Guerre et Paix

War and Peace is surprisingly readable but also authentically majestic. Tolstoy really does manage to capture the world and drama of the individual - the vicissitudes of personal life - and at the same time, sweeping historical themes. 

Has any writer done that as well as or better than Tolstoy? Maybe Shakespeare. Tolstoy famously hated Shakespeare - not him personally, but his work. He wrote an essay about it, and he focused on King Lear, as being Shakespeare's best work according to the leading critics. Tolstoy described Lear as "a very bad, carelessly composed production, which, if it could have been of interest to a certain public at a certain time, can not evoke among us anything but aversion and weariness."

What's going on here? How can this be possible? Harold Bloom's explanation is that it's an example of his anxiety of influence. That actually makes some sense.