The most voluminous works of literature. The thickest books

Not all writers agree with the statement “Brevity is the sister of talent.” In today's selection we offer the longest novels in the history of literature. The authors spent years creating them. But it will take a lot of time to read them.

By the way, the novel “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy was in the top ten, so every Russian schoolchild can proudly say that he is familiar with one of the longest books first-hand.

10. “Tokugawa Ieyasu”, S. Yamaoka
This novel was published in parts in Japanese newspapers. If you collect all the parts into a single work, you will get at least 40 volumes. The plot of the novel is dedicated to the first shogun of the Tokugawa clan, who united the country and established peace in it.

9. “Quiet Don”, M. Sholokhov
All four books that make up the novel take up about 1,500 pages. There are 982 characters in the novel, of which 363 are real historical characters. For "Quiet Don" Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel Prize with the consent of Stalin.

8. “Les Miserables”, V. Hugo
Hugo created one of his main works over the course of eighteen years, from 1834 to 1852. Then the author revised the text several times, adding and removing various fragments.

7. “In Search of Lost Time”, M. Proust
This is a whole cycle of 7 novels, in which there are more than two thousand characters. The books are replete with emotional outbursts and bizarre narrative twists. In total, In Search of Lost Time contains more than one and a half million words, which occupy about 3,200 pages.

6. “The Forsyte Saga”, D. Galsworthy
The novel by the Nobel laureate amazes with its clearly defined characters. The work covers the history of the family from 1680 to the 1930s. “The Saga” formed the basis for 6 film adaptations, the most recent of which has a duration of 11.5 hours.

5. “War and Peace”, L. Tolstoy
Anyone who has read War and Peace can be divided into two categories. Some are completely delighted with the novel, others cannot stand it. But the epoch-making work in three volumes does not leave anyone indifferent.

4. “Quincanx”, C. Palliser
This work is a modern pastiche of a Victorian novel. Each of the two volumes has a volume of 800 pages depending on the edition. The plot is full of mysteries, symbolism and unexpected twists.

3. “Ulysses”, J. Joyce
The novel is considered one of the best works of English-language prose. Ulysses was written over seven long years and tells the story of a single day in the life of Dublin Jew Leopold Bloom. The novel was first published in parts between 1918 and 1920.

2. “Astrea”, O. d’Urfe
The novel was written over 21 years of hard work. The work in the first edition fit on 5,399 pages. Published in 1607, the novel tells the story of the love between the shepherdess Astraea and the shepherd Celadon. The book contains a lot of inserted short stories and poetic inclusions.

1. “People of Goodwill”, R. Jules
The novel by the French playwright, writer and poet was published in 27 volumes. The work contains more than two million words on 4,959 pages. The table of contents of the world's longest novel is about 50 pages long. It is noteworthy that the book does not have a single and clear plot line, and the number of characters exceeds four hundred.

Now it’s the turn to write about the longest book. The longest book I’ve read so far is probably “ ” :)

When asking which book is the longest, we primarily think about word length, not physical length. Although, for example, in the city of Castello, residents created the longest book in the world - 1856 meters. It was designed in the form of a huge papyrus scroll, which was carefully wound around a pole. As a result, 11 fairy tales were included in this creation. However, even with all the merits of the authors of the above-mentioned record, they are unlikely to have devoted their entire lives to this idea. Because the length of the word itself, and sometimes “depth”, is a more labor-intensive and serious quantity.

It was Jules Romain who became the author of the longest work in the world. Its length in terms of the number of printed words (it’s hard to even imagine) exceeds 2 million! And the page index itself, measuring 50 sheets in size, causes a very mixed reaction. The novel is called “People of Goodwill” (Les Hommes de bonne volonte) and is composed of 27 volumes; the book was written over 14 years - from 1932 to 1946.

In the preface of his long creative marathon, the author questioned the structure of writing Balzac's masterpieces such as Proust and Roland. Because he considered the “mechanistic” idea of ​​writing multi-volume novels, where the whole is revealed through an individual personality, unacceptable. That is, Jules Romain himself, publishing his first volume back in 1932, was confident in the idea of ​​the chaotic and disorderly plot and the lives of all his characters (there were about 400 of them in “People of Good Will”).

