Anatole Vasilyevich Kuragin () is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace,[Marianne Sturman, War and Peace: notes (Cliffs Notes, 1967), p. 14.] its various cinematic adaptations, and an operatic adaptation as well.[The role is sung by a tenor. See Giorgio Bagnoli, Graham Fawcett, and Teatro alla Scala, The La Scala Encyclopedia of the Opera: A Complete Reference Guide (Simon and Schuster, 1993), p. 366.]
Description
Anatole is Hélène Kuragina's wild-living brother and a soldier, although he is rarely seen out of Russia in the book. It is rumoured that he has had an incestuous affair with his sister, and he tries to elope with
Natasha Rostova despite being secretly married to a Polish woman during his time in the army. Later in the book, he gets his leg amputated at the Battle of Borodino, where he is treated next to Andrei Bolkonsky, Rostova's former betrothed.
Development
While developing the novel, Tolstoy sketched a character named "Petr", "who passed through a complex evolution" and "was a precursor of both
Pierre Bezukhov and Anatole Kuragin".
[Kathryn Beliveau Feuer, Robin Feuer Miller, and Donna Tussing Orwin, Tolstoy and the Genesis of "War and Peace" (Cornell University Press, 1996), p. 60.] Anatoly Shostak served as the real life inspiration for the fictional Anatole.
[Cynthia Asquith, Married to Tolstoy (Greenwood Press, 1969), p. 61.]
Reception
Esther Salaman writes that what "is so interesting about Anatole Kuragin are the many characteristics Tolstoy gives us about him all at once: something he seldom does".
[Esther Polianowsky Salaman, The Great Confession: from Aksakov and De Quincey to Tolstoy and Proust: From Aksakov and De Quincey to Tolstoy and Proust (Allen Lane, 1973), p. 106.]
Screen and stage portrayals
Anatole is played in the 1956 American film by
Vittorio Gassman;
[Rachel Moseley, Growing Up with Audrey Hepburn: Text, Audience, Resonance (Manchester University Press, 2002), p. 233] in the 1966-67 Soviet film, by
Vasili Lanovoy;
[Frank Northen Magill, Magill's Survey of Cinema, Foreign Language Films (Salem Press, 1985), p. 3327] in the 1972-73 BBC miniseries, by
Colin Baker.
In the 2007 version, he is portrayed by German actor Ken Duken, and in the 2016 BBC series by
Callum Turner. He was also portrayed by
Lucas Steele in the musical
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.
See also
-
List of characters in War and Peace
External links
