Part I

had not mentioned Bonaparte), “but Bonaparte when he worked went step by step toward his goal. He was free, he had nothing but his aim to consider, and he reached it. But tie yourself up with a woman and, like a chained convict, you lose all freedom! And all you have of hope and strength merely weighs you down and torments you with regret. Drawing rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, and triviality⁠—these are the enchanted circle I cannot escape from. I am now going to the war, the greatest war there ever was, and I know nothing and am fit for nothing. I am very amiable and have a caustic wit,” continued Prince Andréy, “and at Anna Pávlovna’s they listen to me. And that stupid set without whom my wife cannot exist, and those women⁠ ⁠… If you only knew what those society women are, and women in general! My father is right. Selfish, vain, stupid, trivial in everything⁠—that’s what women are when you see them in their true colors! When you meet them in society it seems as if there were something in them, but there’s