Tolstoys notes from the ninth draft of war and peace, 1864. Its recorded by guinness as the longest book ever written. Since then many worldfamous authors have praised war and peace as a masterpiece of the world literature. Jan 22, 2016 the book is the product of a very big mind, who lost interest in almost everything war and peace was about before he died. Proust is no match for these two fanfics the daily dot. But after finishing it, i felt that it was completely worth the effort. The book is one of the longest novels ever written, and one of the most famousarguablythe most famous. Oct 09, 2018 but what is the longest piece of fiction ever written in human history. As i did more research, i realized that there were many issues i had to take into consideration when deciding what to include on this list. In the same way that it would be hard to meet scarlett johansson and not be distracted by her beauty, it is difficult to read war and peace and not be preoccupied with its reputation as the greatest novel ever written. War and peace is a novel by the russian author leo tolstoy, first published in 1869.
Various authors worldwide, including india, china, france, persiairan, and norway, have written works pushing up to and past the one million mark, give or take 100k or so. Thus begins the longest work of fiction ever written. At fourteen hundred pages it is one of, if not, the longest novels ever penned. The 587,287 words in war and peace end up being 1,215 pages. War and peace is one of the greatest novels ever written. War and peace project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. The first great book on war in all its aspects, and still one of the best.
Tolstoy was, of course, a russian author, so for us to be able to read his novel, it first had to be translated into english. No doubt frank, the number one proust scholar in america from little miss sunshine would have read this even though its 1. Major john sheppard brought a copy with him when the atlantis expedition went to pegasus. Again, the page number will vary from edition to edition due to different sized pages and print used. It is currently the longest novel published in modern chinese. He may have borrowed the title from the 1861 work of pierrejoseph proudhon.
Remembering war and peace was written as a fourvolume set with two epilogs, its fair if we include. War and peace is well known as being one of the longest novels ever written, though not the longest tolstoy never documented why in 1867 he changed the name of his novel from the year 1805 to war and peace. Top 10 longest novels in the english language listverse. It has been many years, and many books ago that i read war and peace.
Rowlings harry potter and the deathly hallows with 198,227 words. Written more than 2,000 years ago, this book still contains the best description of why countries go to war, the best funeral oration and the best depiction of political realism ever set down in print. But just as it takes specialized knowledge to understand exactly why a magnet. Lets not detract from this amazing literary achievement, especially as the content is recognized.
Poor fellow my country by xavier herbert this is the longest australian novel ever written at 850,000 words. The first french edition of the war and peace 1879 paved the way for the worldwide success of leo tolstoy and his works. Jan 01, 2006 often called the greatest novel ever written, war and peace is at once a historical war epic, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the russian spirit. Written by german thomas mann, this epic tome was published in the middle of the war. It is regarded as one of the central works of world literature. War and peace is a guide to living, how shall we live. I certainly do not feel it is the greatest book i ever read, not even by leo tolstoy. The 7 longest books in american history america fun fact of. War and peace is well known as being one of the longest novels ever written. It is actually the seventh longest novel ever written in a latin or cyrillic based alphabet and is subdivided into four books or volumes, each with sub parts containing many chapters. This book in malayalam is known as the longest written in an indian language. This book is one of the most compelling books ever. This book might be the best look at russia that any person will ever get. But i wouldnt have hazarded a read without first preparing myself by reading the study notes.
Armen shekoyan, an armenian writer committed to producing the worlds longest novel, says. In 2007, time magazine ranked war and peace third in its poll of the 10 greatest books of all time. Noted for its mastery of realistic detail and psychological analysis, it follows the metamorphosis of five aristocratic families against the backdrop of the napoleonic wars. Top 10 longest novels in the english languagetop 10 longest novels in the english languagei love a long book that i can really get into, so i decided to compile a list of the longest novels ever written.
One way to think about what a work of art does is to imagine the counterfactualhow would my life have been different had i not spent the last three months reading war and peace. Til the longest work of fiction ever written is three million words long and six times longer than war and peace, as of july 20. War and peace is well known as being one of the longest novels ever written, though not the longest. Often called the greatest novel ever written, war and peace is at once an epic of the napoleonic wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the russian spirit.
Mar 16, 2010 and so, having recently finished reading war and peace, what i want to think about is just what it is that great art does. It contains 3,958 pages in four volumes and took 10 years to complete. But savoring a book of, say, 800 pages or longer is a project. The bbc series war and peace is a dramatic adaptation of the epic 1869 novel written by russian author leo tolstoy. Character count is at best an estimation of spaces, written characters and. It was largely due to turgenevs efforts that the novel started to gain popularity with the european readership. Set in 1812 during the napoleonic invasion of russia referred to by the russians as the patriotic war, it follows five aristocratic families the bezukhovs, bolkonskys, drubetskoys, kuragins, and rostovs as they navigate the beginning of the end of czarist society.
It is intertwined with history that most of us need to know to understand russia today. Leo tolstoy, war and peacepublished from 1865 to 1869. Tolstoys napoleonic epic literally weighs in at 3lbs, 14oz. Thickest books ever 851 books goodreads share book. I really think this is one of the best books ever written. Length of a book is typically associated with its sizespecifically page countleading many to assume the largest and thickest book equates to its length. Pictures of buyers, who must apply to purchase the book, will be incorporated into the text itself.
