war and peace

by: hhex65

Sun Jan 25, 2009 at 09:00:00 AM MST

I pretty much already subscribe to Tolstoy's view of history but I wanted a check-up so I broke down and again read "War and Peace" (or "War and Society" as some insist on calling it) this past August.

Now... on to interpretations in other media. There are at least 4 movies: 1915 (Russia), 1947 (Japan), 1956 (Hollywood), 1968 (Russia, dir. Bondarchuk, reckoned a masterpiece by some.)

There are also 2 theatrical adaptations, an opera and 3 TV versions, including a 1972 20-part BBC number and another from as recently as 2007.

I started with the 1956 film featuring Henry Fonda as Pierre, directed by King Vidor. 4 elements of this version looked exactly like I had imagined it when I was reading:

The layout of the Rostov's courtyard

The encounter between Natasha and Kuragin at the opera

Pierre's experiences at Borodino

Gen. Kutuzov throughout

I mean, this book is a monster-- so a tip of the hat to anyone crazy enough to hoist the scalpel and undertake an adaptation. In this film they merged Boris with Pierre so there was a relationship with Natasha from the beginning. Pierre is tall and lean here but his awkwardness is retained.

Interpretations of W&P might be infinite--I suppose it is the kind of thing that people will keep attempting in film &c.-- it's that good.

hhex65 :: war and peace

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war and peace | 3 comments

Dostoevsky vs Tolstoy... (0.00 / 0)

Russian roulette is a potentially lethal game of chance in which participants place a single round in a revolver, spin the cylinder, place the muzzle against their head and pull the trigger. 'Russian' refers to the country of origin of the game and roulette to the element of risk-taking and the spinning of the revolver's cylinder -- being reminiscent of the spinning of the roulette wheel. The form of the game can be as varied as the participants or their motives (displays of bravado, suicide etc.), but typically a single round is placed in a six-shot revolver resulting in a 1/6 (or approximately 17%) chance of the revolver discharging the round. The revolver's cylinder can either be spun again to reset the game conditions, or the trigger can be pulled again. Using revolvers with fewer chambers (typically five) or increasing the number of rounds are other variations that increase the risk.

by: najemnik @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 02:23:19 AM CST