War and Peace Readalong thread 2022 - thread 2

[VikingNorthUtsire]

"The finest novel ever written on this planet"
"Here is a novel that is worth whatever time one gives to it. There is more life between its cover than in any other existent fictional narrative"

This is a really helpful blog post by someone who has done the challenge: nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/announcing-the-2020-war-and-peace-chapter-a-day-read-along

1. Translations

The main complication seems to be which edition to choose. The blog post above contains some commentary of the different tranlsations that are available and their merits. There's also a pretty comprehensive guide here including samples from some of the best-known translations: welovetranslations.com/2021/08/31/whats-the-best-translation-of-war-and-peace-by-tolstoy/

The main differences that I can see are:

• some editions (including the free download on Project Gutenburg) have a different chapter structure. I think/hope we would manage to find one another if some are reading versions with more or fewer chapters but I have based the readalong on the versions with 361 chapters.
• there's quite a lot of French in at least some parts of the book. Some editions translate it into English, others keep it in French but use footnotes
• some translators have chosen to anglicise the characters' names. I guess its personal preference whether you prefer Mary, Andrew and Basil or a more Russian version.

Looking at the editions recommended and reviewed in the above blog:

The Vintage Classics edition, translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky: www.amazon.co.uk/War-Peace-Vintage-Classics-Tolstoy/dp/0099512246/?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

NB also this link for the kindle version: www.amazon.co.uk/War-Peace-Vintage-Classic-Russians-ebook/dp/B005CUS9AG/?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

The Signet Classics edition, translated by Anne Dunnigan: www.amazon.co.uk/War-Peace-Signet-Classics-Tolstoy-ebook/dp/B001RWQVXA/?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

The Penguin Classics edition, translated by Anthony Briggs: www.amazon.co.uk/War-Peace-Penguin-Popular-Classics-ebook/dp/B0033805UG/?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

As a general rule I would definitely recommend downloading a sample of any kindle edition before buying, so you can be sure that you are happy with it.

Obviously, some people will prefer to avoid Amazon! Feel free to use the weeks in the run-up to Day 1 to share any tips on what you are buying and where from. Can I suggest though that we stick where possible to the editions with 361 chapters otherwise we will all get very confused!

1. Reading timeline

Nick, of the blog post, has very helpfully done the calculations for which chapters fall on which days, except he did it in 2020 which was a Leap Year. So feel free to take a look at nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Nicks-2020-War-and-Peace-Chapter-a-Day-Reading-Schedule.pdf but see below the schedule for the Mumsnet Readalong.

Again, different editions name and number their chapters differently - some refer to four books divided into parts (as below), others refer to fifteen books although it's essentially the same structure just with different numbering. Hopefully there's enough info below to keep us all in sync, and always happy to let anyone know via PM what's happening in today's chapter so we can keep together.

Book 1: 1805
Book 1 Part One (25 chapters): 1/1 - 25/1
Book 1 Part Two (21 chapters): 26/1 - 15/2
Book 1 Part Three (19 chapters): 16/2 - 6/3
DAY OFF: 7/3
Book 2: 1806-1812
Book 2 Part One (16 chapters): 8/3 - 23/3
Book 2 Part Two (21 chapters): 24/3 - 13/4
Book 2 Part Three (26 chapters): 14/4 - 9/5
Book 2 Part Four (13 chapters): 10/5 - 22/5
Book 2 Part Five (22 chapters): 23/5 - 13/6
DAY OFF: 14/6
Book 3: 1812
Book Three Part One (23 chapters): 15/6 - 7/7
Book Three Part Two (39 chapters): 8/7 - 15/8
Book Three Part Three (34 chapters): 16/8 - 18/9
DAY OFF: 19/9
Book 4: 1812-13
Book Four Part One (16 chapters): 20/9 - 5/10
Book Four Part Two (19 chapters): 6/10 - 24/10
Book Four Part Three (19 chapters): 25/10 - 12/11
Book Four Part Four (20 chapters): 13/11 - 2/12
DAY OFF: 3/12
Epilogue One 1812-20 (16 chapters): 3/12 - 19/12
Epilogue Two (12 chapters): 20/12 - 31/12

Phew!

