Anna Karenina Readalong, 2023

Thank you so much for organising the read along StColumbo I've really enjoyed reading everyone's comments and finally tackling Anna Karenina - not sure I'd have persevered on my own!

For me it didn't match up to War and Peace but then the breadth and scope of that novel are pretty breathtaking and AK is much more on a micro, intimate level. Although I know I'm in the minority on that preference!

I've had enough of fallen women so I'm going to duck out of the Madame Bovary read along and read some trash for a change!

Part Eight Analysis:

Part Seven ended the story of the book's heroine Anna with death. To complete the story of the book's hero LevinTolstoy shows how one may choose life rather than death. With the completion of these two stories, the doubling of the novel is complete, and the novel comes to a neat, equitable closure. It also completes Tolstoy's portrayal of Russian Society and offers his final remarks on the book's other characters.
The section opens with a disapproving look at the movement to help the Slavs. It is difficult to say whether this disapproval is for the cause itself or for the elements in Russian Society trying to "help," but Tolstoy takes advantage of the opportunity to jab at the superficiality and shallowness of Russian society once again. The volunteers are also failures. They are not volunteering for the good of the Slavs, but for their own self-advancement.
The volunteers are failures, and Vronsky is among them. Like them, he is merely going to save himself. There is little doubt that Anna has made a tremendous impact on his life his suffering and pain are real but the blame that both Vronsky and his mother place on Anna is unfair. Vronsky ignores his own role in Anna's downfall and behaves as if his ruination was caused by her will alone. He goes off to destroy himself again, perhaps causing his own death this time.
The scenes of the volunteer movement conclude the motif of trains running through the novel. As in the earlier sections, trains represent death and the invasion of Western progress. No fewer than six scenes of death and carnal excess occur on trains in this novel. Vronsky's final breakdown, in front of Koznyshev, occurs on the train platform. And he leaves on another train to fight a potentially hopeless cause, and possibly to meet his death.
The main character in this section, though, is Levin. Critics have questioned the credibility of Levin's spiritual conversion in this last section, especially since Tolstoy was in the midst of his long feud with the Greek Orthodox Church during the composition of Anna Kareninaa. And though it was hinted at earlier in the book, the conversion itself is rather hasty and unconvincing, given the torturous nature of Levin's doubts. Though this may create head-scratching, the continual debate over Levin's conversion is one of the reasons that Anna Kareninaa continues to be of interest to scholars and critics. The combination of Levin's ambivalent conversion and the incredible appeal of Anna as a character make it difficult to position the book as a simple parable of good and evil.
The success of Levin and Kitty's marriage, though, provokes little debate. They succeed where others have failed because they respect each other while allowing each other room for private reflection and growth. They inhabit separate social spheres, which is healthy for their relationship. A couple, Tolstoy is saying, needs room to have private thoughts and feelings. A stifling relationship, such as the one between Anna and Vronsky, fails because the two people are not allowed to grow on their own. This theory, obviously, comes with conditions--the same "space" could be said of, say, Dolly and Oblonsky. But while Levin and Kitty respect each other's roles, they also grant each other respect and aim to treat each other with concern. Within the sphere of marriage, these things are more important and lasting than carnal desire.

From Gradesaver:

Part Eight Summary:

It is the middle of the summer. Koznyshevv_ is getting ready to move to Levin's country estate, far behind schedule. Koznyshev has experienced many life changes over the past year; the biggest being the publication of his book on theories of government. He spent six years writing the book and was very invested in its reception; he is very upset that it barely made a stir in any circles. No one seems to have read it, and it garnered only one printed review, which was negative. Luckily, the publication of his book coincides with a movement of Russian sympathy towards the Slavic peoples ruled by the Serbs. Although Koznyshev recognizes that the Slavic question "had been turned into one of those fashionable diversions that in constant succession always serve society as a focus of interest," he throws himself into the cause.
When Koznyshev and Katavasov go to the train station to head into the country, there are several groups of men who are volunteering to fight with the Slavs. One of the women who have come to send off the volunteers tells them that Vronsky is volunteering. Before Koznyshev can find out more, Oblonsky pops up in the crowd with his usual cheers and jests. Everyone is annoyed by his presence, including Vronsky, whom he bothers while the latter gets on the train.

