War and Peace Vol. 1 (Dole Translation)

Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910)
Translated by Nathan Haskell Dole (1852 - 1935)

”War and Peace” is a panoramic novel: It is its own justification, and perhaps needs no introduction. It always reminds the translator of a broad and mighty river flowing onward with all the majesty of Fate. On its surface, float swiftly by logs and stumps, cakes of ice, perhaps drowned cattle or men from regions far above. These floating straws, insignificant in themselves, tell the current. Once embark upon it, and it is impossible to escape the onward force that moves you so relentlessly. What landscapes you pass through, what populous towns, what gruesome defiles, what rapids, what cataracts! The water may be turbid, or it may flow translucent and pure, – but still it rushes on. Such to me is “War and Peace.”

“War and Peace,” like all of Count Tolstoi’s works, is a mighty protest against war. There is no arguing in it about the waste, and the demoralization, and the cruelty, and the unmanliness of it, but, like all Russian argument, it is by vivid pictures such as no one can resist.

The present translation has been made from the original Russian. Tolstoi has been felicitously called “the Russian Rembrandt.” It is not fair to reproduce Rembrandt as a Teniers. One may be sometimes tempted to substitute the curved line of beauty for the straight line of duty, or soften a harsh silhouette, but beyond certain unavoidable issues of the sort necessary for reproducing the impression given by the original, the translator ought to be as faithful as possible. Here the old law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, repudiated by Count Tolstoi, ought to have a new application. (from the Preface by N.H. Dole)

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3 (to be recorded)
Volume 4 (to be recorded)

Genre(s): Historical Fiction, War & Military Fiction

Language: English

Group: War and Peace (Dole Translation)

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 1 MaryAnn
00:14:22
Play 02 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 2 MaryAnn
00:09:11
Play 03 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 3 MaryAnn
00:13:58
Play 04 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 4 MaryAnn
00:19:18
Play 05 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 5 MaryAnn
00:09:37
Play 06 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 6 MaryAnn
00:16:35
Play 07 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 7 MaryAnn
00:14:09
Play 08 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 8 MaryAnn
00:11:56
Play 09 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 9 MaryAnn
00:06:28
Play 10 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 10 MaryAnn
00:09:30
Play 11 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 11 MaryAnn
00:05:21
Play 12 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 12 MaryAnn
00:10:52
Play 13 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 13 MaryAnn
00:10:33
Play 14 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 14 MaryAnn
00:13:28
Play 15 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 15 MaryAnn
00:05:12
Play 16 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 16 MaryAnn
00:16:00
Play 17 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 17 MaryAnn
00:07:43
Play 18 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 18 MaryAnn
00:14:07
Play 19 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 19 MaryAnn
00:18:07
Play 20 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 20 MaryAnn
00:11:32
Play 21 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 21 MaryAnn
00:11:36
Play 22 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 22 MaryAnn
00:11:09
Play 23 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 23 MaryAnn
00:23:01
Play 24 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 24 MaryAnn
00:12:02
Play 25 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 25 MaryAnn
00:11:43
Play 26 Vol 1 Part 1 Ch 26 MaryAnn
00:21:55
Play 27 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 1 MaryAnn
00:12:21
Play 28 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 2 MaryAnn
00:18:24
Play 29 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 3 MaryAnn
00:16:15
Play 30 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 4 MaryAnn
00:19:31
Play 31 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 5 MaryAnn
00:08:11
Play 32 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 6 MaryAnn
00:06:26
Play 33 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 7 MaryAnn
00:12:06
Play 34 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 8 MaryAnn
00:21:53
Play 35 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 9 MaryAnn
00:12:12
Play 36 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 10 MaryAnn
00:14:32
Play 37 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 11 MaryAnn
00:06:49
Play 38 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 12 MaryAnn
00:13:58
Play 39 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 13 MaryAnn
00:14:48
Play 40 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 14 MaryAnn
00:07:45
Play 41 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 15 MaryAnn
00:13:19
Play 42 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 16 MaryAnn
00:06:08
Play 43 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 17 MaryAnn
00:11:37
Play 44 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 18 MaryAnn
00:11:14
Play 45 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 19 MaryAnn
00:14:33
Play 46 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 20 MaryAnn
00:15:22
Play 47 Vol 1 Part 2 Ch 21 MaryAnn
00:20:19
Play 48 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 1 MaryAnn
00:21:12
Play 49 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 2 MaryAnn
00:21:16
Play 50 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 3 MaryAnn
00:20:33
Play 51 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 4 MaryAnn
00:19:54
Play 52 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 5 MaryAnn
00:14:51
Play 53 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 6 MaryAnn
00:15:06
Play 54 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 7 MaryAnn
00:21:14
Play 55 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 8 MaryAnn
00:12:26
Play 56 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 9 MaryAnn
00:15:39
Play 57 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 10 MaryAnn
00:12:46
Play 58 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 11 MaryAnn
00:10:42
Play 59 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 12 MaryAnn
00:16:34
Play 60 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 13 MaryAnn
00:14:59
Play 61 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 14 MaryAnn
00:13:48
Play 62 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 15 MaryAnn
00:14:12
Play 63 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 16 MaryAnn
00:09:43
Play 64 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 17 MaryAnn
00:12:17
Play 65 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 18 MaryAnn
00:16:46
Play 66 Vol 1 Part 3 Ch 19 MaryAnn
00:11:10