It's a vast topic and there are some good reminders and discoveries here. I might add Solzhenitsyn's "August 1914", though the Russian/Soviet experience of the war is a whole other topic...
Sorry for the delay in replying. I don't seem to be getting notofications, so perhaps I need to relook at my settings.
Anyway, I confess, I've only read volume 1 of the cycle, and a long time ago. It's a big commitment - Volume 3 is in four parts and volume 4 is yet to be translated. That takes us to 1917 and AIS planned to continue up to 1922! As it stands, it's around 5000 pages, even without volume 4.
"August 1914" was censored in the USSR and AIS did additional research in the USA, expanding it even further, so the first translation (by Michael Glenny) is incomplete. HT Willett's translation is of the full version. I haven't compared them but both are good translators (I have a lot of Glenny's work).
It is hugely impressive and, like Tolstoy, the obvious comparator, he manages to give the large sweep at the same time as focusing on individuals. For the same sort of thing in WW2, I'd say Grossman's "Life and Fate" and "Stalingrad".
Stefan Zweig's Beware of Pity!
Great suggestion!
It's a vast topic and there are some good reminders and discoveries here. I might add Solzhenitsyn's "August 1914", though the Russian/Soviet experience of the war is a whole other topic...
Great suggestion
What edition would you recommend? And what about the second volume in The Red Wheel series, November 1916? Is that one worth reading too?
Sorry for the delay in replying. I don't seem to be getting notofications, so perhaps I need to relook at my settings.
Anyway, I confess, I've only read volume 1 of the cycle, and a long time ago. It's a big commitment - Volume 3 is in four parts and volume 4 is yet to be translated. That takes us to 1917 and AIS planned to continue up to 1922! As it stands, it's around 5000 pages, even without volume 4.
"August 1914" was censored in the USSR and AIS did additional research in the USA, expanding it even further, so the first translation (by Michael Glenny) is incomplete. HT Willett's translation is of the full version. I haven't compared them but both are good translators (I have a lot of Glenny's work).
It is hugely impressive and, like Tolstoy, the obvious comparator, he manages to give the large sweep at the same time as focusing on individuals. For the same sort of thing in WW2, I'd say Grossman's "Life and Fate" and "Stalingrad".