The longest book really has it all: criminality and spirituality, wealth and poverty, politics and culture. Moreover, of course, all events are supported by the ideas of history of that time. In general, the novel told about the events of 1908-1933. With this work, the author rather tried to help understand all the vicissitudes of the time of crisis that the French people faced. However, Jules Romain did not shy away from writing articles and essays on various scientific, political and literary topics - he was known as an erudite person.

However, the novel itself was subsequently subjected to harsh criticism. The literary world did not accept the work the way the creator wanted. The prosecution prescribed this work as a distorted statement of facts. Jules Romain has been criticized for misunderstanding history. Therefore, if you are ready to justify the writer, even in the 21st century, then start reading the longest book in the world.

It should not be excluded that Sohachi Yamaoka’s novel “Tokugawa Ieyasu” was published in Japanese daily newspapers starting in 1951. If it were published now that the novel is complete, it would be a 40-volume edition.

I think this novel by Sohachi Yamaoka “Tokugawa Ieyasu” also deserves the title of “The Longest Book”

The longest published literary work in the history of publication is a novel called Men of Good Will. Its author is a French writer, author of poetic and dramatic works, a scientist - Louis Henri Farigul, who became known under the pseudonym Jules Romain.

Some statistics

The novel “People of Goodwill” was published over 14 years, from 1932 to 1946, the publication included 27 volumes. According to estimates, the volume of this epic work was just under five thousand pages, and the number of words in it exceeded two million. To this considerable figure we can add a name index and a table of contents, which together occupy another 150 pages. Therefore, the number of words in the novel is approximately 2.5 times that of the Bible.

Jules Romain, who was a supporter of “right-wing” political ideas, in his work tried to give a detailed description, assessment and explanation of contemporary events that took place in France in the first third of the twentieth century (the novel covers the period from 1908 to 1933) from the point of view of his beliefs.

This difficult task was solved by introducing a huge number of characters into the text, totaling more than four hundred, and real-life personalities in it coexist with fictional ones. Having collected in one book typical representatives of different walks of life and professions, the author takes them through the vicissitudes of difficult times and observes how their lives change.

In addition to the huge volume and number of characters, a distinctive feature of the novel is the absence of a clear plot line. Each character acts in life's circumstances differently, their stories intersect only on rare occasions. The plotlessness of the novel is not accidental. Romain used it as a new artistic technique, already in the preface to the book criticizing such works as “Roland” and “Proust” by his compatriot Balzac and other books that reveal the idea through the prism of an individual character.

Criticism of the novel “People of Good Will”

According to the author, the work was supposed to reflect the history and mood of European society, but the novel was negatively assessed by critics, and Romain was accused of distorting facts. This can be explained by the fact that right-wing beliefs were completely discredited after the end of World War II; accordingly, such a view of the events of the times described in the novel could not find support in the literary community. However, “People of Goodwill” is a novel that gives, although tendentious, a very detailed picture of the life of an entire generation, so it is worth reading for those who are interested in history, sociology and philosophy.

There are many records set by books. We know about the thickest and longest books, books with record-breaking circulation and the largest books in the world. Some of them are initially published with the goal of becoming the very best.

Longest books

It should be noted that it is difficult to imagine a person who would devote years of his life to creating an actually long book. Usually writers strive to convey the meaning of their work, even the longest of all, with the depth of words and thoughts.

"People of Goodwill"

Spirituality, criminality, poverty, wealth, culture and politics can be found in the novel. In twenty-seven volumes, the author described the lives of four hundred heroes, touching on events from 1908 to 1933. Unfortunately, the literary world did not accept this work quite as the author desired. After the publication of the novel, it was subjected to severe criticism. The idea was expressed that the author distorted the events of that time, misunderstanding history.

"Fantastic"

The book was made from papyrus and wound around a pole. The record was registered by one of the notaries of the city of Castello. It includes eleven fairy tales, the main idea of ​​which is poverty and wealth.

The thickest books

Another record-breaking book is the world's thickest edition about Miss Marple, printed in the form of a complete collection of works. The works of Agatha Christie, collected in one book, fit on four thousand thirty-two pages. The spine width of this edition is three hundred and twenty-two millimeters, and the weight is eight kilograms. Despite the fact that such a gigantic book is most likely unsuitable for reading, it was published in the amount of five hundred copies.

