【英文读书会/每日持续更新】跟我一起读战争与和平 Tolstoy with Me

Volume I, Part II, Chapter 8 - 9


We see the first action between the two troops and Rostov’s reaction to it. He is obviously eager to prove himself, probably like many young soldiers who are experiencing war for the first time. He keeps thinking about how the colonel is trying to test him...which really is not the case at all. In his head, everything is about himself. Then we see his transition from extreme excitement and happiness to confusion and panic (“there was no one to slash at with his sword” and “he had forgotten to bring any straw”) and eventually to the dreadful fear of death - “And the dread of death and the stretchers, and the loss of all sunshine and life, everything fused into a single sensation of sickening horror.” During this burning-of-the-bridge, when the French got closer, and I too with a sinking heart thought for sure Rostov was either going to get injured or die. But they got out just in time. There was a breath of relief at the end of that chapter.


Andrey also experienced something like a change of emotions. From previous chapters I think we get the sense that he is a man who places great importance on honor and glory, and this is probably one of the reasons he came to war, it offers him a sense of purpose in life. War so far has suited him way better than his marriage did. He gets this sweet gig of delivering the news of victory to the Austrian Emperor. He is excited because he feels like the Emperor would be very happy to see him and hear the news. However, he gets a very cold reception at the palace. They don’t seem happy to see him or hear about the victory at all...why is that? We shall see.


Quote of the Day -


Today we have a longer one because I feel this paragraph is so compelling and the emotions within the lines so real it’s really hard to pass up. Tolstoy sees through every soldier’s heart. Reading it almost gives a sensation of being hypnotized.


“One step across that dividing line, so like the one between the living and the dead, and you enter an unknown world of suffering and death. What will you find there? Who will be there? There, just beyond that field, that tree, that sunlit roof? No one knows, and yet you want to know. You dread crossing that line, and yet you still want to cross it. You know sooner or later you will have to go across and find out what is there beyond it, just as you must inevitably find out what lies beyond death. Yet here you are, fit and strong, carefree and excited, with men all around you just the same -- strong, excited and full of life.”

Next time -


Volume I, Part II, Chapter 10 - 14
.1point3acres

从今天开始改周更🤣 打脸了打脸了(￣ε(#￣)☆╰╮(￣▽￣///)
实在是，每天更好累🤣
不过肯定会更完的！（握拳


From Volume I, Part II, Chapter 10 to Volume I, Part III, Chapter 13


A terrifying moment with Rostov again, just like when we saw him at the burning-of-the-bridge scene. We see again how his mood transitioned from excitement to horror. Is he a coward? Running away from the enemy? Some might think so. But he is also only sixteen, brought up in luxury with the love of his parents and friends, and now for the first time he is facing these strange people who wanted to kill him. To kill him, can you imagine? He cannot. What a terrifying moment when you find yourself alone on the battlefield, without a horse, injured, and you see somebody coming, and you thought he would be your savior but it slowly dawned on you that he is an enemy and he is coming to end your life. And you run - because you are only a boy in a grownup’s game.


Back to the drawing room again! Pierre is a changed person now - not so much to himself, but to everyone else. “A host of people who had never wanted to know of his existence before but would have been hurt and offended now if he had refused to see them.” We see a comical scene of how Pierre is forced into marriage by Prince Vasily, by everybody around him, and most importantly, by himself.


Nikolay & Boris: a study in contrast. We all change after we part with our childhood friends, and we don’t realize how much we changed until we meet again. Theirs is not a happy meeting, and I have a feeling that they will drift further and further apart. In the end, we’re not children anymore.


A vivid picture of military action as the movement of a clock. A solemn observation -- “...the slow tick-tock of the age-old hands on the clock face of human history.” We already knew the outcome of this battle, as history stands, this battle would lead to a Russian defeat. We now look back, to see the clock of history inevitably tick tock to this fateful outcome, one movement led to another, all the way to the end.

