Anna Karenina Readalong, 2023

I thought Kitty's dad was there... oh dear!

Vasenka Veslovsky. Bit of a tongue twister!

Kitty's dad

Who was it that Levin wanted to pay a visit instead of the bloke he is jealous of?? Have we met him?

And with characters called Vasenka and Varenka in the same chapter it's almost like Tolstoy is deliberately trying to be confusing!

I've been struggling with these chapters because (although the mushroom story was hilarious!) I can't keep on top of who all these people are with their multiple monikers.

A tiny bit ahead, but Veslovsky's outfit sounds hilarious 😆

I'm really enjoying this section - so much is familiar (fortunately my dd is well past the age of having to be sat down & got through holiday homework!). I'm glad Kitty & Levin managed to talk & Levin realised how unreasonable he was being.

18/06/23

Anna Karenina Part 6, Chapter 7

•	Levin goes back when supper is served.
•	All the men plan to go shooting early in the morning.
•	During supper, Oblonsky calls Veslovsky over to tell Dolly and Kitty about Anna. Vronsky and Anna have shacked up a scant fifty miles away, and their place is very nice.
•	Levin watches this group talking from the other side of the room, and experiences intense jealousy as Kitty appears to be fully absorbed in what Veslovsky has to say.
•	Dolly says that she fully intends to visit Anna.
•	Kitty goes over to Levin and talks to him about the upcoming shooting trip.
•	In his jealousy, Levin interprets everything she is saying as masking a hidden passion for Veslovsky.
•	
•	In the bedroom that night, Kitty keeps asking Levin what has been bothering him.
•	Finally it all comes out in a torrent of emotion.
•	Kitty and Levin soon make amends

17/06/23

Anna Karenina Part 6, Chapter 6

•	During the children's tea, all the grown-ups sit on the balcony and chat.
•	They're expecting Oblonsky on the evening train, and Kitty's father might be with him. Although general opinion seems to be that the elder Prince will not be coming.
•	The Princess feels very gloomy that there are no more children left in her house since Kitty has been married.
•	Levin goes off to give Grisha his Latin lesson. Dolly is insistent that Levin follow the prescribed method of teaching, and not follow his own, as he had wanted.
•	
•	Koznyshev brings up Oblonsky's upcoming arrival, noting that there were never such dissimilar brothers-in-law. Oblonsky feels at home in society, whereas Levin feels unbearably awkward.
•	Everyone hears the carriage arriving.
•	Levin jumps out to greet Oblonsky (a.k.a. Stiva), and yells that someone else is with Oblonsky. He assumes that it's the elder Prince.
•	Instead of the elder Prince, Oblonsky is sharing the carriage with a handsome young man named Vasenka Veslovsky.
•	Levin is promptly in a sour mood. He had hoped the elder Prince, who he had gotten quite fond of, would be visiting, not this complete stranger, whom Kitty seems to like a little too much.
•	Levin looks at everyone and thinks poorly of them all.
•	He storms off to attend to the business of farming. Kitty notices that he's in a bad mood.

Yes - the bit about the mushrooms was hilarious! Although I do feel sad for Varenka.

That line in the summary is very funny; 'Koznyshev rehearses again what he meant to say, takes a deep breath, opens his mouth and asks Varenka about mushrooms'.
He's not the first guy to get cold feet before proposing!

I feel sorry for Kitty who isn't allowed lift a finger. Pregnancy was a terrible affliction in those days.

16/06/23

Anna Karenina Part 6, Chapter 5

•	Koznyshev rehearses in his head exactly what he's going to say to Varenka.
•	Although in look and gesture it's obvious that they're both thinking of marriage, they make small talk about mushrooms.
•	They walk in silence until they reach a now-or-never moment.
•	Koznyshev rehearses again what he meant to say, takes a deep breath, opens his mouth, and asks Varenka about mushrooms.
•	She replies, all emotional.
•	Then there's a moment where it's like the balloon has completely deflated. All the pressure and excitement is gone.
•	
•	On the way home, Koznyshev decides that he could not betray the memory of his childhood love.
•	Levin yells at the children to be careful of the pregnant Kitty.
•	Varenka and Koznyshev follow the children out of the woods, and Kitty immediately sees that Koznyshev and Varenka are not engaged.
•	She says as much to Levin.

15/06/23

Anna Karenina Part 6, Chapter 4

•	Varenka is excited about the prospect of a proposal, and that excitement makes her extremely attractive.
•	Koznyshev looks at her and realizes that his feelings for her are very special.
•	He goes off on his own to think about it, giving some excuse about mushroom collecting.
•	Koznyshev lights up a cigar and ponders the idea of proposing to Varenka, ultimately concluding that she embodies absolutely everything he wants in a wife.
•	
•	He sees Varenka in the distance, bending over to pick up some mushrooms, and strides resolutely towards her.

