Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, Russian Literature

Pevear and Volokhonsky, have produced the first new translation of Leo Tolstoy's classic Anna Karenina in 40 years. In the introduction, Pevear gives the reader a history of the work Tolstoy called his first true novel. Pevear explains how Tolstoy took real events, incorporated them into his novel, and went through several versions before this tale of the married Anna and her love for Count Vronsky emerged in its final form in 1876. The translation is easily readable and succeeds in bringing Tolstoy's masterpiece to life once again.

War and Peace focuses on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. As Napoleon’s army invades Russia, Tolstoy follows characters from diverse backgrounds - peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers. The novel details their struggles with the problems of their time period, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specific roles, becoming some of the most moving and uniquely human characters in Russian literature.

This book is the story of Tolstoy, as a writer and thinker.

This book is primarily the story of a novelist. A great genius whose art grew out of his three uneasy and irresolvable relationships: his relationship with God, with women, with Russia. In all cases, the relationships were stormy, full of contradictions. 

Leo Tolstoy

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