War and Peace (Penguin Classics)

This review of the Briggs translation of "War and Peace" is broken down into two segments, a Descriptive Summary and an Evaluative Summary. If you're already very familiar with the story, you may wish to skip directly to the latter facet of my review which is essentially the critique of this particular volume/translation. DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY: In 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Austria to expand his European empire. Russia, being an ally of Austria, stood with their brethren against the infamous Emperor. Napoleon prevailed and a treaty was ultimately signed at Tilsit. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia, again in an effort to expand his empire. The end result of this tragic war was that Napoleon's army of about 600,000 soldiers was reduced to roughly 60,000 men as the defamed Emperor raced from Moscow (which he had taken), back across the frozen Russian tundra in his carriage (leaving his troops behind to fend for themselves) for Paris. That encapsulizes the military aspect of this work. But the more intricate story involves both the activities and the peccadillos of, primarily, three Russian families of nobility: The Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, and the Bezukovs. The continual thorn of "The Antichrist," Napoleon, really just provides the wallpaper for this story of romance, riches, desolation, love, jealousy, hatred, retribution, joy, naiivety, stupidity and so much more. Tolstoy has woven an incredibly intricate web that interconnects these noble families, the wars, and the common Russian people to a degree that would seem incomprehensible to achieve -- but Tolstoy perseveres with superb clarity and great insight to the human psyche. His characters are timeless and the reader who has any social experience whatever will immediately connect with them all. In his Epilogue, Tolstoy yields us a shrewd dissertation on the behavior of large organizations, much of it by way of analogy. It's actually an oblique, often sarcastic, commentary on the lunacy of government activities and the madness of their wars. "War and Peace" is a fictional, lengthy novel, based upon historical fact. EVALUATIVE SUMMARY: Anthony Briggs, the translator of this edition, is a former Professor of Russian at the University of Birmingham, (Edgbaston, 26,000 students), coupled with the fact that he has previously translated many other literary works from their original Russian language. Overall, his 2005 translation is a fluid, easy-to-read version of "War and Peace". Having previously read the stalwart Maude translation (twice) and the new (2007) Pevear-Volokhonsky translation I feel compelled to state that that I'm very pleased and impressed with Briggs' smooth, modern-language translation, (which is also devoid of any anachronistic or modern "buzzwords"), and, I'm even more copasetic with the book's straightforward layout. The main text of the Viking Adult version is nicely supplemented with 4 detailed maps, a list of principals (both fictional and non-fictional), and 2 commentaries, all at the rear of the text. There is NO introduction by the translator and it's a direct read -- rendered entirely in English with almost no footnotes to bother with. There are historically-oriented endnotes but, as they are at the finale of the work, I found them useful, yet not distracting. The book is almost exactly the same size and weight as the P-V translation, (3.8 pounds, pretty hefty), with a beautiful white sewn binding and with a white dust jacket. (Penguin offers two alternative bindings of the Briggs translation as well). One of the few early complaints I heard on Briggs is that he "British-ized" the dialogue, using words like "mate" as soldiers address one another... so it's not written in "American" English. This fact, too, probably doomed him a bit in pecuniary terms, at least in the USA. But that is a very small caveat and I was not in the least distracted by this actuality. As Briggs pointed out in his commentary, (paraphrasing), he had to choose an English dialect to translate it TO and, since he himself was English, that was the vernacular which he chose to utilize. This makes total sense to me and the actual instances of these "British-izations" of the language are actually few and far between. Some others have criticized Briggs for eliminating the French entries (Briggs renders the entire work, unabridged, in English), thus eliminating the need for footnotes that we see in other translations which yield the English translation of the French script. Briggs does, however, shrewdly let us know, (by working it into the text), when a particular dialogue or letter was originally written by Tolstoy in French where this fact is either relevant or important for the reader to know. Honestly, the "straight English" text is much of the beauty of this volume for the casual reader because it's notably less distracting. Those who wish to read "War and Peace" for some academic or scholarly purpose would be better served by reading either the Maude or P-V translations since both maintain the French entries, with English translations in the footnotes, the French being roughly two percent of the entire book. In summary, if you are looking for a complete and unabridged, easy-to-read version of "War and Peace" which features modern language, the Briggs translation would be a fine choice.

