War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
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Book Reviews of War and Peace
Book Review: The Best Ever
Summary: 5 Stars
This is not the first time that I have read War and Peace. And the previous times have been under far better circumstances. Yet this time is remarkable. This translation is so much better, so much richer, yet easier to read. I have flown through a book that is famous for being a really tough slog. And concluded that it should never have been that hard.
War and Peace is arguably the greatest of all works of liturature. Yet it is one that has never really fit into any particular genre. Is it a novel? Yes, but few novels stop at times for an essay on the author's view of history. (and end with a longer essay on both history and human nature) Is it a war story? I once read a collection of good war fiction which actually contained an excerpt from War and Peace- in fact most of Book 2 [Prince Bagration's holding action in Austria after the disaster at Ulm]: It was an excellent read by itself. But large portions of the book deal with people going about trying to get ahead in life far from any battlefield and largely outside of the military. In the final analysis War and Peace is not about history or war- it is about people living and dying, which just happens to be the ultimate stuff that history is made of- and the ultimate stuff of literature as well. Which is why everyone should read War and Peace: It is unique in its ability to bestow real perspective when it comes to looking at the events which constantly bombard us from every television screen.
So be very grateful that you now have a translation that is actually quite readable. Previous ones were simply clunkers. It was worth the slog to obtain the life lessons inside this work, but what a pain. And in truth the previous ones could be quite enjoyabe at times, at least in parts. But this translation is simply so much better. Not just because it seems easier but I felt like I was getting more of the actual texture of Tolstoy's writing. Of course, to fully get the full texture I would have to master Russian- both the language and the culture. But few of us have that luxury- certainly I do not. Which is why I am ever so grateful for this splendid translation.
If there is one point where the more negative reviewers have a legitimate complaint it is in the failure to also translate the French language passages as well as the English (they are translated- but as footnotes). Would it not have been better to translate them but use a different font to indicate that the characters were speaking French rather than Russian? It was somewhat disconcerting at times, and hurt the flow of the story. But this is a minor quibble.
Book Review: 5 stars for War & Peace, 2 stars for the translation
Summary: 5 Stars
Critics are praising this new edition of War and Peace as the greatest English translation to date (see, for example, New York Review of Books, Washington Post etc.).
I respectfully disagree.
Other Amazon reviewers, who have more common sense than the professional critics I've read, have pointed out the difficulty in reading the English translations from the French, which are deposited in small print at the bottom of each page. They are right. Because nearly 20% of the novel is in French, be prepared for an extremely disruptive reading experience switching back and forth from the text to the footnotes.
Basically, readers are forced to the footnotes simply so that the translators can say that they maintained authenticity to Tolstoy's original by inclusion of the French in the text. But the translators have ignored the fact that Tolstoy's novel was written for people who could read Russian and French! How many people who buy an English edition of War & Peace today also read French?
The location of the translations from the French is not the only problem. Tolstoy's often gnarly sentence structure is also maintained - what made sense in 19th century Russian does not necessarily make sense in 21st century English. Now every translator's challenge is to be as faithful as possible to the original vernacular while rendering the work being translated into a comprehensible form. In this case, I cannot speak to the translators' faithfulness to the original because I don't read Russian, but I can say that I had difficulty understanding many sentences which I found myself having to read two or more times.
My advice to first time readers of War and Peace is to buy the Penguin edition which was very capably translated by Rosemary Edmonds. There are many people who swear by the Garnett translation (Modern Library), however, I find it somewhat dated. There are many turns of phrase that seem a little archaic and the whole approach seems a bit cold compared to Edmonds. I also found that the characters seem much more alive and warm-hearted in Edmonds compared to Garnett - word choices and sentence structure are crucial in this respect.
In summary, every serious reader should take on War and Peace, but don't start with this new translation.
Book Review: Only imposing in length.
Summary: 5 Stars
I found my way to Tolstoy circumvently by way of other Russian authors. It seems all roads lead to the count one way or another when it comes to Russian literature.
Certainly in my youth the expression, "It isn't 'War and Peace'!" was a sarcastic and thoughtless epitaph when trying to get through a book or writing something. Well, this edition takes the academic intimidation off the novel and makes it a completely readable and (who'd of guessed?)enjoyable experience.
