A short version of War and Peace

From The Independent Online:

It was 1,500 pages long, and by the time I reached the end I had forgotten what it was all about. I asked for it. I was about fourteen or fifteen and had just seen the movie - it was with Audrey Hepburn and Natasha is the only name I still remember. The movie was long enough. But I was a glutton for punishment. I also had to read Boris Pasternak and Dostoevsky. Now apparently they have discovered a shorter version with a difference - only 900 pages.

But the report says not everyone is pleased ... 'Academics fear many will be tempted to settle for what they regard as an unfinished version.'

This new book is, apparently, the life's work of a Russian scholar, Evelina Zaidenshnur, 'who for 50 years pored over thousands of pages to assemble Tolstoy's first draft, matching different inks, changes in handwriting and types of paper to piece together the author's earliest version.' Talk about no life!

An English translation of the work by Andrew Bromfield will be published by Fourth Estate in April. And the title? War and Peace: The Original Version. Expect to risk wrist injury.

Full Report: http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/news/article2303037.ece