As a mother who screens everything her 13-year-old daughter reads, I was hesitant at first to introduce her to one of my all-time favourite books, partly because if its length, and partly because *other people* say it's too difficult for anyone not in a college Literature class. I am SO GLAD I decided to ignore common wisdom! This book, and all its various dramatizations have made Leo Tolstoy our permanent favourite writer. The only thing missing from our "War and Peace" experience is visiting Russia in person. I'd settle for seeing a Fabergè exhibition if there was one in town :-) Nevertheless, I foresee a revival in all things Leo Tolstoy in the days to come: "War and Peace" is quoted in both "The Gallagher Girls" YA series as well as the (unexpectedly affecting) existential novel "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" (which actually quotes Anna Karenina more). "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" is also a movie available in DVD form now, I believe. I am convinced our enjoyment of these other books (and life in general) would be much enhanced with a (re)reading of one of the world's first l-o-n-g series. If a person can get through all seven of Harry Potter's adventures, (s)he can certainly manage "War and Peace." I'm only sorry *I* didn't read Tolstoy myself until I was 30!!! Said daughter's review follows. Her quotes are taken from a mix of the Kindle version of the book, and the Penguin Classics edition. " 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy is one of the longest books in the world, a story spanning the course of about twenty years and which is about, well, *life*. And, like life, the book is complicated when trying to explain it, yet it makes perfect sense to anyone who reads it. There are betrayals, death, marriage, love, religion, war, passion, historical facts, courageous and cowardly men - actually, I think the only genres it *doesn't* cover would be cowboy and alien. As a thirteen-year-old girl, who has always loved books, I'm not usually a fan of giant books - I prefer to be able to curl up with a book, not plonk it on my desk as if it's some tree-made brick. However, I think I will make an exception to this particular giant-of-a-book. "In case you don't know the plot of the story, here's the shortest version I can possibly give you. "Basically, the book revolves around five people - Prince Andrey, Princess Maria, Nikolai Rostov, Natasha Rostov, and Pierre Bezukhov, and their lives from 1805-1820. "Prince Andrey is unhappily married, and is a bit of a jerk to everyone except Pierre, who's basically his BFF (Best Friend Forever), and, occasionally, his younger sister, Maria. "Princess Maria is Andrey's little sister, and she is extremely religious and kind. However, her and Andrei's eccentric father often bullies her, and she is always being told that she is plain, so she is rather insecure. "Nikolai is Natasha's older brother. He is "in love" with Natasha's best friend, Sonya. He, like most boys, dreams of being a war hero. Unlike most boys *now* though, he actually has a chance to be one. "Natasha is about 12 years old at the start of the book, and is very naïve and lively. However, she is prone to bouts of depression and seriousness, which are sometimes good (like when she tries to understand the secrets of life), and sometimes bad ( when she thinks that no one will ever truly love or understand her). "Pierre is the illegitimate son of the wealthy Count Bezukhov, which makes him very unpopular among the aristocratic families. Unfortunately, he is also extremely clumsy and absent-minded, and spends most of his time drinking and partying. He's kinda like that boy in high school, you know, the one who's best friends with the school bad boy, but is never noticed without someone thinking 'ugh!' "As the book goes on, many things happen. Russia goes to war against Napoleon's armies, and Nikolai and Andrey both decide to go and fight. Meanwhile, Maria is very unhappy, but tries to cheer up for Andrei's pregnant wife's sake. Natasha is growing up, and becoming more and more beautiful every day, and Pierre suddenly inherits all of his father's fortune, making him suddenly popular with, well, everyone. However, then he gets a crisis of faith, and does all these things to try and find out if there is a God. "My favorite part was the ending. I've always like epilogues, and with this, I'm no different. This is one of my favorite quotes from one of the endings. Tolstoy decided to have *two* endings - one so that readers can find out what happened to all the characters, and another to explain life and history. This quote (which is on page 1292 in my version of the book) is from the ending where we find out what happens to the characters: " 'After seven years of marriage Pierre had the joyous and firm consciousness that he was not a bad man, and he felt this because he saw himself reflected in his wife. He felt the good and bad within himself inextricably mingled and overlapping. But only what was really good in him was reflected in his wife, all that was not quite good was rejected. And this was not the result of logical reasoning but was a direct and mysterious reflection.' "However, you're going to have to read the book yourself to find out what happens to the rest of the characters! "My favorite characters (because I can't choose just one), would have to be Natasha and Pierre. I like Natasha because she's a bit like me - we both are a bit ... umm... *lively*, and we both sometimes get gloomy/serious. Unlike Natasha though, I'm not a good singer or dancer! :-) I like Pierre, though, because, right now I'm kinda looking for the meaning of life like he did. While Pierre joined the Freemasons though, I became Buddhist for about a month, before deciding that, as much as I liked Buddhism, Christianity was more my style. Also, Pierre really does *try* to be kind. Sometimes he goes about it the wrong way, but sometimes he ends up becoming the person's favorite confidant! As the book says, (on page 1231 in my Kindle), " 'In external ways Pierre had hardly changed at all. In appearance he was just what he used to be. As before he was absent-minded and seemed occupied not with what was before his eyes but with something special of his own. The difference between his former and present self was that formerly when he did not grasp what lay before him or was said to him, he had puckered his forehead painfully as if vainly seeking to distinguish something at a distance. At present he still forgot what was said to him and still did not see what was before his eyes, but he now looked with a scarcely perceptible and seemingly ironic smile at what was before him and listened to what was said, though evidently seeing and hearing something quite different. Formerly he had appeared to be a kindhearted but unhappy man, and so people had been inclined to avoid him. Now a smile at the joy of life always played round his lips and sympathy for others, shone in his eyes with a questioning look as to whether they were as contented as he was, and people felt pleased by his presence. Previously he had talked a great deal, grew more excited when he talked, and seldom listened; now he was seldom carried away in conversation and knew how to listen so that people readily told him their most intimate secrets.' "However, there were things I didn't like about *either* of them. I guess that means though, that Tolstoy did his job - the book is suppose to show what life is *really* like. And, yeah, sometimes fighting a war for a good cause won't save you, sometimes your friends will annoy you to death, and sometimes the meanest person you know is the hero in someone else's life. But that's life - complicated and messy and chaotic and sad, funny and crazy and mysterious - but you know what? "That's why I like it so much."

