The classics, with all the crap taken out

Perhaps this will console copywriters who’ve toiled over the text of an ad only to see it severely truncated. According to an article in the online incarnation of London’s Times, a British publisher is bringing out “compact editions” of such classics as Vanity Fair and Middlemarch, each 30-40 percent shorter than the original. (Hat tip to ArtsJournal for flagging the story.) The idea is that people haven’t the time or patience for the full-length originals these days.