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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:
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DesdamonasHandkerchief · 14/02/2023 18:33

14/2/23
Part 2, Chapter 10

•	The argument (detailed in the previous chapter) marks a turning point in the life of Anna and Karenin.

•	On the surface everything seems to be the same, but their personal relations have completely changed.

•	Karenin feels utterly powerless, like he's just waiting for a disaster.

•	Anna continues to hang out with Princess Betsy and sees Vronsky everywhere.
•	
•	Karenin falls back on talking to Anna in a half-mocking tone, which makes it impossible to say anything serious to her.

•	This chapter ends with two lines of ellipses representing the total break between what has come before in the novel and what is to come after.
maranella · 14/02/2023 19:01

countrygirl99 · 14/02/2023 13:35

He didn't strike me as a bad husband in the context of the times. With his need for routine I thought the typical mumsnet response would be is he ASD?

Grin

You're kinder than me. I just think he sounds like a fat, dull, boring middle aged man who feels like he no longer has to make an effort for his wife, because he knows she's stuck with him.

countrygirl99 · 14/02/2023 19:28

That's a very 20th/21st century point of view though. In 19th century Russia he would have been a pretty good husband.

Sadik · 14/02/2023 20:02

I feel like Tolstoy has hit the perfect note really - he's boring enough to make Anna's attraction to Vronsky very understandable, but not a terrible husband.
Vronsky is a total creep, but again it's entirely plausible Anna's attraction to him.

I've read ahead a little & reached a farming section, and it's hilariously accurate. (I've spent the last month chasing a mechanic who was meant to have done a fix on my tractor before Christmas, yesterday extracted a plough that should have been in a barn from a pile of brambles, and only need to go down the pub to hear complaints about the lack of workers and the level of wages that those available are asking for.... sadly unlike Levin I don't have a steward & a housekeeper to grumble at Grin )

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 14/02/2023 20:04

Sadik 😅

Magentax · 15/02/2023 10:57

Ha ha yes I am a bit ahead and am weirdly fascinated by the farming details!

Piggywaspushed · 15/02/2023 11:47

ArabeI · 14/02/2023 11:45

Vronsky is the definition of a cad, I agree. At this point he's being horribly selfish with no regard for Anna's reputation and the impact it's already having.

I don't remember Helen McCrory from the BBC version. Will have to look.

I've looked it up and it was 2000, may not have been BBC.

Vronsky was Kevin McKidd...how underwhelming.

I met him in Sainsburys once. He was nice. No swooning occurred.

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 15/02/2023 12:29

15/2/23

Part 2, Chapter 11

Just when you thought the tension couldn't go on any longer, Anna and Vronsky finally do the deed. There is no description of the event; we just jump right from those two lines of dots (representing a break of time and narrative) to the feelings of Vronsky and Anna after they've had sex.

•	Anna can't stop sobbing and her body is limp with shame. Vronsky is compared to a murderer and Anna to a murdered body. Anna now sees herself as a criminal, and Vronsky as the accomplice who has brought her to this guilt.
•	
•	She tells Vronsky that she has nothing left now but him. She has been ushered into a new life, which fills her with horror, shame, and joy all at the same time.

•	She tells herself that she'll reflect on her physical relationship with Vronsky when she's calmer. That calm moment never comes, however, because Anna remains completely shocked by what she's done.

•	She has a recurring dream where she's married to both Alexis Karenin and Alexis Vronsky. In the dream, this seems like a totally normal situation, but then she wakes everything seems strange. It's really a nightmare more than a dream.
DesdamonasHandkerchief · 15/02/2023 12:37

Took them nearly a year from meeting to DTD, that's deferred gratification for you. Doesn't seem to be bringing much happiness to Anna though, and I imagine Veronsky is the type who enjoys the thrill of the chase and loses interest once he's made his conquest.

cassandre · 15/02/2023 17:15

The two lines of dots are an interesting textual strategy! They're attention-grabbing, but they also make me think that Tolstoy being a little prudish by refusing to describe the actual sexual intercourse.

And I agree, Desdamona, the affair doesn't seem to bring Anna any happiness at all! It's a bit unfair IMO on Tolstoy's part not to let Anna have any pleasure before the regrets set in. We've skipped straight over the pleasure stage into the stage of shame and self-loathing. Hmm. I'm not keen on the way Tolstoy handles female sexual desire here.

