/lit/ - Literature

>>14083045
It is one of the greatest works of fiction ever composed, and Pierre Bezkhov is an excellent character. Reading W&P is almost dreamlike and only complex if you are retarded.

Boooooooooring!

>>14083072
Based. Reading about the piteous moans of injured Ruskies and their faggot thoughts as they stare at the sky for over 1000 pages is a real snoozefest. Just read the Wiki page OP

the book is super easy to understand and it’s very good, make a character chart as you go so you don’t get lost

>>14083045
>The book is long so it must mean it's complex

Have you read the upanishads, the aenid, protagoras, symposium, the republic, the nicomachean ethics, the pentateuch, the new testament, the monadology, the critique of pure reason, the chartreuse of Parme, the world as will and representation, and do you have a firm understanding of eastern european and particularly Russian geography, as well as a firm stool regarding the course of the Napoleonic wars?

Actually Tolstoy is quite accessible. If you don't feel confident, start reading first https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevastopol_Sketches

>>14083045
I mean yes, the language is accesible and the plot is clear, but unless you have a great understanding of western culture and eastern history (ahhh, Tolstoy, the great synthesis of cardinal directions) 80% of what Tolstoy is writing is going over your head.

>>14083376
I dont mind long books tho.

>>14083542
You don't need any of that, you need Hegel for the philosophy of history which Tolstoy uses, and Augustine for Tolstoy's ideas on time and causality as well as determinism

A very general understanding of the Napoleonic wars is ok, but you don'#t need to be an expert in any way. Russian geography? Is this bait anon?

>>14083570
Then read it. It's one of the best books ever written. If you're that worried about it being too complex, then just read a sparknotes summary after you read a chapter. And like what the other guy said, make a character chart to help with all the names. Tolstoy introduces like 20 people in the first couple of pages, so it makes it a bit confusing a first.

Mary best character

>tfw no pure princess gf

Tolstoy is very easy to read. His prose is not obscure at all.

Tolstoy writes elder god tier patrician books which plebs can enjoy

>>14083659
>“I remember the astonishment I felt when I first read Shakespeare. I expected to receive a powerful esthetic pleasure, but having read, one after the other, works regarded as his best: "King Lear," "Romeo and Juliet," "Hamlet" and "Macbeth," not only did I feel no delight, but I felt an irresistible repulsion and tedium . . . . Shakespeare can not be recognized either as a great genius, or even as an average author. . . . far from being the height of perfection, [King Lear] is a very bad, carelessly composed production, . . . can not evoke among us anything but aversion and weariness. . . . All his characters speak, not their own, but always one and the same Shakespearian, pretentious, and unnatural language . . . .”
Was Tolstoy right?

>>14083652
in russian his prose sometimes becomes plainly tedious because it's so uniformly dramatic and exaggerated, but i heard there's a translator who made his writing far more readable.

>>14083671
Why do you faggots always post this shit?

It's either this or "TOLSTOY FUCKED HIS SERVANTS". Get over it, retard.

>>14083637
yeah very fucking good dude put the chart with all the spoilers great fucking idea you piece of shit, MAKE YOUR OWN CHARTS ANONS WHO HAVENT READ W&P

Poor Petya

>>14083637

Besides spoiling several plotlines this chart also seems to include a lot of completely irrelevant characters.

Why did he include the second part of the epilogue bros? It completely ruined the end of the book for me, I understand that he wrote the work to make a point about the laws of history, but why put that at the end rather than the start?

>>14083695
I did say to make your own chart. I just found that pic on google so he can use something like that as an example. Calm your fat tits.

>>14083768
brainlet

Which translation of Anna Karenina and War & Peace to get? I've heard to stay away from P&V

>>14083941
Unironically just get P&V. I've read the entire book in the classic English translation from Everyman's, and I wish I just read P&V.

>>14083960
P&V is unreadable and you're retarded

Maude for Tolstoy

>>14083989
I happen to think P&V reads beautifully. I'll take the insult but you have a nice day good sir.

>>14083768

I felt the entire epilogue was pointless and unnecessary, but what do I know.

>>14083941
P&V is fine for War and Peace, I personally like Anthony Briggs.

>>14083649
The mirror scene is the best in the novel.

>>14083941
The more I research Russian translations, the more I realize that the anti-P&V sentiment- while having certain merits- is by-and-large a meme. I almost bought a /lit/-recommended translation of War & Peace before realizing that all the names were translated to Western names (Andrei-> Andrew, Nikolai->Nicholas). Fucking bullet dodged.

the way p & v do that one guy's speech impediment is fucking retarded

>>14083941
>Anna Karenina
Louise and Aylmer Maude or Rosamund Bartlett

>War & Peace
Maude or Anthony Briggs

>>14083941
>I've heard to stay away from P&V
You were well informed.

>>14083053
Pierre is a piece of shit and a bad friend who took advantage of his friend's disgrace. Andrei is /ourguy/.

>>14084003
The first epilogue is necessary just for the ending with Nikolai dreaming about his father and wanting to become a great man to make him proud. Such a bittersweet and fitting way to end it. I like the second epilogue too.

The 1966 Russian film version is incredible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace_(film_series)

>>14083045
Tl:;dr

>>14087575
This, and also most Soviet film adaptations of our own classics are kino as fuck. The old black-and-white Crime and Punishment stars the best Raskolnikov they could find, period.

>>14083699
He was a fag. Deserved it

>>14083172
Lmfao

The hunting trip with the borzois is the comfiest thing in all of literature.

Please don't read Constance Garnett, go with the Amy Mandelker revision of Maude translation.

>>14083671
no he was wrong.

>>14085340
>I realize that the anti-P&V sentiment- while having certain merits
Our criticism is that it's a subpar translation. Why even read it when the based Maude is widely available?

>>14090336
What makes Maude better?

>>14085697
Is there a difference which book to read first?

>>14090348
Tolstoy approved of it.

>>14087957
I almost agree. I'd say the comfiest thing in all of literature is the dream sequence in Oblomov.

Never enjoyed reading as much as I did while reading this
The length is actually a tremendous bonus while you read because you know you still have so much left to cover

>>14083637
prince semen?
now thats a guy i can get .. behind!

>>14083045
Just audiobook it