'If life could write, it would write like Tolstoy.' Isaac Babel Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soir???es alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles ...
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'If life could write, it would write like Tolstoy.' Isaac Babel Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soir???es alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed. The prodigious cast of characters, both great and small, seem to act and move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will, fate, and providence. Yet Tolstoy's portrayal of marital relations and scenes of domesticity is as truthful and poignant as the grand themes that underlie them. In this revised and updated version of the definitive and highly acclaimed Maude translation, Tolstoy's genius and the power of his prose are made newly available to the contemporary reader. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. First edition. 3vols. Blue leather boards with gilt decoration and lettering to spine, with decorated end papers. All 3 vols contain a sewn in bookmark. Minor marks to top edges. In original decorated slipcase which shows minor wear.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good jacket. Book. 8vo-over 7¾-9¾" tall. The Inner Sanctum Edition. First edition, with title page dated 1942 and copyright 1942 in special arrangement with Oxford University Press. Illustrated dust jacket with no price on front flap. Red cloth binding with black title block with gilt lettering on spine and small gilt illustration on front cover. Slate-blue top edge. Endpapers illustrated with color maps. Yellow Reader's Guide pamphlet is laid in. Huge and heavy book over two inches thick. 1.370 text pages. VERY GOOD book in VERY GOOD dust jacket. Book is bright and very clean, tightly bound, straight and square. Cracking along both inner hinges but remaining sound and secure. Spine is not at all sunned and title blocks and gold lettering are very bright and unworn. Two corner tips are just very slightly bumped. Excellent interior with practically flawless pages. Previous owner bookplate on the blank reverse of the front endpaper. Dust jacket has overall age-toning along with a sun-darkened spine and sun-toning along the top edges and fore edges. Small chips along top edge of spine and top corners. Some wear along the folds and bottom spine edge with a few clear tape repairs on the front fore-edge fold. Otherwise excellent with no stains, tears or creases. Jacket is protected in a mylar cover.
criticize Tolstoy? Great book. Arrived in a timely manner in good condition. HUGE in size. It's to laugh.
Aarrgghh
Dec 8, 2011
This is the translation to read
Reading literary masterpieces crafted in a different language puts a great burden on the translator; Constance Garnett's 1904 version in English was the benchmark for a century, but it has finally been superseded by this fantastic edition, the work of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. It cleaves perfectly to the original, both to the Story, and to the Epilogue (Tolstoy's general discussion of history, the year 1812, human understanding, and pretty much Everything Else). Tolstoy had an immense, insightful, thirsty, tenacious, and deeply personal mind. Throughout the Story you are subtly aware of it, of him -- that is, aware that even though the story is moving right along and there's plenty going on, this is the work of a master storyteller and there isn't a single detail in any scene that hasn't been put there on purpose, for a reason -- but in the Epilogue you are nose to nose with the old boyar, as it were in a freezing, echoey, bare Russian classroom while he pontificates and gesticulates in front of the chalkboard repeating point after point. It's hard not to be buffaloed by the whole immensity of it.
Fort most American readers, just keeping track of who's who is hard enough. There are AT LEAST eighteen principal and secondary players from three or four families, and they each have one or two surnames and maybe three nicknames! It is to whew. With this in mind I strongly recommend the reader put a Post-It note on the edge of the "PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS" page, just after page xvi of the Introduction, so it sticks out a little and you can refer easily to it. You will want to.
Also, begin your reading at Volume I Part One Chapter I, not with the Introduction. As with any book, skip the Introduction until after you've finished. Then, reading it is like having a discussion with the author -- or in this case, the translator -- and much more valuable.
Welly
Nov 19, 2009
The Russian Response to Woody Allan
Anyone who wants to try to understand the Russian soul must try to read this book. The Russians were not then, nor are they now, people like us (i.e. people raised in the English tradition.
Ron Townsend
Jul 18, 2008
Easy to read
I read War and Peace in 1984 along with the three famous novels of Dostoevyski. It occurred to me the reason I liked all four was the translation made them accessible. Also In War and Peace the novel was divided up into small sections which made it easy to read and put down. I found all four novels a gateway into the mind of 19th century Russians. I wish I read these books in high school when our country was in the midst of the Cold War. I recommend them highly. The three novels by Dostoevski were The Idiot, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov.
BigBenaben
Apr 1, 2007
There's a reason why it's considered The Best
I took a Tolstoy course in university and it ended up being my favorite class of all time. What a lot of people don't realize is that the brilliance of Tolstoy and "War and Peace" is that in spite of its intimidating size and reputation, it's wonderfully easy to read and absorb. The way Tolstoy writes about love, death, fear, war and just about every other universal concern is magnificent. One second he's putting you right in the middle of a massive, chaotic battle and the next minute you're inside the mind of a character, privy to their deepest fears and desires. At the end of the novel I couldn't help but wonder how one man could create something so sublime. "War & Peace" is without question a must-read.