I would suggest that we meet at the end of each section (so 17 times over the course of the year) to discuss what we've read, but with (non-spoilerish) chatter welcome at any time in between. According to my guru, Nick, each chapter is around 4 pages long, so it should be do-able.

1. Chapter "meditations"

This looks like another really interesting blog post from someone who has done it, with thoughts and meditations on each chapter: brianedenton.medium.com/a-year-of-war-and-peace-cc66540d9619#.yabefbbgz

Come and join me! This time next year we will almost have finished reading the finest novel ever written on the planet.

PS Some may feel that each day off deserves a shot of vodka or two. I couldn't possibly comment.

Thanks, Desdemona! Interesting commentary.

There were huge changes for Andrey in this part of the book. I agree with Stokey. He is a changed man and is the better for it.

mb76 I have been thinking of you and watching the news in despair. As others have said it has been a difficult context in which to read W&P.

Between the doom-scrolling I have kept up with the reading, but in fits and starts. The early part of this block seems a long way back now, but I enjoyed watching Pierre commit himself from behind my fingers, poor Mary’s traumatic lucky escape, and her father’s better self’s failure to overcome his selfishness. I thought Tolstoy realised Mary really well, her channeling of frustration into piety. According to the character list at the beginning of my copy, Princess Mary and her father were supposedly modelled on Tolstoy’s mother and her father (Nicolas Rostov apparently being drawn from Tolstoy’s father).

A geeky observation - when we started out, I worked out how my edition’s block and chapter structure corresponded to the 361-chapter ones. This block we’ve just read worked out as the biggest number of pages per day, so hopefully that bodes well for the rest of the journey!

I like that point that the War sections really are about the individuals and the effect on them, not the broad sweep of history - I think it's why I'm enjoying these parts so much.

Thank you everyone so much for summing up and marking the end of Book 1 - I meant to post this morning but I've ended up being out all day plus I haven't read the last two chapters(!) and will be catching up this evening. It's all a bit tense and I am avoiding reading today's posts to avoid spoilers but I realise that makes me a rubbish thread leader. I'll pop on tomorrow with some thoughts and to join in the discussion.

I've just caught up after a busy week at work. I agree with the development of Andrei and it being a difficult read with the Ukraine situation.

Thanks from me too for that commentary, Desdemona -- I hadn't thought about the parallels between Pierre and Marya as characters, and that's really interesting.

I thought this ending chapter of Volume 1 was a tour de force, with Andrei gazing up at the infinite sky. The language was simple and powerful.

Day off tomorrow so hopefully everyone can catch up, including me.

Is everyone ok to keep going? It's a hard read alongside current events. Personally I am managing to keep the two separate but I don't want to keep the readalong going if it's upsetting or seems in poor taste.

I’m ok to keep reading if others are.

Thanks for the summaries and the snippets of discussion. I refrained from saying earlier on because of potential spoilers but I think it’s now clear that Tolstoy is taking the characters on a journey and that our opinions of them will fluctuate. I think that’s what I liked about last time, the characters, set 200 years ago feel so real.

I’ve started so I’ll finish!

I'd also like to keep reading - I'm really enjoying reading along side you all and find I'm getting so much out of every chapter.

I guess it is a tough read with current events as they are but I think that's also helping me get more from the story - sorry if that sounds crass. That's really not how it's meant, it's hard to put what I mean into words.

I'm ok to carry on.

I'm keen to carry on - it feels like quite appropriate reading if I'm honest, certainly Tolstoy doesn't glorify war

I’m 5 chapters behind, I didn’t do any reading last week and then read three chapters on Saturday. Really appreciate your post about chapter length @Cornishblues, because I have been struggling this section, whereas finding 10min for the first section’s chapters was quite easy. And then it builds up and it feels like a back catalogue of homework!

