The long and the short

Hugely acclaimed Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), by many, regarded as the most influential writer of all time, not only penned what are generally believed to be three of the greatest novels of all time – War and Peace (1869), Anna Karenina (1878), and Resurrection (1899) – but the first of these (complete with 580 characters, real and imagined) is among the longest novels ever written. Depending on the edition, typeface used, margin size, etc. this work runs to between 1,200 and 1,400 pages. Moreover, the standard Russian edition is split into four volumes, comprising fifteen books. By contrast, Tolstoy was also a prolific short-story writer and his works in this genre can be found in collections and anthologies worldwide. One of his acclaimed shorter stories is The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), which critics continue to cite as among the best examples of the novella style.