War and Peace: Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Leo Tolstoy

Oct 2011 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

From Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the best-selling, award-winning translators of Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov, comes a brilliant, engaging, and eminently readable translation of Leo Tolstoy’s master epic. •  Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

War and Peace centers broadly on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the best-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves behind his family to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman, who intrigues both men. As Napoleon’s army invades, Tolstoy vividly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world literature.

Pevear and Volokhonsky have brought us this classic novel in a translation remarkable for its fidelity to Tolstoy’s style and cadence and for its energetic, accessible prose.

Ratings and reviews

Why on EARTH aren't the footnotes visible in the eBook format of this text?! I don't speak French, let alone read it. I have the hardcover version of this textbook, but to spare my wrists the continued strain of holding the fat tome, I got the eBook. But seriously. I cannot abide by the lack of footnotes in the digital format of this text! The little footnote markers STILL REMAIN, but the corresponding footnotes are ABSENT. I'm enraged and seriously upset.

An epic, a classic, and a very respectable portayal of life in 19th century Russia. It is long winded at some points, and can be difficult to finish quickly, but it is a classic.

I think the translation and the layout in ebook form were done very well. I haven't read any other translations, but this one worked well for me.

About the author

A. N. Wilson is an award-winning novelist, biographer, and journalist, and the author of God’s Funeral and the biographies C. S. Lewis, Paul, and Jesus. He lives in London.