Mission Accoumplished

Hello one and all,

So just wanted to let you all know I made it through Volume 1, part 1. I'm now one page 119. I'm loving the book alot so fare.

Bye for now!!!

Ok, so I have failed. I have not made the first deadline. But I think the piont is not to get to sad about this, but to keep going.

The turtell won the won the race, not by going fast but by going slow and steady. So in this year of War and Peace I will be the turtel and I will be slow and steady.

I will take to Bermuda and read it there. Less distractions. (Unless I get lost in the Bermuda triangle. That would be bad.)

I'm currently distracted reading Tale of Two Cities. I'm loving it, I also just finshed Great Expectations. Though what I have read of War and Peace is very good. When I read Tolstoy I feel like I'm in a Russian Tea, wearing a fancy dress. Tolstoy creats very colourful and detailed characters. Reading him is alot of fun and not as much work as very one thinks. (Plus it sounds soo smart saying I'm reading War and Peace. Just joking, saying that is makes you sound smart, takes away from you actual being smart.)

Also in failing to make the deadline I have not been blogging as often as my counter parts. Sorry but I have never blogged before. I will make a promise to try and blogg more often. I also I gusse I should let people know upfront I have bad spelling and it will show. But I know no one reading this blog will judge me. (I hope there are people out there reading this blog!!!)

What have other people been distracted reading? (I know I should be distracted reading stuff for class.)

Ok well I'm going to go now and read me some War and Peace. Wish me luck!!!

{{{HUGS}}}

Sonja

By

First deadline, Part I Vol.1 notes

Today marks the first deadline in The Year of War and Peace. If you're following the schedule, you should be done Volume I Part I. Myself, I've still got some forty pages to go before I reach that goal. But that's not going to stop me from glibly summarizing what I've read so far:

It is 1805 and all of Europe is embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars. The Russian upper-class deals with this by throwing lots and lots parties. The characters do do other stuff than go to parties, but we don't see any of it. But even though we don't get to see the actual interesting stuff that the characters actually do, we do get to listen to other characters gossip about it at- wait for it- parties. What fun!

Also, an interesting distinction I've learned from this book:

The Decemberists: Indie folk group and every English major's favourite band.

The Decembrists: Group of young Russian aristocrats and officers who in 1825 rose up in support of a constitutional monarchy.

Jury's still out on which group is more pretentious.

Forward & Part One, Volume I

It is now the morning of January 22, the day we should all be finished Part 1 of W&P. No matter what the obstacle: Sonja's enjoyment of Jane Austen, my delightful Sarah Silverman biography, or *cough cough* momentarily forgetting my Blogger password. But honestly, those were my greatest barriers to keeping pace. I find the language quite accessible, and the story interesting, and honestly, I expected much more of a slough. I think in part because although it is a classic, it was written relatively recently (Tolstoy finished it in 1868). It could also be because I'm in St. Stephen. Yup, probably that's why. Besides girls movie nights, work, and sports, I never leave the house, so I have plenty of reading time. That's my optimistic take on the situation.

So, I have to admit that it's been quite awhile since I've read anything remotely classical, and even longer since I've read a novel with end notes. It feels so good to be home! To make it a little easier to compare all of us are reading the Pevear, Volokhonsky edition. Even though, as the saying goes, "traduire est trahir", I've always assumed approximate equality between editions. This is FALLACIOUS, say the translators, as they proceed to trash the other (wrong) translators who pathetically strive for an idiomatic translation. Quote time! "A translator who turns a great original into a patchwork or ready-mead 'contemporary' phrases... betrays both English and Tolstoy". To say that these are strong words would be an understatement. "Is Melville idiomatic? Is Faulkner? Is Beckett?", they continue. And in following pages they actually quote and cite other lesser translations, as a foil to their gloriously accurate passages. Another delightful feature of this edition is the character list at the beginning of the book. I was going to write out my own list because the last time I tried reading W&P, a failed attempt in grade 12, I got super confused with all the characters. It's even worse because they are called so many different names, according to which character is addressing them, and in which language. There are titles, formal first names, diminutives, and french first names (even when they are Russian. Its weird). And sometimes there will be multiple people of the same title in one room, so Tolstoy helpfully uses identifiers, like "the little princess", or "the elder princess". Thanks man, thanks a bunch.