During the ride, Katavasov has conversations with the volunteers and finds them to be spoiled, dissolute, and unpleasant. Meanwhile, Koznyshev speaks with Vronsky's mother, who is escorting him part of the way on the train. She tells him that the volunteer movement is Vronsky's only hope; he has been a wreck since Anna's death. The fight has given him something to be interested in, and the Countess is thankful for that, although she is worried about her son's safety. Alexis Kareninn_ has taken Vronsky's daughter, and Vronsky is unable to get her back. When Koznyshev speaks to Vronsky later on the trip, he understands the Countess' words. Vronsky has aged many years and acts as though he is living in a mental prison.
The Levins' home is a portrait of domesticity and happy, effective labor. Kitty is so in tune with her baby that she knows to feed him when she feels her milk gush to her breasts. Dolly, who has recently sold off part of her own estate in order to pay Oblonsky's debts, and her children are also staying with the Levins. Levin himself remains very active on his farm and continues to study various subjects. Yet he is tortured by religious doubts and spiritual strivings, and these matters are so clearly troubling to him that even Kitty has begun to question what is going on in her husband's head. Levin's basic question, as he puts it, is this: "If I don't accept the answers given by Christianity to the questions of my life, what answers do I accept?" He wonders about his moment of prayer during Kitty's labor and constantly questions and tortures himself about his doubts. At times it becomes so bad that he wishes to kill himself. He attempts to distract himself with his family and farm duties, and in this he is moderately successful.
He is in a particular state of anguish the day of Koznyshev's arrival. It is the hardest three weeks of the harvest the peasants are required to work twenty hours a day in order to mow, reap, and cart the rye and oats. As Levin rides up and down, watching the peasants strain themselves, he asks over and over again what the meaning of life is. He stops to correct a peasant named Theodoree_, and in the midst of their conversation he asks him a question about God. Theodore's answer" he lives righteously, in a godly way"provides Levin with the answer he is looking for. He experiences an epiphany and realizes that he has already been living for God. By appreciating his family and his workers, and dedicating himself to the well-being of others around him, he is behaving the way God wishes him to. He feels that because he knows the answer now, his life will be perfect.
Almost immediately, Levin is corrected in this last belief. Katavasov and Koznyshev approach, and the old hostility between the brothers re-emerges. At first Levin is plunged into doubt, but his faith holds. The brothers, Katavasov, the elder Prince Shcherbatskaya and Dolly debate faith and the Serbian War. Then, suddenly, a tremendous thunderstorm interrupts the discussion. Dolly rushes her children into the house, and Levin discovers from the maid that Kitty has taken the baby to the woods. Horrified that they have been harmed, he runs into the forest. While he hunts for them, lightening strikes a tree in front of him. The tree is scorched and tumbles in front of him.
When he finds them a moment later, unhurt, he is overcome with relief. The experience renews his belief in God.
That night, the discussion continues between the members of the household. As Levin is engaged in the conversation, Kitty calls him to the nursery. The baby has shown his first signs of recognizing the people around him, another moment that fills Levin's heart with love. Later that night, Levin reflects once more on the nature of his questions, and decides that his belief in God belongs to him alone, and that he has no right to remark on others' relationships with the Lord. Kitty comes in and asks him what he is thinking about, but he demurs to talk to her about it. It is a personal matter, he realizes, one that may not affect his external life but that will make all the difference to his inner peace.

And finally Tolstoy hangs up his quill!
Will be back with a summary and analysis of part 8.