One of the reasons I’m behind is because I’m “doom scrollling”, so I actually really appreciate this as a task to focus me away from that and other mumsnet threads whilst still enjoying the forum with you all. I do also think stopping would be weird (can’t think of a better adjective), as other conflicts and humanitarian crises are happening and didn’t consider to stop reading for them, made me think of this Angelina Jolie post today www.instagram.com/p/CawegKzDRIc . The book’s also been around for 150 years and I feel the reading is part of the consistency of life and “earth’s diurnal course”. I do also feel weird (not so good with the adjectives today!) about reading it though because it’s about the old Russian empire and feel like I’m reading about what Putin wishes for and admires? Like he wants to be young Emperor Alexander on the field with all the soldier bro-swooning over him? I dunno.

My aim this week is to read this, even if just a page rather than doom scroll.

Bakeoff - your second paragraph sums up what mine failed to do... thank you for putting it into words.

Doom scrolling is my problem too Bakeoff and I agree it's good to have a distraction.

Still happy to read along too. It's a little oasis of calm in my day.

I'm also happy to keep reading along. I'm enjoying all your company, thank you.

I'll always associate 'War and Peace' with the war in Ukraine, as Cassandre said upthread.

I would also be very sad if we stopped!

At the risk of sounding facile/overly simplistic, I think literature can be a way of working through traumatic events. Reading War and Peace is making me feel more closely connected to modern Russia.

As BakeOff said, it feels like Tolstoy is giving us insight into Putin's (deeply misguided) nostalgia for the Russian empire. And insight into the madness and chaos of war in general, I suppose.

I am definitely grateful to be reading this novel right now. It's not the kind of detached experience I expected it to be, given the war in Ukraine, but life and literature can resonate with each other in profound and unexpected ways.

I agree with carrying on, and I think the "resonance" of life and literature is a great way of phrasing it cassandre.

Yes! Completely agree cassandre. Well said.

I'm finding it a topical read too. At one point last week I was watching Rise of the Nazis, reading War and Peace and watching the current situation unfold in Ukraine and it was an important lesson that history repeats itself!

I'm finding one chapter a day really easy to incorporate into my life and will definitely continue. Three books in and it's part of my daily routine now and I'm enjoying it and finding the Briggs translation really easy to read.

Thanks everyone, glad to hear that others are getting things out of the readalong despite the awful things happening in the world. I'm particularly grateful to cassandre who seems to have managed to put into words what many of us are feeling.

BakeOff I totally take your point about other humanitarian crises also happening - it was just with the very specific Russia connection that I wanted to check in and make sure that no-one would think I was being a massive dick to carry on with the readalong.

The summary that Desdemona posted above was useful, thank you. Tolstoy is really clever in the way that he switches POV, from the individual out to the wider vista, then back in close again. It's cinematic before there was cinema. A few chapters back there was a section where the Russians were marching in the mist, and he then switched POV to the French who were on a high hill in sunlight, watching the men below - quite chilling.

I can't lie, I am hoping for some drawing rooms, love affairs and gossip to lighten the mood.

I can't lie, I am hoping for some drawing rooms, love affairs and gossip to lighten the mood.

Oh no! I really like the war bits and find the drawing room stuff so dull by comparison. Pierre is such a drip. I like that Andrei is more of a dashing hero now and less of a moody git.

I’m caught up! Skipped working out and read the last four chapters.

What gets me is the waste. The sheer waste. The youthful hope and joy, and ardent desire to impress leadership should be directed to education and community improvement, advancements in humanity. The fine handsome men and their horses, decimated. Their mums crying at home, their sweethearts missing them. What a waste. And it just keeps happening again and again in different places at different times. Why?

I found Napoleon’s message to his troops interesting “I will bring you the peace you long for”, but wait you’re a foreign force fighting abroad. They truly believe “If you want peace, prepare for war”. It’s similar to Putin’s message of defence and peace. I was reading about Tipu’s Tiger the other day and the British who found it described it as “arrogant” and “cruel” but they’re the ones who traveled oceans to kill people?! www.historyhit.com/the-spoils-of-war-why-does-tipus-tiger-exist-and-why-is-it-in-london/ www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tipus-tiger

Hope Andrei starts being nice to his wife in the next part.