Say your piece in “War and Peace”

That quintessential work of Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, will be made much of in the historic city of Angers in France’s Loire Valley, where a public reading of his epic drama will take place. ­The entire colossal novel in three volumes – all 1,700 pages – will be read aloud, in French, over the course of a 45-hour marathon involving Tolstoy admirers of all ages. The event has been described as a “great human and cultural adventure”. Anyone is welcome to become one of the “heroes of the Tolstoiade”, assuming the coveted role of an actor, regardless of one’s level of reading or experience in performing on public. The event is expected to attract up to 200,000 people and become the main highlight of the “Accroche-Coeurs” annual arts festival which will take place on September 9. First published in the 1868, the saga with its universal appeal is said to aid understanding of enigmatic Russian soul. Set in Napoleonic times, “War and Peace” relates to love, courage, devotion and betrayal, balancing life and death.