Ten of the best floggings

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best floggings in fiction.

One novel on the list:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Corporal punishment commonly epitomises the collapse of humanity in Tolstoy's fiction. Kind, peaceable Pierre comes upon a flogging of a French cook in a Moscow square. Accused of being a spy, the Frenchman is flogged. A crowd of "officials, burghers, shopkeepers, peasants and women in cloaks and in pelisses" looks on in satisfaction.

Read about all ten floggings on Mullan's list.

War and Peace also appears on Niall Ferguson's 5 most important books list and Norman Mailer's top ten works of literature list.

Michael Jubien had some quality insights on War and Peace at Writers Read.

--Marshal Zeringue