Illicit love affairs, bankruptcy, infidelity, intrigue, gambling debts, feuds, rivalries, spiritual seeking. Sound like a typical winter on the Vineyard? Well, anyone so inclined can spend the next three months immersed in this sort of melodrama — virtually at least — plus a good dose of real drama in the form of war with all of its violence, politics, and strategizing, by reading one of the greatest books ever written. It can all be found in the 1,000-plus pages of Leo Tolstoy’s classic “War and Peace,” the subject of a six-part seminar beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Professor Philip Weinstein of Swarthmore College and New York University has been lending his considerable knowledge and keen insight on the classics of literature to Islanders for the past few years. This fall he will lead readers through the monumental epic that is considered by many the greatest novel ever written.
With the summer season at a close, now is a great time to tackle such an undertaking. Perhaps you can get some reading time in while waiting for the fish to bite in the Derby. And fear not, the book will be broken down into manageable 200-page chunks with two weeks in between each of the hour-and-a-half lecture/discussions. Professor Weinstein encourages attendee participation, and even welcomes differences of opinion. He excels at engaging a group and presenting information in a colorful fashion with wit, humor, and intelligence.
Mr. Weinstein has selected Tolstoy’s masterpiece for his latest series of participatory talks for a number of reasons. “First, I adore it,” he says. “I’ve taught ‘War and Peace’ off and on for 30 years at Swarthmore. It’s what the 19th century realistic novel can produce at its best. My line of approach is, Let’s keep attention on why this is a successful 19th century novel. It has all the power of realistic Western fiction.”
Mr. Weinstein is convinced that once people get over the intimidation of reading a work of such length and breadth, with so many characters and storylines, they’ll find themselves enthralled.
“I get a lot of people who read it umpteen years ago.” he says. “I’m hoping they’ll get so caught up in it that they’ll keep going.”
“War and Peace”follows the lives of a series of characters during the Napoleonic era, switching back and forth from battlefields to war rooms to drawing rooms. The work is divided into four books, each with subparts. “It breaks down beautifully into six sessions,” says Professor Weinstein, “breaking at critical junctions at the end of each two sessions.”
The characters range from the sympathetic to the villainous, from historical figures to members of the aristocracy to simple peasants. “It’s such a powerful gathering together of human drama,” Mr. Weinstein says. “There’s a mix of the historical and the fictional that no one has ever replicated. He [Tolstoy] makes that come to life because of the people he puts into the story. He has the capacity as a writer to take you into a character’s experience. You live out their emotional and intellectual fields in such a way that you’re inside their head.”
Mr. Weinstein has been splitting his time between his homes in Aquinnah and Pennsylvania since 1997.
During the handful of times that he was on sabbatical, the Swarthmore professor has presented fall and winter workshops at various Vineyard libraries. In the past he has led participants through seminars on William Faulkner, William Styron, American short stories, and the fiction of race. The current workshop is presented by the Vineyard Haven Public Library at the Katharine Cornell Theatre.
This year, Mr. Weinstein officially retired from his position as the Alexander Griswold
Cummins Professor of English Literature at Swarthmore College, and he and his wife will now live full-time on the Vineyard, although he will continue to teach in Boston, New York, and elsewhere. Upcoming for Mr. Weinstein are a course for Swarthmore alums in Boston this fall and a stint teaching for NYU in Abu Dhabi next spring.
“I’m a teacher by calling,” says Mr. Weinstein. “It’s just something I have to do in order to recognize myself.”
It’s a lucky thing for us on the Vineyard that Mr. Weinstein has a need to keep busy. He’s an inspiring teacher whose workshops are rich with interesting background information and full of insightful evaluation and interpretation.
“Tolstoy’s Modern Epic: War and Peace” will be presented by the Vineyard Haven library at the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Spring Street, Vineyard Haven. Classes will be held on Sept. 17, Oct.1, 15, and 29, Nov. 12, and Dec. 3, from 7 to 8:30 pm. The first session will cover Volume One, Parts One and Two. Professor Weinstein will be using the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of the book, which is available through the CLAMS library system. Please register online or at the Vineyard Haven library and read the assigned sections in advance.