Make no mistake- it's long. The joke holds water in that regard but if it's any help even Tolstoy himself wrote it in sections and volumes published seperately.
Like any work of vision, this book teaches you how to read it. Some have argued about the extensive french in this edition (overstated in my opinion) but the author's have placed the direct translation at the bottom of the page. It isn't an elaborate endeavor to avert one's eyes downward to read it's equivalent. Tolstoy (and thus his translators) thought it important that the Russian's spoke french extensively to exemplify how prevalent that culture was saturated into the aristocracy before it was their deadly enemy.
Volokhonsky and Pevear, the translating team, retain the original poetic intention of Tolstoy's writing in various points to some readers disdain. I find it beautiful and correct.
Tolstoy made clear he wasn't writing a novel (of european invention)or trying to obey any form besides the very expression he felt apporpriate to convey his story and characters. It is essentially Russian and is simply to be taken or left for it's own worth.
Aside from the artistic and ambitious translation (an art unto itself), I found the book inspiring, despairing and beautiful. A history lesson, a contemplation of the divine and a love story.
If that doesn't appeal then don't place this brick on your lap for the weeks or months it takes to consume. But if you do, I doubt you'll regret the journey.
Book Review: Hard to put down
Summary: 5 Stars
War and Peace has the handicap of being on almost every short list of "greatest novels of all time," and on many such lists in fact stands at the top. That, plus the size of the book and its huge cast of characters, makes it a little intimidating for those who are unused to Russian names and their numerous affectionate variations. Yet once one starts reading, the mantle of greatness falls away as a barrier with the discovery that this is a book that's very hard to put it down. Tolstoy had an amazing gift to bring each person who figures in his epic fully to life, the women no less than the men. He records not only what is said but, in many cases, what was thought but not openly expressed. Tolstoy has a surgeon's eye for what is going on beneath the surface.
As the title suggests, this is in part a book about war (the heroism, the horror, the chaos, the tragedy), but even more importantly it is a study of the spiritual development -- for several cases, the transformation -- of a number of people whose lives the reader follows closely over the course of years.
This my second reading of War and Peace. The first time around, 37 years ago when I was in prison for taking part in an act of civil disobedience protesting the Vietnam War, it was the translation done by Constance Garnett. She did ground-breaking work introducing English-language readers to Russian authors, but took a great many liberties with her translations.
This long-awaited new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is the most readable I know of, and (judging from the earlier translations) is probably the closest English-language edition of the Russian original, including the decision to retain French in all the places Tolstoy used it, with translation into English appearing as footnotes.
Tolstoy's masterpiece remains as vital today as it was when it was originally published.
Book Review: Excellent idiomatic translation - Difficult reading though
Summary: 5 Stars
This new English translation of Tolstoy's classic by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is certainly the most worthy to appear in a long while. The translators attempt to preserve the literary experience one would have if one were to read the original Russian. The French is preserved with English footnotes. Many seemingly "awkward" (to use a term frequently used by other reviewers) expressions, such as repeated words, are preserved. This is truly a word-for-word literary translation. The practice of "dynamic equivalency" has been downplayed in favor of rendering the text to match Tolstoy's prose style.
I took some Russian in college, and I attempted to read W&P in Russian a few times. I found the reading extremely painful and spent upwards of an hour sometimes just trying to understand one paragraph; Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, and Chekhov proved much more accessible. But I also got a sense of realism and true-to-life narrative that I found lacking in others. To translate W&P into smooth flowing English in the style of modern day novelists, or even Victorian era novelists, is to rob the novel of the unique "real-world" style Tolstoy adopted. I liken it to translating James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake into the French equivalent of modern day smooth English prose. Would you, if you be an English reader of Joyce, consider that a proper way to render that classic for foreign readers? I think not. Remember that when you read this W&P.
While I will always go back to the Maude translation, this certainly is the first choice among more recent translations. Garnett, Edmonds, Dunnigan, and Briggs are woefully inferior in comparison.
So I encourage you not to be disturbed by the difficulty you may find reading this version. You may not be able to speed through it Evelyn Wood style, but you'll experience the world Tolstoy tried to preserve with it more fully this way.