I want to read the longest translation,which is it?

[Michael]

I want to read the longest translation but I don't know where to start,could someone please tell me in the amount of word count,and if it comes in hardcover.

[T4bsF (Call me Flo)]

I'm just wondering why you want to read the longest translation.... are you on some sort of pilgrimage?? ....or trying to get in the Guinness Book of Records?? ....or are you just a masochist?? ;0)

[Susan]

I believe the Pervear translation is probably the best. It was a masterful translation of Anna Karenina and I really liked the book after I read that translation - when before I hadn't cared for it. I've also begun to read that version. I quite enjoyed War and Peace when I read it before. It will be interesting to see the new version.

[Sucheta]

Almyr and Louise Maude translation is best

[Jazzy]

I'm another fan of the Pevear/Volokhonsky version. i've read the first chapter in the Maude, Edmonds and P/V and this one has the most life in it. Well worth the money I spent for the kindle version, and I'm reading it with someone else so waiting for them to catch up, but at 34% in I'm hooked. Interestingly enough I was reading Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks as well, and the descriptions of love and of war were echoed and mirrored in both books. I've finished Birdsong now and there's an empty space where Faulks used to be. I'm never going to want War and Peace to end.

[Ewan]

Susan wrote: "I believe the Pervear translation is probably the best. It was a masterful translation of Anna Karenina and I really liked the book after I read that translation - when before I hadn't cared for it..."

I thought their Anna Karenina translation was great, but I read the Anthony Briggs translation of War & Peace and then had a look at theirs, and it didn't seem to be as good. Partly I didn't like the way they'd handled the bits in French, but also I just generally thought Brigg's was more readable. Maybe it's less authentic though, I don't know.

Personally I don't see why anyone would be so interested in which is the longest version, they'll be roughly the same anyway. Sounds like someone wanting to just impress people with how long a book they can read, rather than reading the book for its own sake.

[Lucy Day]

I haven't seen any wordcount comparisons, but the 2005 Briggs translation is said to be the longest. There's a beautiful Penguin Clothbound hardcover.

For links and to find out more about the various editions of War and Peace (with pagecounts), visit We Love Translations: World Literature in English, at:

https://welovetranslations.com/2021/0...