The words are those of richard pevear, who, with his wife larissa volokhonsky, has joined the intrepid army of translators including victorian phenomenon constance garrett who introduced war and peace to the englishspeaking world in 1904 and extending to her countryman anthony brigs, whose own new translation appeared to considerable acclaim. Richard pevear suggests that, the first thing a reader today must overcome is the notion of war and peace as a classic, the greatest of novels, and the model of what a novel should be, and focus on the immediate experience of reading it p. Buy war and peace by tolstoy, leo, pevear, richard. What is the experience of reading the first few chapters. Aug 06, 2009 this is, at last, a translation of war and peace without the dreadful misunderstandings and improvements that plague all other translations of the novel into english. War and peace by leo tolstoy, 9780099512240, download free ebooks, download free pdf epub ebook. But theres a reason its still around after 150 years.
From richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky, the highly acclaimed translators of war and peace, doctor zhivago, and anna karenina, which was an oprah book club pick and millioncopy bestseller, the eternal husband and other stories brings together five of dostoevskys short masterpieces. Yes, its the same oak, thought prince andrei, and suddenly a causeless springtime feeling of joy and renewal came over him. War and peace is a perfect book to read together for the duration of our necessary isolation. Their efforts convey a much closer equivalent in english to the experience of reading the original. Its in french the translators left it that way, says knopf. I recently shared the reasons why i enjoyed the anthony briggs translation of war and peace more than the popular pevear and volokhonsky however, there were a few points i decided to leave for another post, including. He has taught at the university of new hampshire, the cooper union, mount holyoke college, columbia university, and the university of iowa. Richard pevear was born in waltham, massachusetts on 21 april 1943. From richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky, the bestselling, awardwinning translators of anna karenina and the brothers karamazov, comes a brilliant, engaging, and eminently readable translation of leo tolstoys master epic war and peace centers broadly on napoleons invasion of russia in 1812 and follows three of the bestknown characters in literature. War and peace pevearvolokhonsky translation by leo. Dec 02, 2008 buy war and peace by tolstoy, leo, pevear, richard, volokhonsky, larissa online on amazon. The couple now live in paris and have two trilingual children. Austerlitz with the lofty sky, and the dead, reproachful face of his wife, and pierre on the ferry. A major new translation of war and peace, by richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky knopf.
War and peace is a vast undertaking of englishing bravo to all who. Its very clear and easy to read, with lots of historical footnotes from the translators, and includes all the french phrases used by the characters, together with their. Most translators follow garnett retaining some french. Mar 17, 2020 war and peace is a perfect book to read together for the duration of our necessary isolation. War and peace by tolstoy, leo pevear, richard trn volokhonsky, larissa trn the monumental russian classic reflecting the life and times of russian society during the napoleonic wars comes to life in a compelling new translation that is faithful to the original text and accompanied by an index of historical figures, textual annotations, a. War and peace by leo tolstoy, richard pevear, larissa. It will take us about 30 minutes to read 1215 pages a day much less than the time many americans spend on social media, and we will finish the novel in three. From pevear and volokhonsky, the bestselling, awardwinning translators of anna karenina and the. All the best moments of his life suddenly recalled themselves to him at the same time.
Having said that, ive heard that her war and peace translation is poor and that the maudes translation is the superior one, and better even than pevearvolokhonsky. You may know war and peace only as the punchline to any story about a very long book. Pevear and volokhonskys supple and compelling translation is the closest that an english reader without russian can get to tolstoys masterwork. War and peace vintage classics by leo tolstoy, richard pevear, larissa volokhonsky. Richard pevear writes about the unusual structure of this work, war and peace is a work of art, and if it succeeds, it cannot be in spite of its formal deficiencies, but only because tolstoy created a new form that was adequate to his vision. Volokhonsky met pevear in the united states in 1976 and they married six years later. Pierre bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment. War and peace pevearvolokhonsky translation free pdf. Joao nunes im still reading the kindle war and peace version from henry gifford editor and aylmer maude translator, louise maude translator and im enjoying it a lot.
Nominated as one of americas bestloved novels by pbss the great american readwar and peace broadly focuses on napoleons invasion of russia in 1812 and follows three of the most wellknown characters. Tolstoy removed the french in a revised 1873 edition, only to restore it later. War and peace by tolstoy, leo pevear, richard trn volokhonsky, larissa trn presents a new translation of the classic reflecting the life and times of russian society during the napoleonic wars, in a book accompanied by an index of historical figures, textual annotation, a chapter summary, and an introduction. As for straightforwardness, well, that is a subjective question. Individually, pevear has also translated into english works from french, italian, and greek. Tolstoys war and peace has often been put in a league with homers epic poems. War and peace tolstoy leo, pevear richard, volokhonsky. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read war and peace. Fast and free shipping free returns cash on delivery available on eligible purchase.
Prince andrei bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against. Briggs uses no french, while pevear volokhonsky and amy mandelkers revision of the maude translation both retain the french fully. War and peace by leo tolstoy, pevear and volokhonsky translation. Pevear and volokhonsky give us the whole animal, and claim for translation the distinction of reproducing fully tolstoys use of foreign languages particularly french considered more elegant by the aristocracy, even, one infers, after napoleon was threatening to incinerate their homeland. Leo tolstoy, richard pevear, larissa volokhonsky publisher.
