We will meet on January 30, 2013 to discuss Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy in room 1550. We will be using the following translation:
Anna Karenina : a novel in eight parts /
Leo Tolstoy ; translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.
From Wikipedia:
Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Tolstoy clashed with editor Mikhail Katkov over political issues that arose in the final installment (Tolstoy’s unpopular views of volunteers going to Serbia); therefore, the novel’s first complete appearance was in book form.
Widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction, Tolstoy considered Anna Karenina his first true novel, when he came to consider War and Peace to be more than a novel.
Fyodor Dostoevsky declared it to be “flawless as a work of art”. His opinion was shared by Vladimir Nabokov, who especially admired “the flawless magic of Tolstoy’s style”, and by William Faulkner, who described the novel as “the best ever written”. The novel is currently enjoying popularity, as demonstrated by a recent poll of 125 contemporary authors by J. Peder Zane, published in 2007 in “The Top Ten” in Time, which declared that Anna Karenina is the “greatest novel ever written”.
Main characters
- Anna Arkadyevna Karenina (Анна Аркадьевна Каренина): Stepan Oblonsky’s sister, Karenin’s wife and Vronsky’s lover.
- Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky (Aлекceй Kиpиллoвич Bpoнcкий): Lover of Anna, a cavalry officer
- Prince Stepan “Stiva” Arkadyevich Oblonsky (Cтeпaн “Cтивa” Aркaдьевич Oблoнский): a civil servant and Anna’s brother, a man about town, 34.
- Princess Darya “Dolly” Alexandrovna Oblonskaya (Дарья “Дoлли” Aлeксaндрoвна Oблoнскaя): Stepan’s wife, 33
- Count Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin: a senior statesman and Anna’s husband, twenty years her senior.
- Konstantin “Kostya” Dmitrievich Levin: Kitty’s suitor and then husband, old friend of Stiva, a landowner, 32.
- Nikolai Dmitrievich Levin: Konstantin’s elder brother, an impoverished alcoholic.
- Sergius Ivanovich Koznyshev: Konstantin’s half-brother, a celebrated writer, 40.
- Princess Ekaterina “Kitty” Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya: Dolly’s younger sister and later Levin’s wife, 18.
- Princess Elizaveta “Betsy”: Anna’s wealthy, morally loose society friend and Vronsky’s cousin
- Countess Lidia Ivanovna: Leader of a high society circle that includes Karenin, and shuns Princess Betsy and her circle. She maintains an interest in the mystical and spiritual
- Countess Vronskaya: Vronsky’s mother
- Sergei “Seryozha” Alexeyich Karenin: Anna and Karenin’s son
- Anna “Annie”: Anna and Vronsky’s daughter
- Varenka: a young orphaned girl, semi-adopted by an ailing Russian noblewoman, whom Kitty befriends while abroad
A film adaptation was released November 16th, 2012. You can view the official film trailer here.
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel is a read-alike of Anna Karenina
SPOILER ALERT–I’m going to jot down my thoughts as I finish each Part.
Part 1
I just completed Part 1, and already Tolstoy has given us a good introduction to the main characters. The men seem a bit more defined than the women. I can also see the parallel drawn between Levin and Anna. In Part 1, both leave their home towns for Moscow; they both encounter love/attraction but with different results; they both go to comfort a sibling; they both return to their home towns. When they return home, they each survey their surroundings, and are somewhat disappointed or let down with what they find.
Parts 2 & 3 There seem to be less parallels between Anna and Levin. But they have both chosen their paths. I loved the description of Levin on his farm, working with the muzhiks. And after the section with Kitty and Mme. Stahl and Varenka, I do like Kitty the best of all the women. Kitty seems to come to a clearer definition of herself. In fact, it seems like Tolstoy uses that concept a lot–characters having clear pictures of themselves. I am irritated by the fact that Anna seems to be oppressed by her husband for her affair, but Stepan is only mildly inconvenienced by his affair. His wife, Dolly, can only take the children to the country–it’s the only “punishment” she can inflict on her husband.
I thought Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin’s views on jealousy were very interesting. I like Stepan best of all the men.
Part 2 Chapter XXVI page 201
How many times during his eight years of happy life with his wife, looking at other people’s unfaithful wives and deceived husbands, had Alexei Alexandrovich said to himself: ‘How can one let it come to that? How can one not undo this ugly situation?’ but now, when the disaster had fallen on his head, he not only did not think of how to undo the situation, but did [not] want to know about it at all – did not want to know precisely because it was too terrible, too unnatural.
Interesting perspective. Many look around today and ask, ‘If a Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston CAN’T keep it together, what hope is there?’
Just finished Part 4. From the most blissful scenes of Levin & Kitty to the most wrenching scenes in the Karenin household. This part has it all. I also had to laugh at Stepan and his dinner party–how he can take people who seem ill at ease and disconnected, into engaging conversationalists! And I love the way Levin sees everything through rose-colored glasses after meeting Kitty again. The section ends so miserably; I believe the Karenins do have an “impossible” situation–I don’t know that anyone can solve it.
I could see Hugh Grant as Stepan Arkadyich.
Oh, yeah, definitely Hugh…
I have completed Part 5. I enjoyed Tolstoy’s description of Levin & Kitty’s first months of marriage. And how Kitty surprises Levin at every turn–she is much stronger than he thinks, especially handling Levin’s brother. It is as if Kitty & Levin, in their short time together, have learned to think almost as one. On the other hand, the Anna/Vronsky/Alexei triangle just seems to get worse & worse. Each of the three seems to feel that the problems are everyone else’s fault, and they can only see from their own points of view. Especially touching was Anna’s meeting with her son, and yet at the same time her insistence on going to the theater almost seemed mad.
Just finished Part 6. The book slowed down for me here, especially during the election sequence. I was more bored than Levin, I think. But the Anna section (where she hosts Dolly) gave me more insight into her motivation and feelings. I’m beginning to more clearly understand why she’s doing what she’s doing, I think.
Part 6 page 563 – Sergei Ivanovich found in her everything he could wish for in a wife: she was poor and alone, so she would not bring a heap of relations and their influence into the house, as he saw with Kitty, but would be obliged to her husband in all things, which he had also always wished for his future family life.
OT for Anna–Check out this quiz from the Christian Science Monitor–“Are you as well-read as a 10th-grader?”
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2012/0625/Are-you-as-well-read-as-a-10th-grader-Take-our-quiz/The-Odyssey-by-Homer?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fbooks+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+%7C+Books%29
Took the quiz and I could have done better if they had East of Eden instead of Grapes of Wrath. HT kcraine for The Book Thief. I was able to mark ‘Heard of it’
Results:
You’re sort of well read
You could probably hold your own in a literary conversation. But deep down, you’d rather be talking about sports or movies.
Finished! Part 7 was intense–what contrast between Levin’s life and Anna’s life! I thought Tolstoy did an amazing job of portraying a person (Anna) who has completely lost all sense of reality. The last section is a bit preachy, but that’s Tolstoy…he wants to make sure you got the point.