14/06/23

Anna Karenina Part 6, Chapter 3

•	Kitty tells Levin about the womanly gossip, and then asks his opinion on the Koznyshev/Varenka match.
•	Levin reminds Kitty that Koznyshev was in love with a girl who died, and then argues that having thrown himself into the spiritual life, nothing will recall Koznyshev to reality, not even Varenka.
•	The two of them converse in such a way that it's clear that they're a couple that has had many conversations. Kitty and Levin can leave certain things unspoken and yet understand one another perfectly.
•	
•	Levin points out the Koznyshev is not as close to Kitty as Nicholas was.
•	Levin doesn't think that Koznyshev can fall in love, and expresses envy for the fact that duty comes before anything else for Koznyshev.
&bull;	They chat for a bit about society and the common good, and then Kitty hands Levin a flower and tells him to count off <span class="italic">he&#039;ll propose, he won&#039;t propose</span>. The experiment goes awry because Kitty and Levin disagree over counting a little petal as a full petal.
&bull;	Kitty&#039;s mother draws up next to them in the carriage, but they decide to continue on foot.

13/06/23

Anna Karenina Part 6, Chapter 2

•	All the women are on the balcony, talking about jam.
•	They chat a bit about Koznyshev and Varenka, and the possibility that they will be engaged by the time they come back from mushroom hunting.
•	Then they chat about marriage proposals as each of the three Shcherbatsky women remember their own proposals. Kitty tells the story of Levin's initial-writing (as discussed in Part 4).
•	Dolly mentions how, with regard to Vronsky, it was fortunate for Kitty that Anna met him, while it was extremely bad luck for Anna. Dolly says that her thoughts often turn to Anna.
•	
•	Kitty says that she never thinks about it and doesn't want to do so.
•	At that point Levin comes in and interrupts their conversation, apologizing for intruding on their "women's kingdom" (6.2.48).
•	Levin and Kitty go off to join the mushroom hunting expedition. They walk. The carriage will catch up to them later.

12/06/23

Anna Karenina Part 6, Chapter 1

•	Since Dolly's own country house is still in ruins, she and the children are staying with Kitty and Levin.
•	Kitty's mother Princess Shcherbatsky is also staying with them, since she considers it her duty to help out during Kitty's first pregnancy.
•	Furthermore, Varenka (Kitty's thoughtful friend from the spa) kept her promise and is visiting Kitty.
•	
•	The house is packed with Shcherbatskys.
•	Koznyshev (Levin's intellectual half-brother) is also staying the summer.
•	At dinner, the whole family discusses a mushroom hunting expedition.
•	Koznyshev surprises everyone by asking to go along. He looks at Varenka as he says this.
•	Kitty and Dolly make eye contact, both thinking the same thing.
•	Koznyshev goes mushroom hunting with Varenka.
•	Kitty whispers to her friend that she will be happy if a certain event comes to fruition.

Yes agree - the different possible interpretations of the scene with the paintings are so interesting.

Thank you for the summaries - they are really useful in helping me consider what I’ve read in greater detail. I am enjoying reading the book slowly and thinking about it as I usually get carried away by stories and read faster and faster to find out what happens.
The summary sets out more concisely and accurately than I ever could the contradiction that I feel. Anna has acted on her feelings and left an unfulfilling marriage and no one can blame her for that. However that has hurt her closest relatives and, we now see, how hard it will be to build a happy life with the background of disapproval from those around them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this section - had even got ahead, but ground to a halt in the chapter helpfully titled ‘Death’ in my copy and then was playing catch-up. So rewarding now we know Anna, Karenin, Levin and Kitty.

thanks for posting the summaries Desdemona and for posting about the Old Vic livestream StColumb, I’m going to treat myself to a ticket.

Thank you for the summary, Desdamona!
Part five was excellent and that analysis was insightful. I hadn't given any thought to the significance of the portrait of Pilate.

I don't agree with Gradesaver's wording of 'Anna creates a scene' unless it's meant that Anna created a scene by turning up at the opera and looking beautiful in her lace. I suppose that's what it is.

I think we all knew this moment would come. It's interesting that she blames Vronsky for being shunned. It makes me think that she was so blind-sided by her love for him that she hadn't thought matters through; her relationship with her son and how people wouldn't accept her union with Vronsky. It doesn't bode well for her at all. Vronsky is a shallow, idle tosser. At least he was useful in the army!