Tolstoy himself wrote, it is not a novel, still less an epic poem, still less a historical. They both were twice awarded the penbookofthemonth club translation prize for dostoevskys the broth. This is, at last, a translation of war and peace without the dreadful misunderstandings and improvements that plague all other translations of the novel into english. Pevear and volokhonsky began working together when pevear was reading dostoevskys the brothers karamazov and volokhonsky noticed what she regarded to be the inadequacy of the translation by david.
Jan 17, 2014 i recently shared the reasons why i enjoyed the anthony briggs translation of war and peace more than the popular pevear and volokhonsky however, there were a few points i decided to leave for another post, including. Digital audiobook 12312005 paperback 12232016 paperback 1272009 paperback 1212016. War and peace vintage classics by leo tolstoy, richard. War and peace broadly focuses on napoleons invasion of russia in 1812 and follows three of the most wellknown characters in literature. War and peace tolstoy leo, pevear richard, volokhonsky larissa download bok. To remedy a total lack of war and peace, i downloaded the pevear and volokhonsky translation onto my kindle, settled down to read it at the start of a long train journey across the uk, and turned my kindle off less than fifteen minutes later. Pierre bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count, who is fighting. Out of curiosity i pulled down my copies all english of the books cited. The eternal husband and other stories by fyodor dostoevsky. Richard pevear, along with his wife larissa volokhonsky, has translated works by tolstoy, dostoevsky, chekhov, gogol, bulgakov and pasternak. Jan 06, 2014 to remedy a total lack of war and peace, i downloaded the pevear and volokhonsky translation onto my kindle, settled down to read it at the start of a long train journey across the uk, and turned my kindle off less than fifteen minutes later.
War and peace from the awardwinning translators of anna karenina and the brothers karamazov comes this magnificent new translation of tolstoys masterwork. Only about 2 percent of war and peace is in french. I read and completed the pevear and volokhonsky translation two years ago id studied some of the history and had read more classics by that point, so i cant say for sure if it was the translation or my readiness for the text that made the pevear and volokhonsky translation better. And of course, as richard pevear justly points out, tolstoy himself included the foreign passages. War and peace leo tolstoy, richard pevear, larissa. War and peace leo tolstoylarissa volokhonskyrichard pevear. Translated by richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky. War and peace leo tolstoy translated from the russian by andrew bromfield ecco. Larissa volokhonsky war and peace centers broadly on napoleons invasion of russia in 1812 and follows three of the bestknown characters in literature. Pevear and volokhonsky s supple and compelling translation is the closest that an english reader without russian can get to tolstoys masterwork. My edition translated by richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky is about 1,200 pages.
War and peace pevearvolokhonsky translation by leo tolstoy. War and peace by leo tolstoy, pevear and volokhonsky. For me, war and peace is the best novel ever written. Nominated as one of americas bestloved novels by pbss the great american read. War and peace npr coverage of war and peace by leo tolstoy, richard pevear, and larissa volokhonsky. The opening paragraph of the richard pevearlarissa volokhonsky translation of war and peace might take some readers by surprise. War and peace by leo tolstoy and richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky overview from the awardwinning translators of anna karenina and the brothers karamazov comes this magnificent new translation of tolstoys masterwork. Most uncharacteristically, i spent the rest of the journey mostly staring out the window. All content included on our site, such as text, images, digital downloads and other, is the property of its content suppliers and protected by us and international laws. Ive asked the most expert person i could think of, rosamund bartlett, to recommend which translation of war and peace is best.
Photo courtesy of richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky. Probably because war and peace has been freshly translated by richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky, the husband and wife team who gained national prominence in 2004 when oprah winfrey selected their translation of tolstoys anna karenina for her immensely popular book club program. It is regarded as one of tolstoys finest literary achievements and remains a classic of world literature the novel chronicles the french invasion of. Filled with many of the themes and concerns central to his. Translated by richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky ebook written by leo tolstoy. War and peace pevearvolokhonsky translation by leo tolstoy in djvu, doc, rtf download ebook. Tolstoys genius is seen clearly in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicleall of them fully realized. Oct 22, 2007 the opening paragraph of the richard pevear larissa volokhonsky translation of war and peace might take some readers by surprise. War and peace by tolstoy, leo, pevear, richard, volokhonsky. War and peace leo tolstoy, richard pevear, larissa volokhonsky from the awardwinning translators of anna karenina and the brothers karamazov comes this magnificent new translation of tolstoys masterwork. It is a great book, and the pevear volokhonsky translation is my favorite of the translations they really bring it home. Volokhonsky must have abundantly confronted in their work. War and peace broadly focuses on napoleons invasion of russia in 1812 and follows three of the most wellknown. War and peace vintage classics paperback by leo tolstoy, richard pevear translated by, larissa volokhonsky translated by vintage, 9781400079988, 1296pp.
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