The Opposition Leader has revealed his thoughts on Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, saying the Russian author was being tricky with the reading public by only publishing 1,225 pages of detail on the impact of the Napoleonic era on early 19th Century Tsarist Russia.
“If Tolstoy wants to be taken seriously as a writer then he needs to explain the detail,” Dutton wrote in a review of War on Peace for a Liberal Party newsletter.
“It’s all well and good to provide a story of five families as they navigate life following the French invasion. But at just 587,000 words, Tolstoy refuses to provide even the most basic information. He is treating his readers like mugs”.
The Liberal leader said Tolstoy had made a ‘catastrophic mistake’ in not providing clear and complete information. “There are more questions than answers in this book, and I call on Leo Tolstoy to do the right thing and release further information for the benefit of the reading public”.
Next month Dutton will review the Bible.