From Gradesaver Part 5 Analysis:

Part Five is purposely arranged to demonstrate the contrast between the lawful, Christian love of Levin and Kitty and the illicit passion of Anna and Vronsky. The slow growth of love between Levin and Kitty blossoms while the love of Anna and Vronsky slowly collapses into jealousy and hate.
We also see the important role of society in this: Levin and Kitty are able to grow into love, at least in part, because they have been accepted in their roles as husband and wife by all of High Society. Anna and Vronsky, however, forced to sustain a highly individualized romantic relationship in a vacuum and deprived of their roles in society, begin to falter. This contrast serves to underline Tolstoy's thematic warning about the destructiveness of all-consuming passion.
This deprivation of role, of occupation, is shown clearly by the example of Vronsky's interest in painting while he and Anna spend a honeymoon period in Italy. Tolstoy makes it immediately clear that while Anna is content merely possessing Vronsky, Vronsky is restless and needs stimulationhe needs, in effect, something to do. He dabbles in painting, but the introduction of the spartan painter Mikhailov shows the futility of Vronsky's vague ambitions. Art is a stern mistress, and Vronsky would never have the emotional resources to please both art and Anna.
The scene wherein Vronsky and Anna miss Mikhailov's masterpiece in order to admire a brief sketch of two handsome young boys is a telling example of Tolstoy's brilliance. Though a brief scene, it is rendered so skillfully that there have been multiple critical readings of its meaning. They turn away from a painting of Pilate condemning Jesus to the cross. This can be interpreted to mean that they, like those who condemned Jesus, are unaware of the moral impact of their actions upon innocents. Then again, it can also be interpreted to mean that Tolstoy is suggesting Anna must cease gazing at an imaginary summer and stop denying the assumption of her own cross. Finally, it can be interpreted to mean that society must stop judging innocents like Anna, and leave the final judgment to God. The reason for these multiple judgments consists in the quiet subtlety of the scene and Tolstoy's skill in handling it with a detached eye.
The full wrath of society's judgment is rendered with a heavy hand in this section. The hypocrisy of people like Princess Betsyy, who initially encouraged the affair between Anna and Vronsky but now refuses to see Anna in company, is shown in all of its ugliness. Tolstoy rails against hypocrisy in general throughout this section of the book; his portrait of Countess Lydia (who is practically a caricature) also shows disdain for Christian posturing. Though Anna's actions are never condoned by anything in this book, it is clear that her actions, if not honorable, are at least free of contradictions. She follows her emotions out of a loveless marriage and feels the full force of hypocritical society. The Marxist critic Engels used Anna Kareninaa as an example of how the "deceits, failings, and miseries" of bourgeois marriages are less the fault of individuals than of the ways societies organize sexuality. Anna's rejection of this organization proves her downfall.
But while it is tempting to champion Anna's self-possession, readers can never lose sight of the devastating effect of her actions. Anna's brief reunion with Seroyzha is a fine example of this. This highly emotional scene shows how traumatized Seroyzha has been by the breakup of his family; and it hints at the long-term loss the boy will struggle with for the rest of his life. It is difficult, as well, not to feel sorry for Karenin, who hangs by a thread both in society and in his career.
Kitty's kind, thoughtful behavior towards the dying Nicholas foreshadows the care and attention she will bring to her role as a mother. The narrative is purposely arranged to place Nicholas' death right before Kitty's pregnancy, so that Levin might notice how Kitty will function in the other important role that follows marriage. Armed with this knowledge, he is able to understand both her and his own vision of marriage better. Levin grows more realistic in this section: he stops idealizing marriage as a potentially perfect institution and begins subjecting it to natural rules of compromise and change.

So endeth Part 5. From Gradesaver:

