Asked a bookish lad of mine if War and Peace and Heart of Darkness

It's really not. Anyone who says it is hasn't read it.

Your friend is dumb and you should feel dumb for even considering believing him.

He called a book a meme, so his opinion can obviously be disregarded.

it's not worth your time.

>>9629665
there certainly are books that are memes though

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Its being a meme is in itself a meme.

>>9629647
some author said that Tolstoy's writing was as if the world was writing itself. War and Peace comes closest to incorporating the fullness of humanity (human emotions, desires, failings and triumphs) into a single book—at least that i've read. i can't wait until there's a time in my life that demands a re-reading of it; i put the book down and feel a refreshed perspective with new hope for the future.

>>9629702
this. war and peace is not a difficult novel, unless you have neither empathy nor an attention span. the cast of characters is really not that large for a work of this scope; tolstoy introduces people very naturally and it is quite easy to follow.

>>9629647
War and Peace (Maude translation) was the best book I've ever read, or am going to read.

Pfuel was one of those hopelessly and immutably self-confident men, self-confident to the point of martyrdom as only Germans are, because only Germans are self-confident on the basis of an abstract notion — science, that is, the supposed knowledge of absolute truth.

A Frenchman is self-assured because he regards himself personally, both in mind and body, as irresistibly attractive to men and women.

An Englishman is self-assured, as being a citizen of the best-organized state in the world, and therefore as an Englishman always knows what he should do and knows that all he does as an Englishman is undoubtedly correct.

An Italian is self-assured because he is excitable and easily forgets himself and other people.

A Russian is self-assured just because he knows nothing and does not want to know anything, since he does not believe that anything can be known.

The German’s self-assurance is worst of all, stronger and more repulsive than any other, because he imagines that he knows the truth — science — which he himself has invented but which is for him the absolute truth.

>>9629784
By his own definition, he writes like a German.

>>9629784
Is that from the book? That's incredible

>>9631235
that's just one aside from the book—a minor, minor passage. tolstoy drops prose bombs like that one frequently and casually.

>>9631235
>>9631247
Are you impressed by that? It's not crap, but it's not exceptional either.

>>9629647
I've read it twice and I wouldn't recommend it (W&P)

>>9629647
Your friend is a fucking idiot and you shouldn't accept his opinion on literature ever again.

>>9629665
Anything can be a meme, books are no exception.

>>9629647
I'm roughly halfway through. I can see why everyone spouts 'stop reading after napolean goes 'what a marvelous death''

I have no clue where Tolstoy is going with any of this, it's a bunch of posh people being posh. I say this as a huge Tolstoy fan.

>>9629784
Speaking as a German I can say that this is true. When we are convinced that something is correct, we turn fanatic. Right now we are human rights and liberal democracy fanatics.

>>9629647
War and Peace is the greatest Postmodernist work in existence,

>>9632269
A weir

>>9629784

This is pretty accurate

>>9631256
it's not about the quality of aesthetics in the prose; like the statement with which i agree, tolstoy is as if the world could write itself. beautiful in a quiet and not arresting way, but very true.

the older i get, the more i recognize the basic truths of society and history that tolstoy claims. on the point, it seems sophistic and bold for him to write so broadly—but it's really not.

>>9629647
>HoD was fine
He got you good OP

It's good if you don't take it as a serious history book, Tolstoy can go fuck himself with his shit theories
t. absolutely not a frenchman

>>9629647
No, and what does that even mean you sperg

Should I get Wordworth's bersion? It's really cheap.

>>9632704
Of course I meant "version". Such a dumb phone poster I am.

>>9632704
Wordsworth versions are breddy great, anon. Very cheap and normally good translations.

Should you be able to spare the penny though, The Penguin Classics version is the best, although you really can't go wrong with Wordsworth.

>>9632704
Quality tends to be a bit shit from what I've heard, but what can you expect for such a low price. Translations are usually the same as the other major publisher's. Seems fine to be honest.

>>9631429
Nothing is a meme, and there are no survivors

HoD is a fucking awful book

He got everything wrong

>>9629647
Is Anna Karenina better than War and Peace?

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Is this a good translation?

>>9635455
pls respond familiar

>>9629690
>>9631429

Boiling any book down to a meme, let alone anything that's on the western canon, is a sign of a degeneracy of reading and any of you motherfuckers who do this need to stop polluting this board. "Anything can be a meme. I'm a meme. You're a meme. This coffee is a meme." Jesus Christ talk about elementary analysis. Grow up, shut up, and read more.

>>9629647
>t. yeбaк
Not a meme when I read it in Russian. Might be a shitty translation desu.

>>9629647
It's one of those because it's not a meme is the meme like milhouse.

>>9634185
No

>>9634207
Yes

>>9635455

what the fuck please respon

>>9629647
Anyone who uses simple phrases like "It's a meme" to describe a classic either hasn't read it, or is unable to provide critical analysis. Don't listen to him.

>>9629784
The Russian sounds alright

>>9635455

Response

>>9635455
fuck P&V. my in-laws are responsible for getting them hitched back in the day, and every day i see them, i clench my fists and swallow my bile.

for war and peace, all you need is the Maudes' original translation—though Amy Mandelker's revision (new Oxford World Classics) of the Maude's translation is my personal favorite. have read all three, so trust me.

let me state this emphatically: grabbing an epub from project gutenburg is preferable to P&V.