Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
An Inappropriate Post - but I have to tell someone!
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Showing page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2
Message
Posted
I have at last finished War and Peace - what does this have to do with those arts in which we participate? Nothing that I can think of. But I have possessed this book since this edition was published in 1972 (the translation dates to 1904), I started to read it about 20 years ago, and realized a few months ago that I would die of old age before I got around to finishing it if I didn't make a superhuman effort. So I did, and - tra-la, whoopee, goody goody! - I have reached page 1,315 and the balm of those words The End.
It is a good book; it is a great book; it is not necessarily an enjoyable book, especially in this rather archaic translation, so get yourself a modern edition, and if you think you'd like to avoid the 40 pages of Epilogue, do: Tolstoy changed his mind later anyway, and there is no need to assume the mantle of suffering if you really don't need to.
I can justify this post in the terms of immersing yourselves in something dense as a relief from worrying about your painting struggles; of entering into a meditation on the causes of events, and how little seems to change in the way we reach decisions over the centuries; of understanding the virtues of art as a means of presenting history and current events, rather than trusting to biased historians or contemporary analysts.
But of course, it's completely irrelevant to POL and I shall quite understand if a keen moderator chooses to remove it. But (I just said that...) but; allow me to savour my moment of deliverance for an hour or so, then do your worst.
Posted
ah, bravo:) what tenacious perseverance, that definitely has something to do with “art”; the art of bringing something to the end. You already have my respect! It shamefully reminds me that I will probably never be able to finish The Silmarillion, and every day the spine of the book looks at me maliciously, warningly, threateningly. Tolkien forgive me :) hehe
Posted
Very well done Robert! That and a ridiculous amount of pages. I hesitate to ask, but can you remember the beginning that you started reading 20 years ago!?
I am plowing through Ken Follet’s book Never, which is over 800 pages: that’s a long one for me, but I am past page 700 so on the downward slope.
Posted
Tessa, happily there is a list of principal characters on the fly-leaf - so while I often forgot which princess was related to which count, I was able to go back and check; and anyway, when I decided to finish the book, I started from the beginning all over again. Not a process I'm ever likely to repeat, though I understand some people do.
Tanja - I gave up on even starting the Silmarillion, because I well remember reaching page 1002 of The Lord of Rings, closing the book, and asking why on earth I'd wasted so much time reading so much tosh (or Quatsch, as you might put it..). It had its moments, but left me with no desire at all to dive any further into elven lore. If you want a good, heavy book from your country's great writers, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain is a much better book than anything Tokien ever wrote (though the latter's illustrations of his work were excellent).
Posted
Well Done Robert. I have a compendium of Jane Austen's six major novels that's about three inches thick and weighs a ton. Regardless, I've read them all at least three times, learning something more each times. Speed reading is fine, but we sometimes miss points in concentrating on finishing the stories.
Posted
The battle of Waterloo isn't in War and Peace, so presumably it is in Les Miserables - which I've only read in a Classics Illustrated version, around 60 years ago; I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle another door-stop of a book...
The reality of battle is something that Tolstoy portrays disconcertingly well, even in the lumpy translation I read. There's a painting of the Battle of Bordino (by David?) which shows a tubby Napoleon on his horse, surrounded by his dead and dying soldiers - both the book, and this painting, tell us all we need to know about "great" generals and conquerors - both their successes and failures being built on hideous human suffering on the part of people whose names will never be remembered by history; unlike theirs.
Showing page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2