'It's phwoar and peace!' BBC to screen racy version of Tolstoy epic but why has it 'created' an incestuous storyline...and is it really OK to skip reading the tricky bits in the novel?

• The new series of War And Peace has left scholars up in arms over ‘ripe’ scenes that go beyond scenes in the book

• Tolstoy’s tome has been adapted for the BBC by Andrew Davies, who famously sexed up Pride And Prejudice for TV

• The anticipated Tolstoy drama is set to broadcast in a six-part showing on BBC One beginning in January 2016

• Here is a guide to the main characters – and an appreciation of the saga from bestselling novelist Lord Archer

By CHRIS HASTINGS ART CORRESPONDENT FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 23:18 GMT, 28 November 2015 | UPDATED: 00:31 GMT, 29 November 2015

The Daily Mail

It is considered by many to be the greatest novel ever written – an enthralling tale of epic love and cold-hearted betrayal played out against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars.

But the BBC’s new adaptation of War And Peace has left scholars of the classic story up in arms over ‘ripe’ scenes they say go far beyond anything in the original. 

One plotline even features an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister – and a scene of them in bed – barely hinted at in the book.

 

 

+7

 

The BBC’s new adaptation of War And Peace has left scholars of the classic story up in arms over ‘ripe’ scenes they say go far beyond anything in the original. One plotline even features an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister – and a scene of them in bed – barely hinted at in the book

 

 

+7

Tolstoy’s 1,300-page tome has been adapted for the BBC by writer Andrew Davies, who famously sexed up Pride And Prejudice for television

Tolstoy’s 1,300-page tome has been adapted for the BBC by writer Andrew Davies, who famously sexed up Pride And Prejudice for television, and he admitted: ‘There is a certain amount of nudity. When you expect someone to be nude, they are.’ 

He revealed that he hadn’t read the book until he was asked to adapt it, and encouraged others to read it – but understood why some readers might miss sections out. 

He said: ‘You have got to know which bits to skip – they become obvious as you go along.’

Leading Tolstoy scholar Andrew Kaufman dismissed the TV scene of the siblings in bed, saying: ‘That has absolutely no justification in the text. It just doesn’t exist in it.

‘I think they may be imposing a 21st Century perspective on to a 19th Century novel.’

He said the two siblings were a ‘dark team’ who encouraged each other in their sexual pursuits. ‘What Tolstoy is playing with in a very muted way is the fact that they have immoral values.’

Dominic Lieven, a leading academic at the LSE and the University of Cambridge, is historical adviser on the drama and even he raised an eyebrow over Davies’s deviations from Tolstoy’s text. 

He said: ‘You couldn’t completely rule out the strangest sexual antics in young aristocratic St Petersburg, though brother-sister incest is perhaps a bit ripe.’

But he added: ‘I thought it was pretty good given modern tolerances and pressures. It gets the spirit of Tolstoy and his book right.’

Historian and television presenter Simon Schama, who has read War And Peace eight times, said: ‘It is true the siblings have a complicated relationship. But the idea of a gratuitous bedroom scene is totally inappropriate.

‘The challenge for any English adaptation is not to make it seem like Downton in Cossack hats.’

Mr Davies last night defended the scene, insisting it was in keeping with the novel.

He said: ‘Tolstoy hints very clearly that the characters of Helene and Anatole Kuragin have been having an incestuous relationship. The convention of the day means that Tolstoy would never have actually written the scene.’

The lavish new adaptation, which is due to be broadcast in the New Year, stars Downton Abbey actress Lily James, Jim Broadbent, currently featuring in TV drama London Spy, and Gillian Anderson of X Files fame.

It was shot on location in St Petersburg and Lithuania.

A BBC insider said the Corporation was delighted with it. ‘It is an epic adaptation. Andrew Davies has surpassed himself with this. Hopefully it will introduce the novel to a whole new generation.’

Here is our guide to the main characters in the series – and an appreciation of the classic saga from bestselling novelist Lord Archer.

'DAUNTING BUT SO WORTH IT' WRITES JEFFREY ARCHER 

 

 

+7

Jeffrey Archer said: 'Tolstoy is one of the great writers of all time and War and Peace is a damn good piece of storytelling' 

Tolstoy is one of the great writers of all time and War and Peace is a damn good piece of storytelling. I can recall reading the book for the first time when I was 16 or 17 and still at school. 

I was daunted by it and I did struggle at first. But I found myself gripped by the story.

I still have that original copy and, if I look back at the notes I scribbled in the back, I see I was struck by the novel’s themes of self-sacrifice, love and betrayal and its chilling foreshadowing of the future. 

The depiction of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia resonates so strongly with modern readers because history would repeat itself with Hitler’s invasion of Poland.

When I read it again, 35 years later, I derived even more enjoyment from it and I think that was down to maturity.

The great secret of the novel is not the drama of the battle scenes per se – it’s the fact there are characters who become your friends and you have to live with them. You can’t let them go until the last page.

War And Peace is not a three-day read, however, and tackling it is a commitment. You can’t just pick it up and quickly get into it like a minor detective novel.

Tolstoy fills the pages with dozens of brilliantly written characters and of course the panoply of Russian names can be a problem. It may be a case of going back and double-checking who’s who, but a masterpiece like this is always worth the trouble. 

The reason the appeal of authors like Tolstoy and Dickens endures is not just because they are great writers – more importantly it’s because they are great storytellers. Great storytellers go on for ever.