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Favourite Books (24) » 97 more 501 Must-Read Books (16) Historical Fiction (11) BBC Big Read (34) Five star books (16) 19th Century (3) Books Read in 2016 (233) A Novel Cure (108) Europe (2) Top Five Books of 2018 (242) Top Five Books of 2014 (868) Top Five Books of 2016 (360) BBC Big Read (48) All Things Russia (11) Folio Society (404) Out of Copyright (50) 1,001 BYMRBYD Concensus (174) CCE 1000 Good Books List (243) The Greatest Books (29) One Book, Many Authors (345) SHOULD Read Books! (84) 1860s (4) Tagged 19th Century (14) Books on my Kindle (59) I Can't Finish This Book (106) Realism (1) Love and Marriage (42) Best Love Stories (19) Alphabetical Books (170) My TBR list (11) Epic Fiction (27) BBC Top Books (78) War Literature (25) Best War Stories (16) Unread books (771) Bottom line: worth reading, with characters you can really and truly love. Beautifully written (I read Constance Garnett's translation), insightful, and moving at times. It is rather repetitive but I guess that's Tolstoy and there's a reason for it. I feel like this book really took me to a very real and very different time and place, and that's what we're here for, isn't it? There are many lists of "The 100 Best Books Ever Written," or, "Fifty Books You Should Read before You Die," and lists similar to these that show War and Peace as the number 1 best book ever. And there are other similar lists which list something else. Those latter lists are just plain wrong and not to be trusted or consulted. There is nothing I could say that would add to the reams of paper others have spent talking about this marvel. But I would like to suggest a couple of tricks for a person thinking about reading it or struggling a little with reading it. First, get a good translation of it. There are many and probably all are good, but the one that works best is one which minimizes the use of nicknames for characters and which also includes a list of characters either at the beginning of the volume or as an appendix. A "too literal" translation will tire you out and justify not completing the book. Second, the first 100 to 125 pages are absolutely necessary to the book but they are also the place a reader might decide that the book is boring or difficult. Ignore the impulse to quit reading! You'll be glad of those first hundred pages as you move more deeply into the plot and action. Third, my usual habit when reading a book is to have two or three going at once. I began reading War and Peace as I read two other books. I found that doing that made it more difficult to read War and Peace, harder to follow its storyline and to keep the characters straight and more likely to set the book aside.. So, drop anything else and read War and Peace all the way through and let the other books wait. (Anyway, the other books cannot possibly be a good as War and Peace and reading them along side W & P will make you less fond of them; they simply will not hold up to comparison). Fourth, read the Wikipedia article about Napoleon before you get too far into the novel. This will help understand the actual historical timeline and give you a basis for how historians view Napoleon compared to Tolstoy's views. Frankly, I think Tolstoy's views are the better of the two. Finally, underline, highlight, write marginal notes and keep some notes. This book is not a good one to check out from the library or attempt on an reader. And anyway, you'll want to read it again sometime later in your life. (It is one of only a half dozen that I have read three or more times, excluding, of course, the Dr. Seuss books). Finally - did it! My favourite quote: "Peter wurde empfangen wie ein Pestkranker!" Here's what I wrote after reading in 1984: "Of course it's about the Napoleanic Wars of the early 19th century. Of course it's about the Russian people. Natasha, so full of, and responsive to, life. Pierre and Prince Andrei, both self-searching and striving for inner excellence. Do the "laws of space, time and cause" direct the individual and thus form history as Tolstoy suggests?" Interesting, Tolstoy did not consider this a novel; a writing filled with philosophy and history. New York Public Library NYPL says about the three main characters: "as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving and human figures in world literature."
