Anatole Kuragin


Anatole Vasilyevich Kuragin is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace, its various cinematic adaptations, and an operatic adaptation as well. 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, Natasha 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 and Anatole Kuragin". Anatoly Shostak served as the real life inspiration for the fictional Anatole Kuragin.

Reception

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".

Screen portrayals

Anatole is played in the 1956 American film by Vittorio Gassman; in the 1966-67 Soviet film, by Vasili Lanovoy; in the 1972-73 BBC miniseries, by Colin Baker. In the 2007 version, he is portrayed by German actor Ken Duken, and in 2016 by Callum Turner. He was also portrayed by Lucas Steele, in the musical Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.