4th September
Anna Karenina Part 8, Chapter 19

Levin watches the storm as it fades into the distance: at each bolt of lightning, the Milky Way appears to disappear, but then it returns.
He is still disturbed by the relationship of God to the rest of mankind, but then he realizes the he can’t think about all of the incredibly small, intricate variables; rather, he has to just trust that God takes care of everyone.
He hears Kitty and is about to tell her about his epiphany but decides that it’s his own secret. He realizes that even though he is human and not flawless, his life has the unquestionable meaning of the good in it.

Yes. I've really enjoyed this.

3rd September
Anna Karenina Part 8, Chapter 18

•	For the rest of the day everyone is in excellent spirits. Levin in particular is aware of the fullness in his heart.
•	Kitty is called away to give Mitya his bath just as Koznyshev launches into his views on the Eastern Question (which Levin doesn't entirely understand). Koznyshev seems to believe that a new epoch in history will be created by combining Russia with the forty million soon-to-be liberated Slavs.
•	Levin later goes to visit his wife and son.
•	Kitty shows him that Mitya has begun recognizing his parents. (They bring the cook in to experiment. Mitya smiles at his parents and not at the cook.)
•	
•	Kitty tells Levin that she's pleased he's begun to feel affection for his son.
•	Levin admits that during the storm, he realized his love for his son. He had never not loved Mitya, but he had been disappointed by his own pity for this helpless child.

2nd September
Anna Karenina Part 8, Chapter 17

•	The Prince and Koznyshev drive home in the gig (a small, horse-drawn carriage), while everyone else goes back on foot.
•	They're still far from the house when the sky threatens to rain. They reach the shelter of the porch right as the rain begins.
•	Levin immediately asks Miss Agatha about Kitty's whereabouts. She says that Kitty is probably still in the woods.
•	Levin rushes off immediately.
•	When he gets near what he knows is Kitty's favorite oak tree, he sees it fall. He prays that his family was not hit.
•	
•	He cannot find them for a moment, but then sees them calling to him from the other side of the wood.
•	The nanny, Kitty, and Mitya are all perfectly all right. Mitya is safe and dry in his baby carriage.

1st September
Anna Karenina Part 8, Chapter 16

•	Koznyshev turns the conversation in another direction. Conversation resumes around defining the "spirit of the people" and the obligations of the media.
•	Koznyshev feels that the intelligentsia, the intellectual class, of the world has merged with other classes. Everyone's united.
•	The old Prince Shcherbatsky points out that it might seem that way, because all the newspapers sound the same. But what does that have to do with the will of the people?
•	Levin points out timidly that this isn't just a matter of self-sacrifice: war with the Turks would also mean demanding that these volunteers murder other people.
•	
•	But all the free thinkers, especially Katavasov, don't see why that's a problem, because they don't really believe in the soul. Levin sees that Koznyshev and Katavasov aren't going to change their minds, so he stops bothering.
•	The rain clouds gather in greater intensity. Levin points them out and suggests they return home.

31st August
Anna Karenina Part 8, Chapter 15

•	The assembled company (Dolly, kids, Katavasov, Koznyshev, the old Prince, Levin) begins gossiping about Vronsky and the Serbian War.
•	The old Prince is skeptical of the movement to help the Slavs, but Koznyshev and Katavasov eagerly defend it. Koznyshev feels that this is a moment in which the clear destiny of a people (the Slavs as a whole) has become clear.
•	Levin asks a peasant who is serving them whether he has heard priests preaching for the Slavist cause in the pulpits. After all, the Serbs are Eastern Orthodox Christians who are fighting off Muslim occupiers. The old peasant replies, what is there to think about? The Czar gets to decide, and he knows better than anyone.
•	
•	Koznyshev says that he can see the rightness of this cause because he has seen numerous people from across Russia volunteering to join it. Levin claims that's just proof that they've lost their social positions or squandered their money at home and are looking for an escape from their situations. This idea of supporting the Slavic people is so vague. Look at this peasant, Levin says, he doesn't think of battling on the Slavic side as "the will of the people."

