Don’t blame Jane
The Times reports that Orion Books is publishing edited (that is, shorter) versions of many classic novels–so far, not including Jane Austen’s. In fact, they claim that Jane Austen’s novels are so popular because they are shorter than several of the novels planned for surgery.
Research confirmed that “many regular readers think of the classics as long, slow and, to be frank, boring. You’re not supposed to say this but I think that one of the reasons Jane Austen always does so well in reader polls is that her books aren’t that long”.
We suggest that such readers won’t find the books any better because they are shorter.
April 15th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
This just in: Jane Austen’s books may also do well because they are not slow or boring.
April 15th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
People who complain about long, boring novels are usually those who do not read at all. If someone does not like to read in general, making a book shorter will probably do little to attract him/her.
After all, I don’t enjoy playing video games (much to the chagrin of my Robert), and if they starting making fifteen-minute-abridged-games I would still dislike video games.