Synopses & Reviews
Set against the sweeping panoply of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, War and Peace? presented here in the first new English translation in forty years?is often considered the greatest novel ever written. At its center are Pierre Bezukhov, searching for meaning in his life; cynical Prince Andrei, ennobled by wartime suffering; and Natasha Rostov, whose impulsiveness threatens to destroy her happiness. As Tolstoy follows the changing fortunes of his characters, he crafts a view of humanity that is both epic and intimate and that continues to define fiction at its most resplendent.
* Includes an introduction, note on the translation, cast of characters, maps, notes on the major battles depicted, and chapter summaries BACKCOVER: ?The best translation so far of Tolstoy's masterpiece into English.?
?Robert A. Maguire, professor emeritus of Russian studies, Columbia University
?In Tolstoy's work part of the translator's difficulty lies in conveying not only the simplicity but the subtlety of the book's scale and effect. . . . Briggs has rendered both with a particular exactness and a vigorous precision not to be found, I think, in any previous translation.?
?John Bayley, author of Elegy for Iris
Synopsis
A grand, romantic saga of two noble Russian families and a multitude of lives swept up in the violent tumult of the Napoleonic Wars, Leo Tolstoy's
War and Peace is considered one of the preeminent literary works of all time. Tolstoy originally completed this novel in 1866, but it was not until years later—after the author had doubled the book's length with philosophical and historical meditations—that the great novel was published. More than half a century in the making, the result of extraordinary dedication and pains-taking research, here is Tolstoy's original version of this timeless classic, which never made it into print during the author's lifetime.
Now readers can enjoy the epic and unforgettable story as the novelist originally intended—with its subtly different characters, dialogue, and ending—and experi-ence anew the breathtaking masterpiece that has inspired love and devotion for generations.
About the Author
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is the author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Family Happiness, and other classics of Russian literature.