Today the title War and Peace is practically synonymous with “incredibly long novel.” If Tolstoy had kept the book’s original title, however, our synonym for such a hefty epic would be The Year 1805. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “The Year 1805”
Okay, Grant, see if you can guess this book.
Sure.
Early on, the title for this work was The Year 1805.
But by the time this extremely long novel was published in 1869, it had a different three-word title.
Is it a Russian author?
Yes.
War and Peace.
War and Peace, exactly, by Tolstoy.
You know what Tolstoy means in Russian?
No.
Fat.
Really?
The Tolstoy family.
Yeah, it was the fat.
The fat family.
Yeah, the fats.
Because it sounds kind of regal to me.
Yeah, fat.
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