War and Peace Side Read, Week 6, July 6-July 12: Book 2/Part 2

Community Book Clubs War And Peace Side Read
1

Penguin edition - Briggs translation - Black cover w/ chandelier:
Volume 2, Part II, pp 374-452, chapters 1-21, 78 pp.

Signet edition - Dunnigan translation - tan cover w/ flag:
Book 2, Part II, pp 396-478, chapters 1-21, 82 pp.

Modern Library - Garnett translation - Olive cover w/ gold stripe:
Part Five, pp 523-630, chapters 1-21, 107 pp

Amazon edition - Maude translation - light blue cover:
Book 5 (1806-1807), pp 556-672, chapters 1-21, 116 pp

*** interestingly, the Amazon edition has a chapter 22 which in other versions is the first two paragraphs of Part III.

Last bit of this section (Briggs) ends with a drunken argument between Nikolay Rostov and another Russian officer:

“We’re not officials in the diplomatic section, we’re soldiers, that’s what we are,” he went on. “If they tell us to die, we die. And if we get punished, we must be in the wrong. Ours is not to judge. If his Majesty the Emperor feels like recognizing Bonaparte as an Emperor, and taking him on as an ally, that’s the way it must be. If we started judging and criticizing at every end and turn, well, nothing will be sacred. Next thing we’ll be saying there’s no God, no nothing,” Nikolay continued, banging on the table and yelling at them, for no good reason according to his companions but, as he saw it, quite logically.

“We’ve got to do our duty, kill the enemy and stop thinking. And that’s your lot!” he said.
“And drink,” put in one of the officers, not in an arguing mood.
“Yes, drink,” said Nikolay in full agreement. “Hey you!” he roared. “Another bottle!”

2

If you are worried about spoilers please don’t read this comment because it is about the very end of this section. I don’t think this is much of a spoiler because it’s not really a plot point—it’s about military tradition.

At the end of this section they signed the Tilsit Treaties and then they all (French and Russians) celebrated together. I had to look this up because I thought I had completely lost the story. Apparently this was a pretty regular thing.

Here’s the wikipedia citation:

Yes, French and Russian soldiers celebrated together during the Napoleonic Wars, most famously following the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807. [1, 2]

After fighting bitter battles against each other, the signing of the peace treaty turned the former enemies into immediate allies, sparking massive joint celebrations. [1]

3

That would be wonderful! I’m reading the Garnett translation and am totally lost as to where I am on the reading schedule. Are you reading the Briggs translation?

4

I think this question is for me? Yes, I am reading the Briggs translation. I didn’t take a break last week but kept reading only 10 pgs per day which is a really comfortable pace for me.

5

… and if the question was for me, I, too, am using the Briggs translation in print (although I’m mostly using the Maude translation in audio).

6

@kim.kovacs @Anne_Glasgow It’s for anyone who can tell me according to the schedule where I should be in the Garnett translation. I am totally lost. I’m one of those people who needs deadlines to hold myself accountable.

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7

@Lana_Maskus - What’s the cover of your book look like? That’s the easiest way for me to identify page numbers etc. I’ve got several versions on my Kindle, but most don’t list the translator on the cover so I’d have to open every one of them, and the book divisions/pages also vary from publisher to publisher. So describe the cover & I’ll let you know. :slight_smile:

8

@Lana_Maskus

Here’s the Garnett translation reading for week five which ended July 5:

Modern Library - Garnett translation - Olive cover w/ gold stripe:
Part Four, pp 441-532, chapters 1-16, 91 pp

Hope that helps. If not I’m sure @kim.kovacs can help you get it all sorted.

9

Hey, @Lana_Maskus - As far as I can tell, in the Garnett edition, Week 6 (7/6-7/12) should be all of Part Five.

If you let me know what your cover looks like I can tailor the chapters/pages specifically to your edition.

Everyone else - I’ve updated the locations in the first posting above, if anyone’s lost. This week’s reading begins with Pierre leaving for Petersburg, and it ends with Nikolay getting drunk with some other officers and saying something to the effect that “Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die” (paraphrasing Tennyson, not Tolstoy, haha).

10

I am confused as Lana

I thought on July 6 the members of the War and Peace summer reading were to interpret what we felt and learned from our week 5 reading. I thought that was the fun of reading W&P at my age—to communicate with others and learn from each other.

11

@Anne_Glasgow @kim.kovacs I am reading The Modern Library edition of the Garnett translation published in 1994 (beige hardcover with jacket cover of a Russian officer’s photograph). This is crazy, but Part 4 is 58 pages which makes me feel a little better. Part 5 is 61 pages and Part 6 is 86 pages. That seems manageable even though I’m a little behind

12

Hi @Lynne_G - Yeah, I probably could have set this up better. That, or set up the 1000 Books topic better. Because they’re each structured differently. I apologize for the confusion.

The weeks here represent what we’re reading and when we’re trying to read it. I did it that way so it would be easier to keep everyone reasonably on track. The intent was for comments related to the Week 5 reading to be posted in the Week 5 category. I think it’s important to do it that way, since not everyone will complete the reading at the same time. I just finished up Week 3, for example, so I’ll go back and post my impressions under the Week 3 category.

The main intent for this topic was to encourage us all to tackle an intimidating book. By supporting one another, we stand a good chance of actually finishing the darn thing. The forum’s structure allows us to exchange ideas about the sections as well, although we might not all be talking about the same sections at the same time.

I hope that makes sense! I know it’s not a perfect system.

13

Thanks, @Lana_Maskus! I was hoping I could pick up a cheap ebook copy of that version but no such luck. Amazon doesn’t even seem to have that edition in hard cover.

The page numbers are all over the place, so feel free to ignore those. I need to keep listing them so I can find & post the chapters/sections for each version each week.

My advice is to ignore page numbers. Figure out which of the versions I post matches the book you have, and just pay attention to the Book/Chapter. For the most part these seem to line up across versions (except this week, where Maude has a very short chapter 22, which the other translators roll into the next part).

That’s also why I’m including the last few lines of text, so folks can confirm they’re where they think they are.

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14

You are doing a great job @kim.kovacs. All the different versions make it a little like herding cats. With all the projects and responsibilities on your plate I can’t believe you are trying to go through W&P for a second time in this lifetime.

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15

Awww, thanks @Anne_Glasgow!

I’m actually really happy to get to experience W&P again. I remembered liking it a lot way back when, and I’m pleased that I’m enjoying it every bit as much the second time around. I’ve always been attracted to 19th century literature, and this reads very much like many of my English favorites. I’m sure it’s due to the translation, but still.

And I’m grateful to this group for giving me the opportunity. You look at it and, yikes, it’s big and intimidating. Often I think about, gee, that’s the size of four books - which means three others I won’t get to read. So I needed the encouragement and the help to commit to reading it.

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16

Ditto @Anne_Glasgow - you are doing a great job! I really appreciate your willingness to coordinate all this with everything else on your plate. I am really enjoying the book. I don’t comment on each section because I tend to enjoy processing the book as a whole but I do enjoy reading everyone’s comments!!!

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17

Thanks Kim. Quoting the last couple of sentences is very helpful.

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18

Thank you so much for all of the hard work you have done on our War and Peace read. With the book being in the public domain and having more editions than “Carter has pills”, the herding cats analogy is perfect. Please don’t think I was finding fault; I was just so confused about where I needed to be in the book. Including a few lines of the text will help tremendously.

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