War and Peace: history of creation, reasons behind changes to the original conception, genre complexity. Principles of portraying characters: dynamic and static characters, "natural" and "non-natural" characters. Family theme in the novel. "Heroism" and "service" in Andrei Bolkonsky's ethical quest. Pierre Bezukhov's way of achieving truth. Platon Karataev. The importance of war episodes: differences between the war of 1805 and the war of 1812. Tolstoy's concept of history. Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina: the personal and the social in the novel. Social reasons behind Anna's tragedy. The personal and the social in the images of Karenin and Vronsky. The concept of guilt and different interpretations of the novel's epigraph. Autobiographical element in the portrayal of Konstantin Levin. The origins of Levins' spiritual crisis; finding a way out of it.