Buttalapasta · 15/02/2023 17:34

they also make me think that Tolstoy being a little prudish by refusing to describe the actual sexual intercourse
I guess he wouldn't have got published if he had!

cassandre · 15/02/2023 17:55

Ha, fair enough! But he's paradoxically drawing our attention to the fact he's NOT describing it.

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 15/02/2023 20:13

I agree with cassandre that Anna was plunged into regret and remorse very quickly. Pleasure doesn't enter into it at all.

Do you recall how Tolstoy's wife had a hand in W+P and insisted that he cut out Pierre and Hélène's honeymoon scene? No! We can't have that in this erudite work...

CornishLizard · 15/02/2023 22:25

I’ve caught up from a few chapters behind and feel cheated that my edition omitted the euphemistic spray of dots.

Not quite convinced that if Anna was going to feel so wretched so immediately, she would have gone through with it at all. Agree that the cut to remorse happened too quickly.

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 16/02/2023 11:39

16/2/23

Part 2, Chapter 12

• Even after three months, Levin is still not over Kitty. He blushes every time he thinks about having been refused. He waits impatiently for news that she's been married, hoping that this will help him get over her.

•	Spring comes.

•	In the face of such beautiful weather, Levin resolves to lead a solitary and virtuous life.
•	
•	He gets a letter from Masha saying that his brother Nicholas's health has deteriorated, but that Nicholas refuses to get treatment.

•	Levin goes to Moscow, convinces his brother to get treatment, and succeeds in lending him some money.

•	Levin spends his time farming, reading, and writing book on farming. His life is full—only rarely does he feel the need to discuss topics with someone other than Miss Agatha, his nurse.

•	Levin's book on farming begins with the premise that the science of farming should not be reduced to questions of soil and climate alone, but should also taken into account the "known, immutable" (2, 12, 3) character of the worker (about which he does not elaborate).
Sadik · 17/02/2023 07:34

I'm guessing that in the context of the era the immediate remorse is meant to keep the reader's sympathies with Anna? (Also perhaps to imply that she's been heavily pressured into sex by vronsky?)

countrygirl99 · 17/02/2023 08:40

It's interesting that people have been happy to criticise the men but not Anna who is the one cheating.
I also think Karenin and Levin get an unfair rough ride. By the standards of the day and their class they are decent blokes. The best an aristocratic woman could really hope for was a tolerable man who didn't keep her short of money, didn't drink or gamble and didn't get too many servants pregnant. By our standards it's a low bar but things have changed.
Levin was criticised because Kitty is young, but that's when women were married off. And until relatively recently marriages were arranged and a contract rather than romantic.
Karenin does seem stuffy and dull but he treats Anna well by the standards of the day. Her boredom is understandable and Vronsky did pursue her but once back in St Petersburg she went to Betsy's knowing well she would see him.

countrygirl99 · 17/02/2023 08:42

That Vronsky is a bad one though

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 17/02/2023 09:10

I do have sympathy for Karenin, for the record. It sounds like Anna was happy in her marriage until she met Vronsky. It would have been a passing flirtation if he hadn't pursued her. You are right countrygirl, Anna gave in to him at that point where she started looking out for him at Betsy's. She obviously has agency in this, but she told him to leave her alone early on and he didn't. You can really sense the turmoil in the dream where she imagines that she has two husbands.

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 17/02/2023 12:47

17/2/23

Part 2, Chapter 13

•	It's spring, and Levin is surrounded by sprouting green plants. He feels a little like the plants in that he is full of new energy, but not sure in what direction he should grow.

•	He encounters a lot of problems with his farmers, who are not as productive as Levin is. He becomes angry at the carelessness of the workers on his estate, who do not take time for necessary upkeep of farm equipment. Furthermore, they continue not to follow his new recommendations for repairs. Levin is furious over the slovenliness of farm work, against which he has been fighting all his life.
•	
•	He tries to convince his steward Kuzma to hire more workers, to cart manure earlier, and to plow a field continually to keep it fallow. While the steward agrees with Levin's plans, he seems resigned to the fact that it is never going to happen. He just doesn't think that he'll be able to get his tenants and workers to overcome their set ways.