Books with the largest circulation

Another book, the circulation of which can easily be called one of the largest, is the quotation book of Mao Zedong. Its circulation is one billion copies. Usually this book is published with a red cover, for which in Western countries the quotation book is often called the “Little Red Book”.

John Tolkien's book, written in the fantasy genre, The Lord of the Rings, which is in third place, lags significantly behind in terms of circulation. Its circulation is one hundred million copies. The circulation of a book called “The American Spelling Book” and the “Guinness Book of Records”, which are in fourth and fifth place in the ranking of books with the largest circulation, are approximately the same.

Sixth place in the ranking is occupied by the World Yearbook with a circulation of eighty million copies, and seventh place by the McGuffey Anthology of Children's Reading. The circulation of this book is sixty million copies. The book “Basics of Child Care” was published in a circulation of fifty million copies. “The Da Vinci Code” took ninth place in the rating with a circulation of forty-three million, and in tenth place of honor is the work of Elbert Hubbard with a circulation of forty million. Its title is “Message to Garcia.”

The largest book in the world

To print one book, you need to spend a roll of paper, the length of which is comparable to the length of a football field. The technology for printing this book was invented and developed by Michael Hawley, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Anyone can order the book by paying thirty thousand dollars.

There are other amazing books. For example, the most expensive volume of poetry was the publication of Edgar Allan Poe’s book “Tamerlane and Other Poems.” .
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The mention of L. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" somehow immediately brought back memories of reading it during my school years. Few people have mastered this work, grandiose in its scope and design. Many people thought that four volumes was simply too much. Naturally, I wanted to look to see if there were larger works, so to speak. And, of course, there were some.

Japanese chronicler Sohachi Yamaoka's novel Tokugawa Ieyasu has been serialized in Japanese daily newspapers since 1951. Today, the novel "Tokugawa Ieyasu" is completed, and if it is republished in its entirety, it will be a 40-volume edition. It is unknown whether this will ever happen, but the fact remains a fact! The novel tells the story of the adventures of the first shogun of the Tokugawa clan, who united Japan and established peace in the country for many years.

The longest work in the history of literature is considered to be the novel “People of Good Will” by the French writer, poet and playwright, member of the French Academy Romain Jules (real name Louis Henri Jean Farigul). "People of Goodwill" is a full-fledged publication that can be purchased and read sequentially. It was published in twenty-seven volumes from 1932 to 1946. It is estimated that the novel was 4,959 pages long and contained approximately 2,070,000 words (not counting the 100-page index and 50-page table of contents). By comparison, the Bible has about 773,700 words.

In the novel “People of Good Will,” Jules tried, from the point of view of his right-wing views, to understand and explain the historical processes that took place in France in the thirties. The essay in prose was supposed to express in all its diversity and the smallest details the author’s picture of the contemporary world.

The book does not have a clear plot, and the number of characters exceeds four hundred. “People of good will! Under the sign of the ancient blessing, we will look for them in the crowd and find them. ...let them find some sure way to recognize each other in the crowd, so that this world, of which they are the honor and salt, does not perish.”

In the preface of his long creative marathon, the author questioned the structure of writing Balzac's masterpieces such as Proust and Roland. Because he considered the “mechanistic” idea of ​​writing multi-volume novels, where the whole is revealed through an individual personality, unacceptable. That is, Jules Romain himself, publishing his first volume back in 1932, was confident in the idea of ​​the chaotic and disorderly plot and the lives of all his characters (and as already mentioned, there were about 400 of them in “People of Good Will”).

The longest book really has it all: criminality and spirituality, wealth and poverty, politics and culture. Moreover, of course, all events are supported by the ideas of history of that time. In general, the novel told about the events of 1908-1933. With this work, the author rather tried to help understand all the vicissitudes of the time of crisis that the French people faced. However, Jules Romain did not shy away from writing articles and essays on various scientific, political and literary topics - he was known as an erudite person.

However, the novel itself was subsequently subjected to harsh criticism. The literary world did not accept the work the way the creator wanted. The prosecution prescribed this work as a distorted statement of facts. Jules Romain has been criticized for misunderstanding history. Therefore, if you are ready to justify the writer, even in the 21st century, then start reading the longest book in the world.