• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 3352 0

invited her to go with them.” To translate the first phrase as “The children were sitting on chairs playing at driving to Moscow,” or “The children were playing at ‘going to Moscow’ in a carriage made of chairs,” or “The children were perched on chairs playing at driving to Moscow,” as has been done, is to miss both the rhythm and the point. The charm of Tolstoy’s sentence comes from the fact that he does not explain in an adult way what the children are doing; he enters into the spirit of their game by the phrasing he uses to describe it, and the whole atmosphere of the moment is suddenly there, naïve, natural, and alive.

I do not mean to suggest that Tolstoy calculated these effects. They are not “effects” at all, they are what he saw and felt, as he wanted and was able to express it. But to translate what he saw and felt, one must also translate, as far as possible, the way it is expressed. These examples will give at least an idea of how we have gone about that task. We have kept all the French and German as Tolstoy had it, as well as the mixed voicings, the Gallicisms, Germanisms and implied foreign accents, as they play throughout the book. We have tried to be true to Tolstoy’s rhetorical power, his sharp irony, and his astonishing delicacy.

—RICHARD PEVEAR

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

Russian names are composed of first name, patronymic (from the father’s first name), and family name. Formal address requires the use of first name and patronymic; diminutives are commonly used among family and friends and are for the most part endearing, though in a certain blunt form (Katka for Katerina, Mitka for Dmitri) they can be rude or dismissive; the family name alone can also be used familiarly or casually, and on occasion only the patronymic is used, usually among the lower classes. In speech, the patronymic can also take a shortened form: Andreich instead of Andreevich, or Kirilych instead of Kirillovich. The accented syllables of Russian names are long, the others very short. We also give the French forms of first names as Tolstoy uses them.

BEZÚKHOV, COUNT KIRÍLL VLADÍMIROVICH

COUNT PYÓTR KIRÍLLOVICH or KIRÍLYCH (Pierre), his son

PRINCESS KATERÍNA SEMYÓNOVNA (Catiche), his niece

BOLKÓNSKY, PRINCE NIKOLÁI ANDRÉEVICH or ANDRÉICH

PRINCE ANDRÉI NIKOLÁEVICH (Andryúsha, André), his son

PRINCESS MÁRYA NIKOLÁEVNA (Másha, Máshenka, Marie), his daughter

PRINCESS ELIZAVÉTA KÁRLOVNA, née Meinen (Líza, Lizavéta, Lise), the “little princess,” Prince Andrei’s wife

PRINCE NIKOLÁI ANDRÉEVICH (Nikólushka, Nikólenka, Coco), their son

ROSTÓV, COUNT ILYÁ ANDRÉEVICH or ANDRÉICH (Élie)

COUNTESS NATÁLYA (no patronymic) (Natalie), his wife

COUNTESS VÉRA ILYÍNICHNA (Verúshka, Vérochka), their elder daughter

COUNT NIKOLÁI ILYÍCH (Nikólushka, Nikólenka, Nikoláshka, Kólya, Nicolas, Coco), their elder son

COUNTESS NATÁLYA ILYÍNICHNA (Natásha, Natalie), their younger daughter

COUNT PYÓTR ILYÍCH (Pétya, Petrúsha), their younger son

SÓFYA ALEXÁNDROVNA (no family name) (Sónya, Sophie), orphaned cousin of the younger Rostovs

KURÁGIN, PRINCE VASSÍLY SERGÉEVICH

PRINCE ANATÓLE VASSÍLIEVICH, his elder son

PRINCE IPPOLÍT VASSÍLIEVICH (Hippolyte), his younger son

PRINCESS ELÉNA VASSÍLIEVNA (Lélya, Hélène), his daughter

DRUBETSKÓY, PRINCESS ÁNNA MIKHÁILOVNA

PRINCE BORÍS (no patronymic) (Bórya, Bórenka), her son

AKHROSÍMOV, MÁRYA DMÍTRIEVNA, Moscow society matron

ALPÁTYCH, YÁKOV (no family name), steward of the Bolkonsky estates

BAZDÉEV, ÓSIP (IÓSIF) ALEXÉEVICH, an important figure in the Masons

BERG, ALPHÓNSE KÁRLOVICH or KÁRLYCH (later called Adólf), a young Russian officer

BOURIÉNNE, AMÁLIA EVGÉNIEVNA (Amélie, Bourriénka), Princess Marya’s French companion

DENÍSOV, VASSÍLY DMÍTRICH (Váska), a hussar officer, friend of Nikolai Rostov

DÓLOKHOV, FYÓDOR IVÁNOVICH (Fédya), a Russian officer

KARÁGIN, JULIE (no Russian first name or patronymic), a wealthy heiress

KARATÁEV, PLATÓN, peasant foot soldier befriended by Pierre Bezukhov

LAVRÚSHKA (no patronymic or family name), Denisov’s and later Nikolai Rostov’s orderly