I‘m about 60 pages into War and Peace. It’s good so far, although I‘m having an unexpected amount of trouble . . . remembering what I’ve just read. Don‘t know how else to describe it. If asked I could explain who each of the characters is and what they want, but if someone asked me what just happened in the most recent chapter or what the emerging narrative is I couldn’t tell you. Obviuosly it‘s a complicated book, but it’s not the politics or historical details which are tripping me up—I‘m almost certain it has to do with the translation. After reading (and enjoying) the most popular English Anna Karenina—Pevear and Volokhonsky, whose work I’ve seen criticized for “clunkiness”—I did some research and went with the Louise and Aylmer Maude version this time. Commonly hailed as one of the best versions of the book (the Maudes were contemporaries and friends of Tolstoy), I think this is the clunky one! I read sentences and feel like I have to pause for a second and do math to figure out what was even said, and to whom, and by whom. Switching translations won't change the fact that characters are often referred to ambiguously as “the prince,” “the countess,” (when there is more than one prince or countess in the room!), but I am hoping the slight differences in syntax will make things more clear. As it is, the French passages are more readily comprehensible than the English.
