Quote:
Originally Posted by astrangerhere
I bought two physical books yesterday to help keep my local independent going. I bought a paperback copy of the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of War and Peace so that I would have a copy I can write in. I am participating in the Tolstoy Together online read, and I have always meant to buy a second copy. I have one of the original print run hardcovers, but that is too valuable to write in. I cannot use an e-copy as there are so many footnotes and endnotes - just doesn't work well on my reader and I don't want to read it at my computer.
I bought my wife Catheryne Valente's Space Opera because she loves Valente and doesn't have that one yet.
|
P&V is such a great translation. I love the footnoted historical and cultural references. I could do w/o the extended conversations in French, particularly in the opening scene of Anna Pavlovna's drawing room. The French declines as the book continues, Tolstoy supposedly making a point of the declining French influence in Russian Society. I've read this translation twice.
I've also read the Signet Classics version translated by Dunnigan once. I liked it as well. You get a French phrase at the start of a conversation noting it was spoken if French, but you don't have to look up the translation.
The extensive footnotes of the P&V translation are a bit of a pain for a Kindle, but aren't much problem on an iPad. My Kindle Fire handled them ok as well. The Kindle Voyage was just ok. A good responsive touch screen is a must for this one. A small diameter capacitance stylus makes things a bit easier as well. On the Voyage I had trouble getting my finger to exactly touch the footnote and take me there.