Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Anna Karenina Readalong, 2023

958 replies

StColumbofNavron · 28/12/2022 21:30

Following the success of W&P in 2022, we’ve decided to stick with Tolstoy for 2023 and read Anna Karenina, one chapter per day.

For newbies: we simply read one chapter a day and discussion is allowed with a broader chat at the end of each section. Tolstoy’s chapters are nice and short, flicking through average length is about 4 pages.

I have used the Penguin Classics (2001, 2003) trans. by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky for the breakdown below. More on editions below.

There are 249 chapters in this edition and the book is in 8 parts taking us to 14 September with a break of a day between each book. Hopefully, irrespective of the edition you pick the finishing of each ‘book’ will hopefully align.

Book 1, ch. 1-34 (1 Jan-3 Feb)
BREAK, 4 Feb
Book 2, ch. 1-35 (5 Feb-11 Mar)
BREAK, 12 March
Book 3, ch. 1-32 (13 Mar-13 Apr)
BREAK, 14 Apr
Book 4, ch. 1-23 (15 Apr-7 May)
BREAK, 8 May
Book 5, ch. 1-33 (9 May-10 Jun)
BREAK, 11 Jun
Book 6, ch. 1-32 (12 Jun-14 Jul)
BREAK, 15 Jul
Book 7, ch. 1-31 (16 Jul-15 Aug)
BREAK, 16 Aug
Book 8, ch. 1-29 (17 Aug-14 Sept)

Some info on different translations and editions in the links below. Maud, Aylmer and Pevear and Volonkhonsky all present once again.

Wikipedia here
Tolstoy Therapy
New York Times
Some thoughts on Pevear and Volonkhonsky contenting the Russian Lit market

For reasons best known to me (largely foolish) I decided look up and work it all out on my phone instead of laptop, so apologies for any inaccuracies, typos etc. I am certain I have forgotten something, got my numbering wrong somewhere, but hopefully broadly correct.

All that remains is to say welcome back to those who are remaining committed to Tolstoy, thank you to those who organised and helped the last read run smoothly and welcome, do come in to those joining.

p.s. I would love to see the covers of your books.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
32
Magentax · 09/01/2023 15:49

A couple of things I found interesting on a second reading:

  • Stepan wears a uniform for his office job, presumably like a military style thing - must look this up and see what civil service uniforms were like.
  • Stepan and Darya have only been married nine years at the book's opening and he has been unable to see her as desirable for the last six so the poor woman got three years before being too haggard to hold his attention. She would have been 27 at that point.
Piggywaspushed · 09/01/2023 17:05

Well, I enjoyed the flirting by macho skating and trying to look like the young 'uns technique. Levin is an awfully anxious chap, isn't he?? He doesn't seem very worldly for a 32 year old.

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 09/01/2023 18:04

Part 1 Chapter 9

•	Levin finds Kitty skating, and is immediately in awe of everyone at the pond who gets to be in the presence of a goddess.
•	Nicholas Shcherbatsky, Kitty's cousin (not to be confused with Nicholas, Levin's older brother), says hello to Levin, hailing him as a champion skater and telling him to get some skates.
•	Kitty comes over on unsteady skates, and asks Levin a few simple questions. Levin is totally flustered.
•	
•	Kitty compliments him by noting that everyone still talks about him as a champion skater.
•	She suggests that the two of them skate together.
•	Levin goes to rent some skates.
•	Levin and Kitty go skating, and Kitty says that she could learn to be a better skater with Levin, because for some reason she trusts him.
•	Levin replies that he trusts himself when she is with him.
•	But this comment is a little too much for Kitty. She signals "back off" by wrinkling her forehead.
•	Levin asks if she's okay. Kitty says she's fine and asks if Levin has seen Mademoiselle Linon yet.
•	Levin says no, and Kitty tells him to go over and say hello.
•	Levin worries that he's getting annoyed at Kitty, but he goes over and says hello to Mlle. Linon, who is a Frenchwoman and has apparently known Levin and the Shcherbatsky girls for quite some time.
•	Kitty and Levin chat some more, but it's clear that Kitty is being deliberately sweet and friendly—as opposed to being sweet and friendly without thinking about it.
•	She asks if winters are boring in the country. Levin, who continues to be irritated by Kitty's change in attitude, says that it would depend on her.
•	
•	Levin vents his frustration with Kitty by doing athletic skating moves.
•	Kitty feels Levin is wonderful in a brotherly sort of way, and she also feels guilty that she may be flirting with him. But she's having such fun with him that she's probably not going to stop.
•	Kitty meets up with her mother, and Levin joins them both.
•	Kitty's mother informs Levin in a very chilly way that they are at home on Thursdays (read: that's the time when people are supposed to visit the Shcherbatskys).
•	Kitty wants to make up for her mother's chilliness, so she smiles at Levin and says, "Au revoir!" (as in, she'll see him again).
•	Oblonsky comes to take Levin to dinner; he decides on the restaurant Angleterre because he owes more money there and thinks it's wrong to avoid one's debts.
•	Levin is so excited about Kitty's "au revoir" that his mind isn't on anything else.
MamaNewtNewt · 09/01/2023 21:41

