Audiobook · read by volunteers
War and Peace, Book 02: 1805
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)
Read by Gesine, Jessica AC Snyder, Susan Denney, Anna Simon, Kirsten Ferreri, eva, Lucy Burgoyne (1950-2014), Cori Samuel, QDreams, spiritualbeing · 21 chapters · 4 h 31
About the book
This is the second book of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel, and it carries the story into the year 1805, when Russia is drawn into war against Napoleon. We follow Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his pregnant wife in search of glory, and Nikolai Rostov, a young cavalry officer who faces the reality behind the parade ground. Here the novel leaves the drawing rooms of St Petersburg and Moscow behind for the camps and battlefields of Austria. Tolstoy shows ambition, fear, loyalty and confusion on a very large canvas, yet he remains close to the feelings of individual people. The translation is the one by Louise and Aylmer Maude. Twenty-one chapters, read by a team of volunteers, run for about four and a half hours. Whether you are new to War and Peace or returning to it, this section is a vivid introduction to its scale and its human interest.
Introduction
Leo Tolstoy, who lived from 1828 to 1910, is one of the giants of Russian literature. War and Peace was first published between 1865 and 1869 and tells the story of Russian society during the Napoleonic era. It follows several families through years of peace, invasion and upheaval, and mixes fictional characters with real historical figures.
The novel is divided into books, and this recording covers Book Two, set in 1805. The English translation heard here is by Louise and Aylmer Maude, who knew Tolstoy and worked on his writings; their version was published in the early twentieth century. Their rendering has been widely read in English for generations.
This LibriVox recording of Book Two has twenty-one chapters and lasts roughly four and a half hours, shared among several volunteers. It can be listened to as part of the whole novel or on its own, since it has a clear arc and contains some of the most vivid military scenes in the work. For those who find the size of War and Peace daunting, listening one book at a time is a welcoming way in. The book contains some of the most celebrated scenes of the novel, in which Tolstoy contrasts the glitter of command with the confusion of those who actually fight. Listeners who have followed the story from the start will recognise familiar families, and newcomers will find enough introduction to follow the thread.
Public domain
Leo Tolstoy died in 1910: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text