30th August
Anna Karenina Part 8, Chapter 14

•	Having found faith, Levin resolves to never quarrel with anyone again.
•	Then he fights with the first person with whom he interacts: the coachman.
•	When he gets back to the house, he learns that Kitty has taken Mitya out to the forest in order to escape the summer heat.
•	Koznyshev notes that it's about to rain.
•	Levin takes Koznyshev and Katavasov to see the beehive.
•	Despite his failure to be perfect and never fight with anyone, he still believes that his soul experienced a profound epiphany, and as he watches the bees surround him, he knows that his spiritual strength will remain intact.

Yes! Give it a rest now Tolstoy.

🤣 I totally agree! He never knows when to throw in the towel!

At least he only wrote one epilogue this time!

Someone needed to say to Tolstoy, stop writing now.

I think I'll see what versions are free or cheap to buy on Prime and watch this weekend when DH is working nightshift.

29th August
Anna Karenina Part 8, Chapter 13

•	Levin recalls watching Dolly’s children wasting food while playing a game, and compares this abuse of food with the act of philosophizing.
•	He thinks that philosophers are just like these children: like the kids, they have been provided with everything they need to nourish themselves (spiritually, at least), but they take it for granted, wasting what they’ve been given in intellectual games. Faith in goodness and the meaning of life is built into our natures, but these fools keep trying to prove what we all already know to begin with.
•	
•	As Levin lies on his back in a field, he realizes that the globe is round, but that he cannot see that roundness; all he can see is the flatness of the sky.
•	Similarly, Levin knows at last that he is part of a universe that he doesn’t really understand. He can’t really know anything about Creation—the devil, heaven, hell, etc. He knows what he’s been told, but he has no proof. So it has to be enough for him to believe in God, and to let go of his need for rational explanation.
•	Levin names this new feeling of completeness inside of him “faith,” and thanks God for it.

Thanks for the Madame Bovary thread StColumb, will check in soon.

Of this section so far, other than Vronsky’s and his mother’s reactions to Anna’s death, I have mainly skimmed. I wish the philosophy had been separated and headed ‘Outtakes’. Am quietly hoping for rather more about the aftermath and less about Levin’s self examination.

28th August
Anna Karenina Part 8, Chapter 12

•	Levin's soul is affected by his conversation with Theodore. As he ponders it more deeply, he realizes that he has discovered nothing that he didn't know already. Rather than living only for himself, he has been living life for some greater cause that he was unable to name—he has been living for God all along.
•	Levin thinks about personal needs being subordinated to the service of truth. He realizes that the life of the spirit is the only thing worth living for. If you try to do good to accomplish something, it is no longer good. You have to do good for its own sake, and that is service to God.
•	This epiphany could never come from reason, because rational thinking is all about cause and effect. Good is outside rationality, and has to come from whatever it is that we call love or God. This faith is beyond the rationale even of the Church. He replaces the teachings of the Church itself with a belief in the importance of serving good instead of one's needs.
•	
•	Levin thanks God for this revelation.

And yes self-indulgent is the right word James. If Levin strikes us as self-indulgent, it's because Tolstoy himself is being a bit self-indulgent here!

That is such an interesting point about how these boring Levin chapters are Tolstoy at his most autobiographical!

I'm not sure why but I felt more sympathy for Andrei and Pierre in their existentialist crises that I do for Levin!

There's also an element of class and gender bias I think, as women like Kitty and earnest peasants seem to know intuitively how to live an ethical life, whereas Levin, as an upper-class man, has to figure it out intellectually.

Anna had an existential/ethical crisis too, but (because she was a woman?!) her emotions overcame her before she had a chance to grapple with it properly.

I have loved this novel, but I'm not in love with Levin and the way he seems to be represented as the more ethical male counterpart of Anna.