•	Levin knows that he is fighting for the impossible as he tries to fight that tone of resignation in Kuzma's voice that he only describes as "as God grants," but he wants to get his peasants in gear and start farming more efficiently. He can't stop fighting for his reforms, even when there's so much resistance.

•	The good weather shakes Levin out of his disappointment, and the chapter ends with Levin feeling optimistic and ready to get his gun to go snipe shooting.
cassandre · 17/02/2023 15:12

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 15/02/2023 20:13

I agree with cassandre that Anna was plunged into regret and remorse very quickly. Pleasure doesn't enter into it at all.

Do you recall how Tolstoy's wife had a hand in W+P and insisted that he cut out Pierre and Hélène's honeymoon scene? No! We can't have that in this erudite work...

I'd forgotten about Tolstoy's wife making him edit out the sexy parts of War and Peace! Ha. I wonder what she thought of Anna Karenina.

cassandre · 17/02/2023 15:34

I'm guessing that in the context of the era the immediate remorse is meant to keep the reader's sympathies with Anna?

I'm sure that's right, Sadik.

Countrygirl, I don't think Anna's decision to commit adultery is ethically admirable, but I have a lot of sympathy for her, because I don't think her society has equipped her to acknowledge and deal with her own sexual desire. Traditional morality says that women should be faithful to their husbands, but it doesn't encourage women to seek sexual fulfilment, so what are women supposed to do when they're married and they find themselves having strong feelings for someone they're not married to? I think this is one of the questions the novel is making us ask.

Anna's shame and self-hatred mean that she has deeply internalised society's notions of how women should behave. She doesn't really have a framework to help her process her feelings of sexual desire, so she acts on them blindly, and ends up in a state of, well, cognitive dissonance. She's in a state of real turmoil, as Fuzzy says.

It's interesting come to think of it how many novels are about adultery. Madame Bovary of course (which isn't a novel I know very well), but also the 17th c French novel La Princesse de Cleves, where the young heroine feels so guilty for fancying someone who's not her husband that she ends up telling her husband about it, and that goes very very badly, as we might expect! And Les Liaisons dangereuses, where the saintly Presidente de Tourvel falls for the libertine Valmont, even though it goes against all her morals.

In the context of arranged marriages, women's desires are relegated to the background, and that's what causes trouble.

On a completely different topic, the weather feels surprisingly spring-like this week, with snowdrops and crocus starting to pop up, so I'm happy to be reading about Levin's spring-fuelled joy. Even though farm manure doesn't appeal to me much 😂

countrygirl99 · 17/02/2023 15:53

I quite agree that women at that time were between a rock and a hard place when it came to sexuality and the double standards were horrendous - look at how Oblonsky carries on without the confusion or potential for disgrace Anna faces. It's just that some of the early comments were looking at the men from a very 21st century point of view but not Anna and I found that interesting. Maybe that says a lot about us having a more "he's a bore, you go girl" attitude.

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 17/02/2023 15:54

I thought of Madame Bovary when I read that chapter. Emma goes through the full range of emotions with each of her affairs from desire and pleasure to disillusionment and regret. Flaubert must not have had a disapproving wife looking over his shoulder :) There are some good moments in it. The scene where Emma orders the carriage to keep going around Rouen while she is enclosed with her lover (Leon?) comes to mind.

Thanks for your comments cassandre. Always so interesting!

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 18/02/2023 15:37

18/2/23

Part 2, Chapter 14

•	On his way home, Levin finds a surprise: Oblonsky has taken the train from Moscow to see Levin. Oblonsky says he has arrived to see Levin, do some shooting, and sell a forest.

•	The two men have a splendid dinner and great conversation, because they know each other so well.

•	Levin is afraid to ask if Kitty has been married.
•	
•	At the end of supper, it becomes clear that Oblonsky has been having sex with women other than his wife. He makes an uncomfortable analogy between eating sweet rolls while also having a daily ration of bread. He won't accept life without love, Oblonsky tells Levin.

•	Levin listens attentively, but he can't understand the appeal of sleeping with women with loose morals.