War and Peace (Owc) * (2011)

- The Maudes' translation of Tolstoy's epic masterpiece has long been considered the best English version, and now for the first time it has been revised to bring it fully into line with modern approaches to the text. French passages are restored,
Anglicization of Russian names removed, and outmoded expressions updated.
- A new introduction by Any Mandelker considers the novel's literary and historical context, the nature of the work and Tolstoy's artistic and philosophical aims.
- New, expanded notes provide historical background and identifications, as well as insight into Russian life and society.
- Includes lists of historical characters and the fictional families, a chronology of Tolstoy and of historical events in the novel, five maps, and Tolstoy's essay 'Some Words about War and Peace' in an Appendix.

New to this edition

- Sensitively revised translation that restores the French passages (translated in footnotes), removes the Anglicization of Russian names, and updates outmoded expressions.
- New introduction by Amy Mandelker that considers the novel's literary and historical context, the nature of the work and Tolstoy's artistic and philosophical aims.
- New list of historical characters to complement the existing list of fictional characters.
- Fully revised and expanded notes.

'If life could write, it would write like Tolstoy.' Isaac Babel

Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately
connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soirées alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose
extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed. The prodigious cast of characters, both great and small, seem to act and move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will, fate, and providence.
Yet Tolstoy's portrayal of marital relations and scenes of domesticity is as truthful and poignant as the grand themes that underlie them.

In this revised and updated version of the definitive and highly acclaimed Maude translation, Tolstoy's genius and the power of his prose are made newly available to the contemporary reader.