I tried to read War and Peace, I really did try. I got through 208 pages of the 696, which is not a bad effort. If anyone reading this has gotten further along, I'd love to hear how you managed it. Anna Karenina was not hard to read, so why have I conceded defeat in W&P? Surely classics are classics for some enduring reason.... the thing is I fail to see the point in this case. Maybe I didn't get to the "good part" yet - but if I have to work this hard at it, I prefer to move on.Before giving up, I read the wiki article about W&P, searching for a reason to keep going. Apparently Tolstoy broke numerous conventions when he wrote it, making it significant due to style rather than content. I am no literary critic - I read for pleasure, to widen my horizons, to gain insight into other ways of being in the world. W&P certainly does manage to paint a picture of a culture and time I know next to nothing about. The thing is, I am simply not interested enough to wade through this one any longer... and the characters are so darn irritating! I admit this book has me beat - and that's a rare confession on my part.
1 comment:
Haven't read War and Peace. But I heard Dr Rowan Williams, (Archbishop of Canterbury and former professor of divinity at Oxford) on the Book Show the other day. Ramona Koval was interviewing him. Aparently he did his PhD on Russian church history and he has just recently written a book on his literary hero Fyodor Dostoevsky. The book is called DOSTOEVSKY, Language, Faith and Fiction. It was a great interview. If you'd like to hear it, log on to www.abc.com.au, click into Radio National, then programmes (Book Show) and you should find the interview.
Post a Comment