Tolstoy works with double strands : Hadji Murat - and War and Peace

Tolstoy's story/novella Hadji Murat, in "The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories," Pevear-Volokhonsky translation, is a miniature War and Peace (okay, not as great, but you can see the greatness within it): as noted in yesterday's post, it's about the decision of Chechen rebel leader Murat to come over to the side of the "white tsar," that is, the Russian emperor - at first not clear why but it becomes evident that he does so to gain an ally in a struggle against a Chechen rival. These military-political alliances and double-crosses are obviously just as topical and prevalent today as a century ago - amazing to think the Chechen-Russian battle still goes on. That's the "public" or historic side of the story - as it appears the turning of Murat was an actual event and many of the characters are actual Russian historic figures - though none as grand as the actual historic figures in W&P. What makes it similar to W&P is the double strand of the structure, as we see a pointless battle skirmish break out as Murat changes sides and a young Russian soldier is shot - taken to a field hospital - and dies, and then we follow his story back to his village, to his family left behind, his wealthy brother who avoided service because he has a child, the soldier's wife of one year who has already betrayed him - a whole private narrative line to balance out against the great public events of the story. The two strands, as in W&P, will comment on one another and bring out the highlights in one another, like rubbing two rough stones together to polish both.