but eventually become angels. The life of angels is that of usefulness, and their functions are so many that they cannot be enumerated. However each angel will enter a service according to the use that they had performed in their earthly life. Names of angels, such as Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, signify a particular angelic function rather than an individual being.


title: Angel

text: While living in one's body an individual has conjunction with heaven through the angels, and with each person, there are at least two evil spirits and two angels. Temptation or pains of conscience originates from a conflict between evil spirits and angels. Due to man's sinful nature it is dangerous to have open direct communication with angels and they can only be seen when one's spiritual sight has been opened. Thus from moment to moment angels attempt to lead each person to what is good tacitly using the person's own thoughts.


title: Angel

text: The Latter Day Saint movement views angels as the messengers of God. They are sent to mankind to deliver messages, minister to humanity, teach doctrines of salvation, call mankind to repentance, give priesthood keys, save individuals in perilous times, and guide humankind.