Men, misinterpreting women being kind as them being interested since the 1800s, and probably earlier. Despite this, and the whole Kitty is too young and is not interchangeable with her sisters, I still like Levin and enjoyed the skating too. I had an inward sigh when Stephen turn up though.

MyCousinDaphne · 09/01/2023 22:01

I liked Levin in chapter 9, but he seems a lot younger than he is. Kitty's fluctuating mood shows how young she is, too. I enjoyed the skating and the description of the gardens etc

StayWeird · 09/01/2023 22:33

Men, misinterpreting women being kind as them being interested since the 1800s**

Definitely agree with this! Grin

However I also found Levin likeable in this chapter and enjoyed the description of the zoological gardens.

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 10/01/2023 18:35

Part 1, Chapter 10

•	When Oblonsky and Levin arrive at the restaurant, everyone knows Oblonsky and is happy to see him, wait staff included.

•	The waiter fawns over Oblonsky and Levin, and Oblonsky goes through a complicated process of ordering a huge meal: oysters, vegetable soup, turbot, roast beef, stewed fruit, and lots of alcohol.
•

Oblonsky orders in plain Russian, without using the fancy French that their waiter normally uses. (French is trendy at the moment, and is used everywhere in high Russian society. The name of the restaurant, Angleterre, means "England" in French.)
•
• The situation is uncomfortable for Levin, who would be fine eating bread and cheese.
• Levin doesn't want to talk about his love for Kitty in a restaurant he doesn't like. He's afraid the bad vibes of the restaurant will give the relationship bad karma.
• Instead, Levin talks about how the city (Moscow) and how the ways people behave in the city make him uncomfortable.

•	Finally the two men start talking, in a roundabout way, about why Levin has come to Moscow.

•	Oblonsky tells Levin that his wife, Dolly, has foresight about marriages, and that she likes Levin. Dolly thinks that Levin will marry Kitty.

•	Levin is excited at this piece of news, but he reveals that he has a terrible inner turmoil. He mentions undisclosed "past sins" and doesn't feel pure enough for a nice girl like Kitty.
MamaNewtNewt · 10/01/2023 22:10

Bloody hell that lunch would feed me and my family for a week! Is this because it's a special occasion as the two friends haven't seen each other for a while or is this a standard lunch for the posh people in Russia?

I love how Levin persists in making out he is an actual farmer because he has an estate in the country, I bet her never gets his hands dirty. Also he's getting all emotional again. Tears in the restaurant.

Original poster
StColumbofNavron · 11/01/2023 06:47

I read it as excessive, since Tolstoy opted to describe it in such detail. I do think entertaining and hospitality were a big deal in the 19th c in Europe and lunch is sort of place where business can be enacted, so I do think it would be big, but perhaps not this big. Stiva has a debt there so does this often.

OP posts:
countrygirl99 · 11/01/2023 07:40

I've just read Buddenbrooks and there are descriptions of massive meals with umpteen courses in there too.

Magentax · 11/01/2023 08:17

I loved the excessive meal description, I enjoy that sort of period detail very much. This morning's chapter includes the bill - 26 roubles. Given that Oblonsky earns 6,000 roubles a year (described as a very good salary) that's a lot.

SydneyCarton · 11/01/2023 09:45

Levin has a serious Madonna/whore complex going on in today’s chapter. Run Kitty, run!

Magentax · 11/01/2023 10:27

Levin doesn't think "fallen" woman are people at all it's really sad.

StephanieSuperpowers · 11/01/2023 11:19

No wonder he's after a teenager then.

Thethingswedoforlove · 11/01/2023 12:09

We are already getting a rounded picture of the people we are getting to know. Each are complex and neither good nor bad. Just like real people. And it shows Tolstoy had a good understanding of how mysoginistic society could be? Or am I being too generous?