It's utterly wonderful to a brand new print of this saga novel at last!! I couldn't be happier! I would put Napoleon on the cover. Otherwise a brilliant classic book!!

Paper is good quality. I finished the book, and loved the story of L. Tolstoy. He explained the war sequence, reasons, his view about napoleon are splendid. Translation is acceptable. I felt almyer maude translation is short compared to briggs. Otherwise briggs also good.Text are small, but readable.

If you want to read War and Peace but don't know which translation you'd get. Hopefully my review will help. If you want everything in English [British it is!], then this translation is perfect! But if you want to know who speaks French at what occassion, get Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky's translation. Both are good! But for first time reader I do recommend this book translated by Anthony Briggs! The pages are not easily torn, too.

The paperback is torn and in bad condition.

プーチン大統領の愛読書であり「世界最大の小説」と称されてる本書を私ごとき豚児が書評をかける故もないのですがその素晴らしさに圧倒され筆をとりました。多少の小説は読みました、「風と共に去りぬ」、「大地」そして「誰がために鐘はなる」、全て素晴らしい作品ですが、「戦争と平和」がこれらに与えた影響は多大です。トルストイ以前の哲学と宗教に加え科学的見地を加えた世界観・人間観が全く新しい見方をもたらしてます。仏語を日常に使用し、王室と女性にしか興味のないロシア貴族階級が、ナポレオンの侵攻にどう対応するのかが、本書の主題です。愛国心に満ちた若き貴公子が初陣であっけなく頭を射貫かれ、狡猾な老将軍たちは巧みに戦場から離れる対比。信仰心の塊だった貴婦人は、愛人のできた父親の伯爵から冷たく扱われ信仰の意味を失う。最大の謎はナポレオンが略奪と大火のみが残り、栄誉・富の一切ないモスクワまで何故侵攻したのか？彼の「意志」がそうさせたのか？それともモスクワ侵攻は「運命」だったのか？人間と歴史を「意志と運命」の相反する観点から展開させ記述し、本質に迫る描写には圧倒される。気になったのはトルストイが強調してる「Good of living and the love of death」の一節。「love of death」は東洋思想には有りません、これが現在のロシア・ウクライナ戦争にどんな影響を与えるのか？本書は現在も生きてます。