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WAR And PEACE

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SonofZ3:
So I'm starting an honors Russian Literature Course in a few days, where we will be tasked with the reading of only one book, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. We've got the 2007 Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation. What are people's thoughts/issues/problems/comments on this work (any translation)?

Joseph:
I actually started it last Sunday.  I'm around 900 pages into the translation by Constance Garnett (from 1904).  I've loved the book so far, found it well formed, with a grand plot and a huge host of characters, all distinct.  The only issue I've found has been in keeping track of the names, as any one character may over the course of the book be refered to by two or three different names.

But good luck with it.  I considered reading the edition you're to read, but decided that I'd rather read one of the classic translations.  Maybe one day, if I choose to return to the book, I will try my hand at that one.  Let us know how you find it as you progress.

Ishotdanieljohnston:
I have a real problem getting through long books. My attention spans just not up to it. I've been interested in reading this and Anna Karenina for a while though. I really like waht I've read of Tolstoy, which is the death of Ivan Illyich (pretty terrifying stuff) and several of his short stories.

Have fun!

SonofZ3:
One of the short stories in a collection I have that also includes "The Death of Ivan Illyich" is "Family Life", which I thought was suspiciously akin to what Aristotle says about love and friendship in Nicomachean Ethics. I say suspicious not as if he was trying to plagarize, but I wondered if Tolstoy was influenced by the Greek Philosophers. I mentioned that to my Russian Lit Prof and he said that he likely was, and just to wait until we read parts of his biography for the first week of class. Whenever I sit down and start to think of all the books I want to read someday, it kinda gets depressing. I think I've managed to read a lot of good and important works, but I still have a long way to go before I would consider myself "well read" in only American and European literature, let alone Oriental works and modern books.

Uber Ritter:
If the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation of Tolstoy is up to the standards of their Dostoevsky...oh how I envy you.  Their Notes from Underground is fucking spectacular, so I'm sure War and Peace is in good hands.  I read War and Peace over the summer for class and loved it.  Some of the characters (<cough>Natasha<cough>) perhaps haven't aged well over this past century +, but the book is still absolutely fantastic. 
The weakest parts, if you ask me, are Tolstoy's pontifications about history, but then again I'm a history buff, so I'm biased when an author argues it's all the inscrutable will of God beyond which no distinct causality can be determined (even if, speaking in terms of say mathematical certainty, this lack of understanding cause and effect is technically true...).

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