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 11/01/2023 15:29

Part 1, Chapter 11

•	Oblonsky orders another bottle of wine, and then tells Levin about a man named Count Alexis Kirillovich Vronsky, who is pursuing Kitty. Vronsky is rich, handsome, and charming.
•	Oblonsky advises Levin to propose to Kitty tomorrow morning.

•	Levin is suddenly awkward and wants to change the subject. He invites Oblonsky to the country to go shooting with him.
•	
•	Oblonsky broaches the subject of infidelity by asking Levin about a hypothetical situation involving man, wife, and the temptations of other women.

•	(Specifically, he's worrying over what he should do about the governess. He can't ruin his family by staying with her, but he feels like he should leave her something in recognition of what they've been to each other.)

•	His wife is getting older and yet she insists on him being faithful, while the other woman has sacrificed her honor for him and demanded nothing in return. Doesn't the other woman deserve some recompense?

•	Levin doesn't think infidelity is okay, under any circumstances. What's more, he thinks all fallen women are not worthy of any further notice.

•	Levin's not one for compromise. For him, there are two kinds of love: Platonic, and non-Platonic. The latter kind of love is all about drama (this would be the kind of love Oblonsky's talking about, being torn between two women). But the former kind, Platonic love, is always pure and clear.

•	Still, in the midst of this moralizing, Levin remembers his past sins and feels guilty pronouncing judgment on Oblonsky's questions.

•	Oblonsky points out that since Levin has an extremely consistent and solid character, he wants life to be the same all the time. But life's not like that, Oblonsky says.
•	All of a sudden, the two men feel alienated from each other and absorbed in their own problems.
•	
•	Oblonsky calls for the bill.
•	He goes and talks with some other friends, which feels like a relief from the tiring intellectual and spiritual conversations he has with Levin.

•	Levin goes to call on the Shcherbatskys.
DesdamonasHandkerchief · 11/01/2023 15:38

I was surprised that Levin was expected to foot half the bill after Oblonsky's excesses, I'd got the impression he was going to treat Levin.

The reference to Our Mutual Friend was funny, can't get my head round Tolstoy and Dickens being contemporaries.

This bit was irritating, obviously men haven't changed much in the intervening 150 years as MN can testify!

“The wife is getting old, and you’re full of life. Before you have time to turn round, you already feel that you can’t love your wife as a lover, however much you may respect her. And here suddenly love comes along, and you’re lost, lost!’ Stepan Arkadyich said with glum despair."

SanFranBear · 11/01/2023 15:39

Men, misinterpreting women being kind as them being interested since the 1800s

SanFranBear · 11/01/2023 15:40

Oops... was going to just add how perfect this sentiment is! So so true!

Piggywaspushed · 11/01/2023 17:30

I was idly looking t the notes in the back today in order to understand all Oblonsky's references and allusions. Upon doing so I discovered that Tolstoy mildly mocks him by ensuring they are generally somewhat wrong ! I guess Tolstoy assumed his highly intelligent readers would spot this...

Bit like Mrs Malaprop - Mr Malaquote.

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 11/01/2023 17:37

Echoing 'run, Kitty, run!' The talk about 'fallen women' reveals a very unpleasant side to Levin, in my view. He reminds me of Pierre from W+P in his idealism ('His special feeling had been defiled by talk of rivalry with some Petersburg officer...') although Pierre never expressed such awful views about women that I remember. He fell out of love with Hélène very quickly and had Natasha on a pedestal, but I think he loved women.

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 11/01/2023 17:40

That's very clever, Piggy, on your part as well as Tolstoy's!

MamaNewtNewt · 11/01/2023 22:52

This chapter did not endear the main male character to me. Isn't is about time Anna turned up by the way? I'm holding out hope for an ass-kicking heroine who will sort the idiots out!

cassandre · 11/01/2023 23:19

I agree, Fuzzy, there are definitely similarities between Levin and Pierre when it comes to their views on sexuality and women! There's a real double standard at work: they themselves sleep around with prostitutes, but want to marry women whom they imagine to be virginal and pure. Levin's views do seem more extreme though. I'm curious to discover how Anna herself will be represented -- will she fall somewhere between the adulterous Helene and the pure Natasha and Marya?

Buttalapasta · 12/01/2023 06:41

There's a real double standard at work: they themselves sleep around with prostitutes, but want to marry women whom they imagine to be virginal and pure.
I was going to say that's a very prevalent 19th century view but unfortunately there are plenty of men who still subscribe to it.