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Sunday 22 November 2009

The long march

So I've finally embarked on "War and Peace" in the hope of conquering it for the very first time. Third time lucky? As I've said before, I've always suffered from an embarrassing blind spot where Tolstoy is concerned. My excuse has always been that I find the English translations unbearably stilted. Which is why, after a reasonably successful experience reading "The Death of Ivan Illych" in French, I decided to buy volume one of "La Guerre et la Paix" " when I was on holiday. So far, so good. It really does read better in French - it's more economical, and more, well, musical, and  the vocabulary isn't as awkward as I'd expected. But I'm still only 300 pages into the first volume, and my concentration seems to wander whenever Pierre isn't on-stage. It's now or never, though. Now or never.

(I'm only slightly depressed to learn that Andrew Marr claims he's read it 15 times. Actually, he said that in 2005, so it's quite possible he's done at least two more laps since then.)

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