|
War and Peace | 
 enlarge | Author: Leo Tolstoy
Creators: Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $37.00
Buy New: $22.02
You Save: $14.98 (40%)
New (38) Used (12) Collectible (4) from $22.02
Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 2189
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 1296
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.6 x 2.9
ISBN: 0307266931
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.733
EAN: 9780307266934
ASIN: 0307266931
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Item. CD, DVD, Book, VHS more than 400 000 titles to choose from. ALL days Low Price !
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
From Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the best-selling, award-winning translators of Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov, comes a brilliant, engaging, and eminently readable translation of Leo Tolstoy’s master epic.
War and Peace centers broadly on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the best-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves behind his family to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman, who intrigues both men. As Napoleon’s army invades, Tolstoy vividly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world literature.
Pevear and Volokhonsky have brought us this classic novel in a translation remarkable for its fidelity to Tolstoy’s style and cadence and for its energetic, accessible prose. With stunning grace and precision, this new version of War and Peace is set to become the definitive English edition.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 51 more reviews...
 AWKWARDLY ACCURATE November 3, 2007
rater25
82 out of 110 found this review helpful
After reading the first volume of W & P in Anthony Briggs' appalling British adaptation (Cockney slang, foreign accents etc.), I waited impatiently to read the rest in the Pevears' version.
I have to say, I'm more than a bit disappointed. Although everywhere one can feel their respect for and devotion to Tolstoy, the actual results in English range from the awkward to the downright ungrammatical. On more than a few occasions I was forced to consult other translations just to understand the actual meaning of a sentence. It would seem that they made an attempt to imitate the sentence structure of the Russian. This crosses the line from the scholarly to the pedantic. Thirteen hundred pages of such writing makes for a tough read indeed. It's nearly impossible to get a rhythm going.
There IS one invaluable and unique element of the Pevears' translation: the French is left in the main body of the text and translated on the bottom of the page. This is not only proper (it is a translation of a RUSSIAN novel), but also highly illuminating. Not only do we know when and why a character slips into French, we also get the actual nature of their use of the language (usually pretentious). A real revelation.
 After all the superlatives, more than anything War & Peace stands as a great story November 13, 2007
J. A Magill (Sacramento, CA USA)
60 out of 69 found this review helpful
Most articles on Tolstoy's mammoth War & Peace ooze superlatives, whether in regards to its length, its genius, or the trouble people have getting through its 1200 plus pages. Yet for all of that, I found it above all to be a really great story, not just epic in scope, but full of exciting human characters and entertaining dialogue. While I cannot speak to the debates that now rage on the various translations of War & Peace, I can say that having twice picked up the book before, this third translation proved for me to be the charm. Not only do Peaver and Volokhonsky bring a poetic rhythm to much of the prose, they also capture what I can only imagine was Tolstoy's dry humor and powerful sense of irony.
While not a work to be taken likely, I found it thoroughly enjoyable.
Engaging rendition November 15, 2007
Ex Lib (Fort Ross, CA)
45 out of 46 found this review helpful
I have tried to read different translations of War and Peace, including Garnett's and Edmonds'. One thing that has always annoyed me - especially with Garnett's translation - is the tendency to use Western or Roman Catholic terms whenever something related to Christianity is involved (Edmonds does not make this mistake). Instead of using the language of Orthodoxy, we often get "holy images," attended Mass," the Virgin Mary," etc, instead of "icon," "attended Liturgy," or "the Theotokos." While invisible to most readers, to Orthodox ears it is grating. The Pevears get this right by avoiding Western terminology in speaking about things religious. And, as other reviewers have noted, it is nice to see the French broken out. As far as the quality of the language, it doesn't seem any less awkward than other translations I have read. Garnett may have turned a phrase with a bit more flare but at the expense of making Tolstoy sound like Tolstoy and more like a Victorian. I agree, too, that this version would have been nice had it been published as a three volume set. You can't really tote it around to read at work or on the bus.
Excellent Translation October 19, 2007
Tony Pro (New York)
43 out of 55 found this review helpful
This is my second time reading "War and Peace" and, although I am only a couple hundred pages into it, I find it new and refreshing compared to the other translation I read. I have read and enjoyed other translations by Pevear and Volokhonsky and their "War and Peace" is equally as fresh. I recommend it to anyone seeking an appreciation of Tolstoy.
READY FOR OPRAH! October 21, 2007
John Stahle (New York City)
43 out of 72 found this review helpful
I deliberately held off reading another War and Peace until my favorite Russian translators, Pevear and Volokhonsky, got to it, and the result is worth waiting for. Theirs is a delicate, elegant rendering of Tolstoy, one that makes his strengths and weaknesses perfectly clear for evaluation. My only disagreement is about the many French passages. P&V leave them in the original, with translations below as footnotes. Especially in the opening part, where you want to get going as smoothly as possible, the constant use of French creates a lot of unwelcome speed bumps. In my view, an English translation is meant to render everything in English. Tolstoy had reason to believe his readers were French-speaking gentry, but that's not tenable anymore. My one complaint aside, I certainly endorse this as the best, indeed the only, translation of War and Peace you need.
As for the merits of Tolstoy, I am ambivalent. Of the 19th century Russian greats, Tolstoy writes best--but to least effect. He always stands between the reader and the characters, a snobbish Olympian puppet-master. Thanks to his minute, remote ethnography, I never care about any of his characters, and quite a few remain inconsequential cartoons. I would apply "fine" rather than "great" to this work: it always held my attention, though at times barely, but it just never took off. For me, Chekhov is the real Russian great, especially in his short novels and stories, and how he did it remains in great part a mystery. Somehow, Chekhov's characters communicate to us directly from inside themselves; in his world even trivia seem momentous. And Chekhov achieves his effects with great concision. Tolstoy: vast works about small pampered people; Chekhov: miniatures about nobodies that open to a universe of feeling and desire.
|
|
|
|
| |
