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Artful Thursday: War and Peace – The Short Version

A lecture by Rice professor Terrence Doody kicks off a week of events surrounding the historic novel and the seven-hour-long film

A A A Comments By Olivia Flores Alvarez Thursday, Jan 10 2008

Dr. Terrence Doody is nothing if not brave. Here’s hoping he’s long-winded, too. The English professor from Rice University takes on the daunting task of boiling down Leo Tolstoy’s most famous novel during today’s Artful Thursday: War and Peace — The Short Version. Tolstoy’s story of love, intrigue and sacrifice set during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia checks in at a whopping 1,200-plus pages. That’s quite a read, but Dr. Doody is going to give us the abbreviated version. Artful Thursday, 6:30 p.m. today. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-639-7300 or visit www.mfah.org. Free.

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Dr. Doody’s talk should help audience members when they come back to the museum later this week to see the 1968 film version of War and Peace by director Sergei Bondarchuk. The film, in Russian with English subtitles, won the 1969 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The massive Soviet-Italian co-production took seven years to make and cost more than $100 million dollars (that’s $700 million in today’s greenbacks). The seven-hour long film is being shown in two parts over six screenings: Part 1 screens at 6 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday, and Part 2 at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. For tickets and information, call 713-639-7515 or visit www.mfah.org. $6 to $7 per screening.

Want even more War and Peace? Check out Dr. Doody’s three-part lecture series “War and Peace: The Tolstoy Novel and the Bondarchuk Film.”Doody will explore more of the story along with behind-the-scenes tidbits from the film. The series starts January 16 and is sponsored by Houston Seminar. 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays. Compass Bank Building, 2001 Kirby. Through January 30. For information, call 713-666-9000 or visit www.houstonseminar.org. $30 to $75.
Thu., Jan. 10, 6:30 p.m., 2008

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