Quote -
“...in a similar way the complex action of humanity in those 160,000 Russians and Frenchmen -- all their passions, longings, regrets, humiliation and suffering, their rushes of pride, fear and enthusiasm -- only worked its way out in defeat at the battle of Austerlitz, known as the battle of the three Emperors, the slow tick-tock of the age-old hands on the clock face of human history.”

Next Time -
Volume I, Part III, Chapter 14 to Volume II, Part II, Chapter 3

有别的推荐吗？因为这两本书中文的已经看过了，我怕自己看英文的已经失去了motivation

rushiwowen92 发表于 2020-6-22 16:36
有别的推荐吗？因为这两本书中文的已经看过了，我怕自己看英文的已经失去了motivation

的确 知道情节之后的确没动力🤣
我发过两个书单，你可以去那边看看：
第一个书单：https://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/thread-620940-1-1.html
第二个书单：https://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/thread-637735-1-1.html
其中第二个书单的第二楼还加更了一些。

不能看俄文原版的有啥意思？还不如看中文的

我想参加！当年看了战争与和平的bbc版电视剧之后，一直很想看原著，连kindle书都有了，但是一直没开始。最近正好想找个book club和别人一起看书。不过看你已经开始了，我担心跟不上啊！而且既然是book club，不知道之后有什么机会能一起讨论吗？

对了，我有中文版，也有英文版，还有电子书（尴尬了，有这么多版本但是还是没看）。作为看第一遍的读者，你觉得看哪个版本重要吗？

bananapancake 发表于 2020/06/25 04:33:05
对了，我有中文版，也有英文版，还有电子书（尴尬了，有这么多版本但是还是没看）。作为看第一遍的读者，你觉得看哪个版本重要吗...

哈哈哈坐拥N个版本，这个我觉得看个人喜好？我并不觉得版本是最重要的。我看英文版也是个人喜好。中文我觉得俄国名字好长一串，不过也有人觉得英文翻译的俄国名字也好长一串。讲真，俄国名字本身就很长😂 我觉得哪个版本都行，选你觉得最舒服的吧～

From Volume I, Part III, Chapter 14 to Volume II, Part II, Chapter 3


Everything started so quickly. Andrey’s obsessive idea of leading men into battle, the almost pathetic picture of him holding the flag and wishing people would follow him, while everybody is running away in the opposite direction. People getting shot at left and right, soldiers fighting and forgetting their guns. And then he is falling…and everything fades before the infinite sky above.


“The dead and wounded lay about everywhere like heaps of manure on good plough-land…” -- no glory in death in a losing battle (or any battle, really). The death in real wars, much unlike the imagined death in soldiers’ heads, is not in the embrace of the monarch, not leading men to victory, but in an obscure little town, surrounded by falling cannonballs and smoke, looking like manure.


How strange fate is indeed, that Andrey should arrive just the moment when his son is born, and just the moment to witness the little princess’ death. To see her one last time, and to imprint the look in her eyes, and to read the reproachful message in them: “look what you've done to me?”
.1point3acresAndrey feels the guilt - from not being able to help her in her moment of great agony, from his past love for her, and I think maybe most importantly, from the fact that he knows he doesn't love her anymore but now she had to die for their child.


The visit home ends on a unceremonious tone - we started on a high note: the lavish dinner, the love in the air, and then all downhill from there: the duel, the death of a new mother, the refused proposal, the rejected love, the gamble.

The meeting with the freemason right at the moment when Pierre is having an existential crisis - the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. The initiation - all so strange, exciting, and ridiculous. Something to note is that Pierre thinks obedience is more of a pleasure than a virtue. How fitting. He indeed loves to take orders from others, loves to believe what others tell him, and finds himself in complete confusion when there is nobody to tell him what to do anymore.


Quote -
“The mason looked closely at Pierre and smiled the smile of a rich man with millions in his hands beaming at some poor wretch who might have said to him that all he needed as a poor man was five roubles to make him happy.”

Next time -
From Volume II, Part II, Chapter 4 to Volume II, Part III, Chapter 15

敢问楼主是学什么专业的？很惭愧笔记每段都有几个生词。。。