The nytimes book section has just started an online discussion of War and Peace. The introductory article is by Richard Peaver, the translator of most of the important recent translations.
Beginning Oct. 15, a monthlong discussion of “War and Peace” will appear in the online edition of The Times. The panelists will include Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times; Stephen Kotkin, the director of Russian and Eurasian studies at Princeton University; and Francine Prose and Liesl Schillinger, both frequent contributors to the Book Review. The moderator will be Sam Tanenhaus, the editor of the Book Review. Readers can find the discussion at nytimes.com/books.
Did I mention that I recently finished Moby Dick? I suppose W&P would now be appropriate; at least that way I could wipe that self-congratulatory grin of my little brother’s face..
October 15, 2007 at 1:10 pm
I am reading Dickens’s “Bleak House” now, so you better put that on your list as well.
October 15, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Gregory, you show-off! Reading all those big, fat books with huge ideas while the rest of us toil over trivial offerings.
I read about the debate re: the two different translations of WAR & PEACE coming out and some less than kind things Richard Peaver had to say about his competition. But Peaver and his wife are acknowledged as the best two translators of Russian works into English so I guess he’s got the literary chops.
I envy you for tackling the big books of history and hope I can do the same sometime soon. I have most of them, they glare at me from the shelves, daring me to pick them up…