Piano World Home Page Forums Fun Stuff! - Parties, Tours, Projects & More... Just For The Fun of It War and Peace - Tolstoy

Since we have a Russian Literature professor in our midst, and the epic novel has come up for discussion lately, here will reside an official discussion thread.

Dumka1 is our professor. I began reading the novel about a month ago, slowly, and plan on spreading it out over a few months due to the length and time constraints. I'm currently on p350, approximately. As I'm at work and it's not in front of me, I would have to double check the chapter.

Dumka1, how do you envision this discussion? In order of the book? By character? Free for open questions? How do you teach it in your class?

And thank you for your time, input and expertise!

FWIW we had a discussion on the best translation on another thread. I've chosen the Briggs version, Penguin Classics, but that was before the discussion. Which is your favorite, Dumka? And btw, to what level of student are you teaching? University? Upper level class?

Well, the real test here is whether or not it is possible to keep a discussion alive in a forum outside the first section of the PW forums! If we can, it will be

I'll have more to say that is relevant on the real topic, presently.

True; must be accustomed to searching "active threads".

I'd personally love to see an analysis of the characters. Might start with Pierre.

My first translation of W&P that I ever read was Rosemary Edmonds' which is still available as a Penguin edition. My favorite translation, is by Pevear and Volokhonsky and I have been collecting their translations of many books. I am open to considering other translations though.

BTW, Wikipedia has a section comparing a few of the translations.

I originally took Russian classes for the sole purpose of reading War and Peace in the original Russian. After many many years of Russian courses, and marrying two Russians (LOL... don't ask), I have only managed to make it about 10 pages into the original novel in Russian.

I've been more successful with French and have read all of Proust's novel with a dictionary by my side.

I found it, I found it! I'll check W&P out of the library -

Hi Cathy, if you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, you'll find that the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation is free to borrow and read on the Amazon Kindle (or in the Kindle reader app on a tablet/phone).

I really don't think characters can be analysed, at least not completely, until either they are dead or we are already at the end of the book. For example, my understanding of Andrey Bolkonsky was entirely changed by what happened to him at the Battle of Borodino, as he was looking up at the sky.

Fine....I'll give Pierre a chance!

Definitely. Don't want to include spoilers, but your opinions of him will likely entirely change by the end!

Thanks, Tyrone - turns out that's the translation my library has, so I have it in hand!

It was the battle of Austerlitz But Borodino is important, too, of course.

There you go! Just the translation I have. I like it best since it seems most faithful, but some people have said there are idiom issues, but I don't really think that's a big issue. Not all idioms are meant to be translated between languages. Anyways, you are all set now to join Anna Pavlovna's soiree on page 1


Oh my gosh, I've gotten my Napoleonic battles all switched around! Especially as those two battles weren't even remotely close in time!

Yes, I'm teaching university students, both undergraduate and graduate. Let's keep the discussion in a free/open format, otherwise it will feel too much like work (I do structure each class based on the chapters assigned and the important themes/passages that I feel need to be discussed but I also try to not over control the discussion--but this requires a lot of preparation).
The challenge for the forum discussion will be how to avoid spoilers, if people are at different points in this long book. Any ideas?

I use Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation for teaching because it's the most accurate one and gives me all I need for close analysis, word choice, etc. (except for princess Liza Bolkonsky's "moustache," which is a horrible choice--the Russian word just refers to some lip fuzz). But I heard that this might be not the most enjoyable translation to read because they translate a little too literally. My students have never complained, though. There are all kinds of strong opinions in the world of Slavists re translations of War and Peace (and other big classics). I myself am a native speaker of Russian, so I never had to read the entire novel in English.

And I think it's possible to analyze characters following their development in the novel--that's what we do in a semester-long course. You just analyze what you know about the character at each particular juncture, and it's kind of fun to follow their trajectories, lots of twists and ups and downs.

So, any thoughts/questions on characters are welcome.

Also, I'll try to keep up with this thread but obviously sometimes work/conferences/family stuff takes over my life. But I'm excited, I love this forum--piano and Russian literature, my two big passions, it doesn't get better than that! We can also discuss Tolstoy's (much darker) The Kreutzer Sonata later at some point, to combine both.

Don't worry about spoilers for my sake! I'm sure they'll all help as I go along.

Dang 50 years ago was a long time -

You last read it 50 years ago? I'll be like a new book then! What are you waiting for then? Anna Pavlovna is welcoming you to her salon

Exactly Which is why I say don't worry about the spoilers - the discussion shouldn't wait for me!

What am I waiting for? Hm - a short little mystery to while away my time - an indulgence, for sure.

I may not be able to start until Mon morning - I have a lot of stuff on this weekend.

Glad you all are in the discussion. Thanks, Dumka, for the support!!! One thing I notice, as I'm reading it for the first time and the names are largely unfamiliar, is it takes a little work to keep the characters straight. Especially some of the minor characters, like those in the army.

I'll come up with some specific topics for discussion as I read. If Cathy is not worried about spoilers, I'll post up some thoughts. If others join then we can go section by section instead. I'll give it a day or two.

Have a great weekend!

I can never keep the minor characters straight even after 4 reads. But the major characters aren't so hard. You can group them by family and create your own cheat sheet. What might be confusing for non-Russian speakers is the use of all the various diminutives for everyone. Russian has so many different diminutives for every given name!


Rather than hopping all over the place, may I suggest we go book by book? There are only 5 if the epilogue is counted as a book. So not so fine grain as chapters or sections, but also not hopping all over either. (And each book is like the size of a small paperback novel! )