While there may be thousands of books to listen to on audible, with plenty that are very long, only one can claim the top as the longest book on this website. The book is one of the longest novels ever written, and one of the most famousarguably the most famous. War and peace by leo tolstoy best 100 novels top 100. How many pages were in the longest book ever written answers. It is actually the seventeenth longest novel ever written in a latin or cyrillic based alphabet and is subdivided into four books or volumes, each with subparts containing many chapters. The book is the product of a very big mind, who lost interest in almost everything war and peace was about before he died. He brought it on the reasoning that they would be there for sometime, so he would take a long book with him. His attention to detail makes you feel as though you are there. How does the war and peace miniseries compare to the book.
Proust produced the first volume of his volume masterpiece in 1912 it was first published in 19. Its the only book of this list that i have read a little from. Dec 25, 2018 reading war and peace is the mount everest of world literature, it is one of the greatest and longest novels ever written. I got the cliff notes 1979s version of spark notes and had the general premise and players down before i watched the series. Thomas mann thought war and peace to be the greatest ever war novel in the history of literature. Tolstoys genius is clearly seen in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle, all of them fully realized and equally memorable. Their reporting at the daily dot covered everything from harry potter and anime to tumblr and. The longest novels with audiobook link by leo tolstoy available from rakuten kobo. The book is actually the seventh longest novel ever written in a latin or cyrillicbased alphabet. Leo tolstoy, war and peace published from 1865 to 1869. Widely recognized as one of the greatest novels ever written, it is also infamous for being one of the longest.
As lay readers, the specific qualities that make war and peace so great can be hard to assess. Mar 02, 2020 thus begins the longest work of fiction ever written. Often called the greatest novel ever written, war and peace is at once a historical war epic, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the russian spirit. In honor of finishing war and peace, i made a list of the longest novels ive read the longest. While there may be thousands of books to listen to on audible, with plenty that are very long, only one can claim the top as the longest book on this website that book, of course, being the holy bible. Lets not detract from this amazing literary achievement, especially as the content is recognized as quite good, but lets also not heap accolades upon it that it has.
Its not charles dickens bleak house with 360,947 words. At the time, a new bbc version was going to come out and i was determined to watch it and read the book as well. It wasnt ever the longest book ever written, though it does enjoy a strong reputation. Whats the longest novel not a encyclopedia ever written. But what is the longest piece of fiction ever written in human history. It is the longest japanese novel and also one of the longest ever written. Thucydides examines the great themes of war from the highest levels of the making of strategy and policy to the moral dimensions and the sharp end of battle. It has been published in 9 volumes over a period of 40 years. Interestingly, a large portion of the book is written in french, but at the time, the nobility in russia often spoke french as a matter of course, and some of them could barely speak russian. For me, going through my life with the usual distractions, it took a few months to make it through the whole thing. Compiling a list of longest novels yields different results depending on whether pages, words or characters are counted. A dance to the music of time by anthony powell this one is a little iffy, because its sometimes regarded as a novel sequence and not one novel. It just requires a great deal of concentration to understand the characters.
Nov 17, 2007 the longest conventional novel in english since clarissa, and officiallycitation needed the longest novel in the english language published in a single volume. The longest conventional novel in english since clarissa, and officiallycitation needed the longest novel in the english language published in a single volume. One of the ironies of the writing of military history is that the greatest book on war ever written was the second history ever writtennamely, this work. Naturally, opinion is sometimes divided on how exactly to measure length pages, words, or even characters, so its an approximate guide however, if you ever manage to get all the way through even one of these, you have our eternal respect. Few tasks can be more daunting than adapting tolstoys war and peace, one of the longest novels ever written, into a palatable sixpart series for a. The title translates to remembrance of things past. If you write a book according to the usual criteria, one person may like it, the other may dislike it, but when you write ten volumes, no one will say that the book is in eight. Tolstoy began writing war and peace in the year that he finally married and settled down at his country estate.
Aug 01, 2014 what is the longest fiction book ever written how long is les miserables book war and peace word count word count atlas shrugged. This due largely to the great number of characters in the book. War and peace is a book, and one of the longest books ever written on earth. I will also leave the reading of that novel to readers at some time in their lives as the internet publishing world, and the many publishing houses around the planet, pile on their reading matter for 21st century students and readers. We list below the ten longest, most epic novels ever created. It is a living organism that is never quite the same as you remembered. Though often compared to war and peace, the longsuppressed world war ii.
The novel, written in three books, is a story of ideas, which takes. Reading war and peace is the mount everest of world literature, it is one of the greatest and longest novels ever written. Asked in books and literature how many pages are in the longest book ever written. The longest book ever written is called yongle dadian. We may earn a small comission from the companies or products mentioned in this post. This is considered one of the greatest classics ever written, and is not my first time reading war and peace. A guide to a book that is not just great, it is the best novel ever written. The english translation is remembrance of things past or in search of lost time. Original text has some 460,000 russian and french words. Where does war and peace, volume 1 rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far. The longest novel in a single volume that i have ever read is a suitable boy by. Its not war and peace by leo tolstoy with 587,287 words.