Anna Karenina Readalong, 2023

Ooh. Think I need a subscription like this!!

Found this thread during a night of insomnia and left it open to remind me to dig out my copy whenever morning came. I've managed five chapters and will catch up on six and seven this evening. Another one using the Louise and Aylmer Maude translation for Vintage Classics, 239 chapters in total.

Levin has the same problem as Laurie in Little Women, he doesn't mind which sister he marries. And as for the fact he could only love someone beautiful... grr!

I'm all caught up now, it's been years since I read this. One thing that strikes me on this read is from the chapter introducing Dolly she sounds like she might have an overactive thyroid (whether it's supposed to read like that or not I'm not sure)

I have a clothbound classics subscription with Berts Books and this month Anna Karenina turned up so apparently I am joining in the readalong!

Footnotes at the end of chapters sounds good. I have the Bartlett version on kindle and am too lazy to check at the 'back' to see what most of the asterisks refer to! I am also irritated by the fact that it hasn't been divided up into chapters from a reading progress point of view - I start each chapter with 3 hours and so many minutes to go (presumably referring to Part One). I like to know how much I have left to read. The Briggs version of War and Peace did not treat me like this😅

I loved the made-up names of academics that show what Tolstoy thinks about it. Very good :)

It's great to have footnotes at the end of chapters in the P+V Kindle version.

Last line of chapter 7 'Levin stopped listening, and waited for the professor to go'. Perfect! I'm definitely with Levin on this😅

I hope it's not too late to join - I've wanted to read AK for such a long time and have read every post in this thread (apart from the spoilers). I have the hardback but it's a weighty tome, so will download to Kindle and catch up by next week.

Currently reading up on the translations, which I've narrowed down to two: the P&V v Rosamund Bartlett translations before I commit. I understand the P&V translation is in American English (Oxford turned it down and Penguin London initially thought it unreadable, buying only a few hundred copies on first publication) The Bartlett apparently reads more smoothly in British English, but we shall see.

An earlier translator, Constance Garnett has been described as "a woman of Victorian energies and Edwardian prose"; her translation later criticised as confusing and stumbling.

Fascinated by the translation process and varying styles; achieving a balance between the author's writing style without modernising too much and avoiding confusion and reader misinterpretations is an art in itself.

I'm another one who found the fact that Kitty is clearly young and the fact he knew her as a child really off-putting. Also it's pretty clear that he's just looking for a family and any of the sisters would do. I'm not seeing this as a love match.

Part 1 Chapter 6

•	This section gives a history of the Levin/Shcherbatsky connection.

•	The Levins and Shcherbatskys are two old Moscow families who have always been friendly with each other.

•	Levin and the young Prince Shcherbatsky went to university together.

•	Consequently, Levin spent a lot of time at the Shcherbatsky house, and fell in love with the whole family. All the Shcherbatsky women seemed intriguing, mysterious, and beautiful.
•	
•	Levin almost fell in love with the eldest girl, Dolly, but she got married to Oblonsky.

•	Then Levin almost fell for the second girl, Natalie, but she got married to a diplomat.

•	This left Kitty, and you can guess what happened: Levin fell in love with her.

•	Levin is a good match for Kitty, but since he's in love he convinces himself that he's not good enough for her.

•	He hung out in the Moscow social scene just so he could see her, but then he convinced himself that she could never love him, and sought refuge in the country.

•	(We learn that the young Prince Shcherbatsky died serving in the navy.)

•	Finally, after spending two months alone in the country, Levin decides that he has to ask Kitty to marry him, and put an end to all his anxieties over the matter for once and for all.

With Kitty's age, I find it hard to be in the mindset of the time that that was all fine because frankly, to me, it's revolting and off-putting.

Similarly, I'm reading all of Stevo and getting frustrated by the silly hail fellow well met trifling twat he is and while I know that's not an accident on Tolstoy's part, I wonder if the reasons we see him that way and the reasons the original readers did overlap very much?

I'd guessed 17 or so? So 7 when he first met her 10 years ago (when her older sister who I think is his age - now presumably a worn-out hag - would have been on the marriage market). If I've been following correctly!

I remember from W&P that Tolstoy's time is a bit elastic in places though

Just chiming in to say I'm enjoying both the book and the discussion so far!

Piggy, I was wondering the same thing about Kitty's age.

I liked today's mini-portrait of what an education for 19th c. upper class Moscow girls was like, eg speaking French and English on alternate days.

Errmmm, exactly what age is Kitty?? She seems to be a child??

I thought it was fantastic how Tolstoy summarised the cronyism of the day and I too immediately thought of our current government and how many were brought up to assume their path in life was certain just because of who they are – that ultimate self-assurance.

I read that quite a lot of Levin's experiences in the book (no spoilers) mirror Tolstoy's own. He's definitely his own man.

We are now so invested in finding out the outcome of the actions discussed in chapter 6! Just a few short paras on this subject and it was very hard to stop reading to find out what happens! Chapter 6 is very very short but seems
to convey so so much. Loving this book which I am reading for the very first time.

We see Levin's struggles and I think that keeps us onside with him. Afterall, most of us have had at least one of his experiences!

I was also picking up Andrei / Pierre vibes from this chapter, but it didn't endear Stephen to me as happened with his fellow crappy husband, Andrei.

I agree with previous posters about this being a chapter that I'd normally not pay that much attention to, reading this way forces me to pay attention more, which I like.

@StColumbofNavron That is definitely true of Levin.

Interesting views on Levin - is he this book’s Pierre?

I agree. The way he is written is so incredibly real. Last time I read the book he was my favourite character.