war and peace barnes and noble collectible

If you just want a quick-and-dirty recommendation on which translation to choose, jump to the conclusion. It was first translated into English (via French) by Clara Bell in 1886. War and Peace was first published in Russia serially, then published in its entirety in 1869. Depending on how you count, there are between 5 and 11 complete English translations available to choose from. So you want to read Tolstoy’s best-known work, a thousand-page philosophical/historical epic encompassing hundreds of characters both real and fictitious, and you don’t read Russian. His last novel, Resurrection (1900), was written to raise money for the Doukhobor sect of Christian spiritualists.Which translation of War and Peace should I read? In 1884 Tolstoy experienced a spiritual crisis, becoming an extreme moralist, rejecting the state, the church and private property. After marrying Sofya Behrs in 1862, Tolstoy settled down, managing his estates and writing two of his best-known novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina(1878). Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born at Yasnaya Polyana, in central Russia. Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. This new translation is excellent' - Anthony Beevor This edition also contains appendices, notes, a list of prominent characters and maps. In War and Peace, Tolstoy entwines grand themes - conflict and love, birth and death, free will and faith - with unforgettable scenes of nineteenth-century Russia, to create a magnificent epic of human life in all its imperfection and grandeur.Īnthony Briggs's superb translation combines stirring, accessible prose with fidelity to Tolstoy's original, while Orlando Figes's afterword discusses the novel's vast scope and depiction of Russian identity. The stories of quixotic Pierre, cynical Andrey and impetuous Natasha interweave with a huge cast, from aristocrats and peasants to soldiers and Napoleon himself. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon's army marches on Russia, and the lives of three young people are changed forever. This beautiful Penguin Classics clothbound edition of Tolstoy's great novel is translated with an introduction and notes by Anthony Briggs, and with an afterword by Orlando Figes.Īt a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Part of the Penguin’s Clothbound Classics range.

War and peace barnes and noble collectible