Leo TolstoyWar and Peace (Penguin Classics)

This review of the Briggs translation of "War and Peace" is broken down into two segments, a Descriptive Summary and an Evaluative Summary. If you're already very familiar with the story, you may wish to skip directly to the latter facet of my review which is essentially the critique of this particular volume/translation.DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY:In 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Austria to expand his European empire. Russia, being an ally of Austria, stood with their brethren against the infamous Emperor. Napoleon prevailed and a treaty was ultimately signed at Tilsit. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia, again in an effort to expand his empire. The end result of this tragic war was that Napoleon's army of about 600,000 soldiers was reduced to roughly 60,000 men as the defamed Emperor raced from Moscow (which he had taken), back across the frozen Russian tundra in his carriage (leaving his troops behind to fend for themselves) for Paris. That encapsulizes the military aspect of this work.But the more intricate story involves both the activities and the peccadillos of, primarily, three Russian families of nobility: The Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, and the Bezukovs. The continual thorn of "The Antichrist," Napoleon, really just provides the wallpaper for this story of romance, riches, desolation, love, jealousy, hatred, retribution, joy, naiivety, stupidity and so much more. Tolstoy has woven an incredibly intricate web that interconnects these noble families, the wars, and the common Russian people to a degree that would seem incomprehensible to achieve -- but Tolstoy perseveres with superb clarity and great insight to the human psyche. His characters are timeless and the reader who has any social experience whatever will immediately connect with them all.In his Epilogue, Tolstoy yields us a shrewd dissertation on the behavior of large organizations, much of it by way of analogy. It's actually an oblique, often sarcastic, commentary on the lunacy of government activities and the madness of their wars."War and Peace" is a fictional, lengthy novel, based upon historical fact.EVALUATIVE SUMMARY:Anthony Briggs, the translator of this edition, is a former Professor of Russian at the University of Birmingham, (Edgbaston, 26,000 students), coupled with the fact that he has previously translated many other literary works from their original Russian language. Overall, his 2005 translation is a fluid, easy-to-read version of "War and Peace".Having previously read the stalwart Maude translation (twice) and the new (2007) Pevear-Volokhonsky translation I feel compelled to state that that I'm very pleased and impressed with Briggs' smooth, modern-language translation, (which is also devoid of any anachronistic or modern "buzzwords"), and, I'm even more copasetic with the book's straightforward layout. The main text of the Viking Adult version is nicely supplemented with 4 detailed maps, a list of principals (both fictional and non-fictional), and 2 commentaries, all at the rear of the text. There is NO introduction by the translator and it's a direct read -- rendered entirely in English with almost no footnotes to bother with. There are historically-oriented endnotes but, as they are at the finale of the work, I found them useful, yet not distracting. The book is almost exactly the same size and weight as the P-V translation, (3.8 pounds, pretty hefty), with a beautiful white sewn binding and with a white dust jacket. (Penguin offers two alternative bindings of the Briggs translation as well).One of the few early complaints I heard on Briggs is that he "British-ized" the dialogue, using words like "mate" as soldiers address one another... so it's not written in "American" English. This fact, too, probably doomed him a bit in pecuniary terms, at least in the USA. But that is a very small caveat and I was not in the least distracted by this actuality. As Briggs pointed out in his commentary, (paraphrasing), he had to choose an English dialect to translate it TO and, since he himself was English, that was the vernacular which he chose to utilize. This makes total sense to me and the actual instances of these "British-izations" of the language are actually few and far between.Some others have criticized Briggs for eliminating the French entries (Briggs renders the entire work, unabridged, in English), thus eliminating the need for footnotes that we see in other translations which yield the English translation of the French script. Briggs does, however, shrewdly let us know, (by working it into the text), when a particular dialogue or letter was originally written by Tolstoy in French where this fact is either relevant or important for the reader to know. Honestly, the "straight English" text is much of the beauty of this volume for the casual reader because it's notably less distracting. Those who wish to read "War and Peace" for some academic or scholarly purpose would be better served by reading either the Maude or P-V translations since both maintain the French entries, with English translations in the footnotes, the French being roughly two percent of the entire book.In summary, if you are looking for a complete and unabridged, easy-to-read version of "War and Peace" which features modern language, the Briggs translation would be a fine choice.

War and Peace, Tolstoy's 2nd greatest novel after Anna Karenina, can be read as a series of shorter novels so as not to intimidate the reader: the 4 volumes are each around 300 pages, and it ends with 100 pages in (not 1 but) 2 epilogues. But make no mistake; it is all of one piece, a single glorious work of art. The greatness lies largely in the way that Tolstoy tells such a large story with such patience and clarity of vision from start to finish. There are so many characters, so much heavenly scenery, a multitude of dynamic relationships described over the course of the novel, and above all, many lifetime's worth of human emotions; but from start to finish not one of these creations of Tolstoy's is written falsely, inconsistently, or one-dimensionally.If you are passionately interested in the philosphy of history but have never read it in truly masterful fiction, you must read this book. Or if you are just intrigued by the idea of a literary narrative which shines from the far away vista of the here and now, and deftly skims both the river of time and the surface of unspoken conscious thought, without dallying into the murky depths of the subconcious, then you also must read it. It's greatest quality is how few if any passages are less than perfectly written so as to create a clear and delicate feeling within the reader, with grace and precision. It does not have as much profundity within the story as I had thought it might, and Tolstoy had to leave the narrative in order to make any major point about the nature of human knowledge and behavior (which he does in several asides which amount to essays on the flaws of history.) But this is not really a problem as long as you don't expect the book to probe deeper and deeper into human nature by way of storytelling, since within the story proper, it stays at the same level of human thought on page 10 as it does 1,200, except through those essays. And knowing this, you may get even more out of reading it than did I.The Briggs translation is a fairly easy read, though clearly it's written for the U.K. market (the use of slang is not like anything I've heard here in the USA) and the copy I bought contained a major typo in the first chapter summary, and several minor ones in the latter part of the book. This is only a problem if you paid $25 for the book like I did, and tend to feel ripped off by such careless mistakes with such a carefully crafted work of art.

I am loving this edition of War and Peace! First of all, the book itself is beautiful—the cover features a delicate chandelier, which feels almost metaphorical. The font is easy on the eyes, and the book feels sturdy and well-made.I did some research about which translation to read. I actually went to a bookstore to read a few snippets of the popular Pevear and Volokhonsky (P&V) version. I didn't find the writing particularly engaging, and I didn't like to have the French passages only translated in the footnotes. Besides, the font size in the P&V edition felt small, and the paper was quite thin.Then I read reviews of the Briggs translation online, which is said to be more fluent and easier to follow—even if it sacrifices a bit of literal accuracy. That trade-off doesn’t bother me, I care more about immersion and enjoying the experience. I want the style to be clear and beautiful while still conveying the spirit of the original.Overall, I'm super excited about this purchase and can’t wait to begin reading this epic.