Tolstoy (1828 – 1910), a genius writer and interesting thinker – philosopher, if you will – is an indubitable authority of worldwide impor tance whose works enjoy permanent interest. The epic novel War and Peace (1869) is perhaps chief among these. In a certain sense, War and Peace is the Universe that we breathe – and that we sometimes cannot breathe in. For what else is human history than an endless cycle of war and peace, and what else does humanity realise in the aftermath of terrifying battles and wars, which had been looked forward to as the solutions to all our problems? For what else is our private life, if not a quest for happiness and love, studded by so many romantic and dramatic episodes? And what else is our lot, if not to understand our mission in the world while bearing the knowledge that we are tied so closely with Great History, which often, without mercy, steers and even defines our paths?