A question for my fellow bloggers or readers: I know that every translation uses this phrase, but why is it always "Translated from the (language in question)", in this case, Russian? Who put the 'the' in there? It clearly does not belong. Why not "Translated from Russian". Don't we speak that way?

Also, on a totally unrelated note about something I should be able to Google if I weren't so lazy: Are the Decemberists (the Canadian band) named after the Decembrists that Tolstoy wrote about? That would be cool.

One thing that really pops out in the dialogue in how often French is used. I know that French used to be the language of royalty, but some of the characters were educated en francais and are more comfortable in french than in what I would presume to be their native language. So, to all my Canadian compatriots, here is another reason to know both of your countries official languages. You won't need to read no footnotes, which in turn will make reading W&P less daunting. I still look at some of them because the vocabulary used ~150 years ago is different than what is in use today, but honestly, the only reason why I'm not using a dictionary while reading in English is because I don't have one with me, and I'm lazy.

Okay, so I feel like I've already written a lot, and I'm sure that Shannon and Sonja would like to delve more into the plot and characters, so I don't feel too bad about skimping on that aspect of the discussion. I'll keep it short.

• Ewww, first cousins in love (Nikolai and Sonya): Sonya is all pissed that her love is forbidden, kept secret from her mother, and getting married will be so difficult that not even a head bishop would be able to marry them. Ummm, yeah, girl, that's because its gross and leads to birth defect-laden babies. That's why people make fun of royal families. Just don't. Hope your dear, sweet Nikolai dies in battle and you find a non-incestuous lover. Also, I have a hard time feeling out how young these people are. Sonya is 15, but the only said about Nikolai is that he is a student and a "youth". And Natasha is 13 and already wants to get married to Boris, who is an officer? I guess there was no such thing as being underage to the Russian nobility.

• On Pierre: I feel conflicted about how he is going to turn out. So he has a good heart and a good education, but is also uncivilized, a lover of ladies and drinking, and maybe tied a bear to a policeman and threw them into a river for drunken lawls. And now he has inherited a fortune. Sonja and Shannon: how do you think this will end?

Je remerci le bon dieu pour le Blogger Spellcheck. Over and out!

Progress...or lack there of.

So at this point you should be roughly halfway through vol.1 part 1, or about forty pages in. So, are you there? ARE YOU?

....Because I'm not.

Hello All My Fellow War and Peace Friends,

I will be reading this book through my new E reader. This will give me the ability to travel with a very light version of this book. For me and this book will be traveling from Halifax, NS to Bermuda and beyond. (This book will even go to China with me.) It will be a fun year and I hope that you guys will enjoy following us on our crazy adventure!!!

Sonja

Tanya's first post

Who knew that copying a link instead of merely clicking on it in a message could have different results? Thank you Blogger trouble-shooting page!

That is all for now, I merely wanted to announce my presence... and now to help Sonja figure this out.

The plan for War and Peace

Happy 2011! It's not only the start of another new year, but also the start of our little project here at 'The Year of War and Peace.' The plan is to read W&P over the course of the year, breaking down each volume into little chunks. Throughout the year we will be posting about the book, so feel free to chime in in the comments.

If you want to take part in an even bigger way, read along! Here is the suggested reading schedule:

Volume 1, part I- January 1-22, 2011

Volume 1, part II January 23- February 5

Vol.1, part III February 6-26

Vol.2, part I February 27-March 12

Vol.2, part II March 13-April2

Vol.2 part III April 3-23

Vol.2 part IV April 24- May 14

Vol.2 part V May 15-June 4

Vol.3 part I June 5-25

Vol.3 part II June 26-July 16

Vol.3 part III July 17-August 6

Vol.4 part I August 7-27

Vol.4 part II August 28-September 17

Vol.4 part III September 18-October 1

Vol.4 part IV October 2-22

November: Epilogues, Appendixes, Notes, summary, stuff

Of course that's just a suggestion, I'm not the Czar or anything. It may seem weird to stretch out any book over the course of 12 months (well, 11, actually) but the goal here is to be able to read it and still have time for other stuff (most of us doing these attend school, or work, or in one special case, have social lives). If you've ever wanted to read War and Peace but felt intimidated by the length, or didn't think you'd ever have time, or you just wanted to do it in a fun way, 2011 is the year to do it.