The novel is not just a masterclass in fiction, Ms Li believes, but a remedy for distress. At the most difficult times in her life, she says, she has turned to it again and again, reassured by its “solidity” in the face of uncertainty. I had it on my desk for about a year, and now I've given up and put it back on the shelf. Tolstoy’s singular genius is to be able to take the torrent of conscious experience and master it. There are countless moments in the book where this happens ... Belongs to Publisher Series — 20 more Great Books of the Western World (Volume 51) Modern Library Giant (G1) La nostra biblioteca Edipem (65-66-67) Os Grandes Romances Históricos (21-24) Penguin Clothbound Classics (2016) Is contained inGreat Books Of The Western World - 54 Volume Set, Incl. 10 Vols of Great Ideas Program & 3 Great Ideas Today (1966, 1967 by Robert Maynard Hutchins (indirect) Great Books Of The Western World - 54 Volume Set, Incl. 10 Vols of Great Ideas Program & 10 Volumes Gateway To Great Books by Robert Maynard Hutchins (indirect) GREAT BOOKS OF THE WESTERN WORLD--54 Volumes 27 volumes 1961-1987 GREAT IDEAS TODAY (Yearbooks) 10 volumes GATEWAY TO THE GREAT BOOKS 10 volumes GREAT IDEAS PROGRAM. Total 101 Volumes. by Robert Maynard Hutchins (indirect) I capolavori (Anna Karenina - Guerra e pace - La morte di Ivan Il'ič- Resurrezione - La sonata a Kreutzer e altri racconti) (Italian Edition) by Lev Tolstoj International Collector's Library Classics 19 volumes: Crime & Punishment; Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea; Mysterious Island; Magic Mountain; Around the World in 80 Days; Count of Monte Cristo; Camille; Quo Vadis; Hunchback of Notre Dame; Nana; Scaramouche; Pinocchio; Fernande; War and Peace; The Egyptian; From the Earth to the Moon; Candide; Treasure of Sierra Madre; Siddhartha/Steppenwolf by Jules Verne ContainsIs retold inHas the adaptationIs abridged inHas as a commentary on the textHas as a student's study guide
Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic Wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy's genius is seen clearly in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle--all of them fully realized and equally memorable. Out of this complex narrative emerges a profound examination of the individual's place in the historical process, one that makes it clear why Thomas Mann praised Tolstoy for his Homeric powers and placed War and Peace in the same category as the Iliad: "To read him . . . is to find one' s way home . . . to everything within us that is fundamental and sane." No library descriptions found. |
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)891.733 — Literature Literature of other languages Literature of east Indo-European and Celtic languages Russian and East Slavic languages Russian fiction 1800–1917LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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Ci sono due elementi che mi impediscono di amare alla follia Guerra e pace: il primo riguarda i personaggi, mentre il secondo ha a che fare con le idee di Tolstoj (e non solo perché ha scritto tipo duecento pagine su quanto fosse detestabile Napoleone: avremmo capito anche con meno pagine che non lo sopportava, ecco).
Sul primo punto, devo dire di essere una lettrice in cerca di personaggi ribelli: leggermi millequattrocento pagine di gente che si fa milioni di problemi nel cercare di aderire all’ideale che in quel momento le sembra il paradigma al quale aspirare mi ha fatto venire il latte alle ginocchia. Tra Pierre e Bolkonskij non so chi avrei strozzato più volentieri (e mi fa molto ridere il fatto che nell’introduzione alla mia edizione si affermi che Pierre è il personaggio che più di tutti attira le simpatie dellǝ lettorǝ).
Sulle idee di Tolstoj – manco a dirlo – ho trovato insopportabile, e a tratti addirittura ridicolo, il determinismo che permea Guerra e pace. Voglio dire, Pierre non ha sposato Hélène perché era scritto che doveva andare così; l’ha sposata perché è un coglione che dovrebbe smettere di usare il destino come scusa per giustificare qualunque bischerata gli capiti di fare.
In secondo luogo, la concezione delle donne di Tolstoj è terrificante. Lo so che è un romanzo dell’Ottocento e badabim e badabam, ma a volte la ragione non è sufficiente a farti passare il fastidio provato davanti a ciò che stai leggendo. Penso che il personaggio che ha attirato di più la mia simpatia sia Natasha: prima con la faccenda con Bolkonskij, che mi è sembrata molto surreale; poi con l’uomo che finisce per sposare – mamma mia, che tristezza.
Eppure, nonostante tutto questo, ho macinato pagine su pagine di Guerra e pace senza particolari difficoltà perché la capacità di Tolstoj di caratterizzare i suoi personaggi è tale da far passare in secondo piano ogni discrepanza e da farteli ricordare anche se sono una miriade. Quindi il mio consiglio è di leggerlo, senza paura per la mole (Tolstoj scorre come l’acqua) e senza temere i pippotti su Napoleone (che a una certa sembrano mattonate sulle dita dei piedi, ma poi finiscono, dai). (