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!