Summary:
Whirlwinds of preparations ensue for Levin and Kitty's wedding. To fulfill the Church's requirements for marriage, Levin goes through the motions of fasting and taking communion. The priest's insistence on the existence of God disturbs him, even to the point of making a last-ditch attempt at talking Kitty out of marrying him, but the wedding goes ahead in all its elaborate glory. Levin is overwhelmed with joy and love at the ceremony. Both Levin and Kitty are overwhelmed with love, but a number of other guests inject a note of seriousness into the scene by musing on failed marriagestheir own included.
Anna and Vronsky travel in Italy for three months before settling in a small town. There, Vronsky meets an old friend, a Russian intellectual named Golenishchev. Golenishchev is writing a book called Two Principles, in which he claims that Russia's secret heritage is Byzantium. He also encourages Vronsky's new interest in painting. Vronsky has begun painting a portrait of Anna. Vronsky and Anna also meet a famous painter named Mikhailovv_. Though Golenishchev disapproves of his work, Vronsky and Anna are impressed, although both of them turn their heads away from Mikhailov's masterpiece, Pilate's Admonition, in favor of a bucolic study of two handsome young boys fishing. Mikhailov agrees to do Anna's portrait. But when Mikhailov's portrait is superior to Vronsky's, he decides to give up painting. They will leave Italy and return to spend the summer on Vronsky's country estate. They plan a stop in Petersburg for Vronsky to handle some property business and Anna to see her son.
After three months of marriage, Levin and Kitty are still struggling to get used to sharing a household. Levin is happy, but disillusioned that his marriage seems to consist of petty quarrels that he had once laughed at in other married couples. They are at the whim of each other's moods and remain passionately involved with each other, yet fail to understand each other's roles and demands. Things do not begin to go smoothly until Levin receives news that his brother, Nicholas, is on the verge of death in Moscow. Distraught, he leaves at once, and Kitty insists on going along. At first annoyed that Kitty will witness the depravity in which his brother lives, Levin comes to gain an incredible appreciation for Kitty after watching her make Nicholas comfortable during the agonizing days it takes him to die. Nicholas responds to Kitty as he will not respond to Levin or anyone else. Seeing Kitty in this light helps Levin to understand what Kitty's future role contains. And that role opens up right after Nicholas' death: Kitty announces that she is pregnant.

As Karenin suffers under the humiliations of public opinion and a stagnated career, he falls prey to the ecstatic seduction of a socialite, Countess Lydia Ivanovnaa_. Lydia believes in a fashionable sort of emotional Christianity, and although he senses the foolishness behind her posing, Karenin finds a kind of solace in her words and her attentions. But Lydia is also vindictively hateful towards Anna: she tells Seryozha that his father is a saint and his mother is dead, and when Anna sends a message asking for permission to see Seryozha, she convinces Karenin to refuse.
Despite this injunction, Anna slips into the house to see her son on the morning of his birthday. Seryozha has been suffering dreadfully in Anna's absencehe is doing badly in his schoolwork, understands unconsciously the strained nature of his father's feeling for him, and misses his mother. They have an emotional reunion, interrupted by the arrival of Karenin. Though he had refused to let her see the child, he too is overwhelmed by the scene and merely bows his head and allows her to pass. In a passion, Anna leaves her son behind. She returns to her hotel and her daughter, whom she has been unable to love with the same passion she feels for her son.
Vronsky makes social rounds to feel out how Petersburg Society will accept him and Anna. He receives a cold reception, and is assured that Anna is especially outcast. Though Vronsky can still enjoy the company of men, such as his old friend Yashvin, Anna is confined to her rooms and Vronsky's company. Jealous and irritated at this lack of freedom, she decides to commit social suicide by attending the opera. The scene is shown through Vronsky's eyes as he gazes up at her box: Anna creates a scene and is insulted by members of society. Though Vronsky had advised her against it, Anna blames him for her social position, making it necessary for him to soothe her with constant assurance of his love. They leave the very next day for the country.

10/06/23

Anna Karenina Part 5, Chapter 33

•	Vronsky is angry because Anna seems to be deliberately misunderstanding her position. For Anna to appear at the opera is to deliver a slap in the face to society. He's confused as to why she wants to do this.
•	Vronsky hangs out with Yashvin for a bit, and then a servant comes in to tell them that Anna has left for the opera.
•	Yashvin gets up to join Anna, but Vronsky refuses.
•	Vronsky starts pacing around the room, imagining Anna at the opera. Finally he comes to the conclusion that he must make an appearance.
•	Anna looks beautiful at the opera house.
&bull;	Vronsky sees that, in the box next to Anna&#039;s, is a couple by the name of Kartasov. Anna is acquainted with them, but the woman is obviously saying angry and spiteful things about her. The wife can&#039;t believe that she has to be seen near <span class="italic">that woman</span>. Kartasov tries to calm his wife. After his wife leaves, he tries to bow to Anna apologetically, but she ignores him.
&bull;	Vronsky doesn&#039;t know exactly what happened between the Kartasovs and Anna, but he realizes that it was a humiliating experience for her. He goes and searches for some information.
&bull;	He runs into his sister-in-law, Varya, who says that Madame Kartasov insulted Anna deliberately.
&bull;	Vronsky then runs into his mother, who says that everyone in the opera house is disregarding the singer in favor of gawking at Anna.