Skip to main content

War and Peace


Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have begun a quiet revolution in the translation of Russian literature. War and Peace is their latest translation. It is an extraordinary achievement, particularly because Pevear does not speak or read Russian but relies on a literal translation (with notes on syntax, nuances of meaning, and literary references) by his wife Larissa to write a more finished English draft. What really makes this wonderfully fresh and readable translation stand out from its predecessors is its absolute fidelity to the language of Tolstoy.
___________________________

from a review by Orlando Figes in the New York Review of Books.

Comments

  1. I've read several of the P&V translations, including Ana Karenina, and enjoyed each one. I was surprised to read that Pevear relies exclusively on his wife's literal translation. I would think he would have to have some sense of the Russian language to capture the meaning and flow of the narrative.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've always been partial to Rosemary Edmonds' translation of "War and Peace." She passed away about 10 years ago. But I'm looking forward to reading this translation. I've read the P/V translation of Dostoevsky's "Demons" and "The Idiot" and thought both were terrific -- big improvement on Constance Garnett.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I started reading W&P the other night, but didn't get very far.

    I read Demons as well, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Gives a fascinating portrait of the early anarchists in Russia, as well as Dostoevsky's view of the ideal religious state. I have to dig out my notes on it, as it was one of those books that generated a tremendous amount of controversy at the time, with Tolstoy and Turgenev both commenting on it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. am on p 700 of the p/v translation (having read their death of ivan ilych & other tales) and am still rivetted

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for looking in, nobodhi. I like the play on your name. I took a sabbatical during the summer and am only now catching up on posts. Please return with more thoughts on War and Peace and other books.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ward No. 6

Ward No. 6 is a short story written by Chekhov in 1892.  It has appeared in various collections of Chekhov short stories, including The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories translated by Constance Garnett in 1921.  In this story, Chekhov explores the inner working of a run-down lunatic asylum in a provincial town.  He  introduces the readers to a coarse porter who speaks mostly with his fists, various patients, a doctor who presides over this ward, and expresses his thoughts with a local postmaster.  It was recently made into a movie , featuring Vladimir Ilyin.  Here's a clip . There's also this very recent short film (30 min.) by Suzana Purkovic, with English subtitles.

The Morning of Our Motherland

I was watching a History channel special on Socialist Realism art of the Soviet Union and this was one of the grand canvases that is now stuffed away in the Tretyakov State Gallery .  The painter was Fyodor Shurpin and he had a wonderful eye for detail, right down to the secret service black car on the road to Stalin's right.  To the left, one sees a row of combines turning over the field of golden wheat, which became symbolic of Stalin's Soviet Union.  Утро нашей Родины is from 1949, with Stalin radiating a post-war confidence.  It is also known as  Dawn of our Fatherland and other titles. Shurpin was one of the better artists to carry over from the pre-war years.  The narrator pointed out how socialist realist art changed dramatically as a result of the war, becoming much more static and propagandist in appearance.  He pointed to two stops along the Moscow subway as an example of this divide.  Here, Shurpin essentially transposes Stalin for an earlier "Mother"

Light and Dark

I'm still trying to sort out the ending.  The story had to end tragically but was surprised that Rogozhin actually sought forgiveness in Myshkin after what he had done to Nastya, although I think that Dostoevsky intended the two to be read as one, along similar lines as The Double .  He kept Rogozhin a shadowy figure throughout the novel, ever lurking in the dark of the Prince's soul.  Try as he might, Prince Myshkin could not alter events and thus the fantasy world he had lived in upon returning to Russia crumbled before his eyes, leaving him at a total loss as how to reconcile himself with it. Once again, Dostoevsky plumbs great depths of the human soul.  This is a psychological drama told in theatrical terms, perfectly suited for the stage.  Characters appear and disappear as if moving from the shadows of the stage.  I can see the "green bench" as the central stage piece.  In the final part, one gets the sense that Lebedev is orchestrating events, and may even