Anna Karenina Readalong, 2023

[StColumbofNavron]

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.

We had a day off between Parts 2 & 3 according to StColombo's original post which may explain why you're a chapter ahead Piggy.

Sorry that should say a day off between parts 3 & 4, but actually we did start Part 4 on 15th which does put us on Chapter 4 today, not sure where I lost a day!

18/04/23

Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 4

•	After bumping into Vronsky, Karenin goes off to the opera and stays for two acts.

•	When he gets home, he checks to make sure Vronsky's coat is not in the coat stand.

•	Instead of sleeping, Karenin paces back and forth thinking about his wife. He's angry that she failed to comply with his one request: that Vronsky not come to his house. Karenin feels that he should follow through on his threat of divorcing Anna and taking their son away from her.

•	In the morning, Karenin is even angrier. He goes into Anna's room (where she is sitting), grabs her keys, and starts ransacking her desk in front of her.

•	He forcibly takes Vronsky's letters from her.

•	Karenin says many terrible things to Anna and she feels the full truth of his statements.

•	In their conversation, Karenin criticizes her harshly for being an unfaithful woman. When Anna protests that he has no right to insult her, Karenin claims that he's only speaking factually.

•	Karenin tells Anna that he is leaving for Moscow tomorrow and not returning to the house. Anna will be hearing from his lawyer.

•	Then Karenin tells Anna that Seryozha will go to his sister.

•	Anna is distraught. She points out that Karenin doesn't even love the boy, but only wants to hurt her by taking him away. She begs that he leave Seryozha with her at least until she gives birth.
•	

Karenin flushes red and leaves the room without a word.

I'm wondering what people think about this interaction between Karenin and Anna? I find myself irresistibly drawn to her and feel sorry for her, but I know that if this situation was reversed and Karenin brought his mistress to her home, especially given the blind eye to the affair more generally I would be raging. It is conflicting.

19/04/23

Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 5

•	Karenin goes to see a famous Petersburg lawyer. The lawyer is occupied when Karenin arrives at his office, but Karenin sends his card in and the lawyer comes out to meet him straight away. The lawyer tells Karenin that he is familiar with Karenin's name and his work in public office.
•	The lawyer goes over Karenin's various options, as Karenin makes it clear that this is a preliminary consultation only. The lawyer is visibly delighted at Karenin's confession of his wife's adultery. He seems to feel real joy in Karenin's suffering.

•	The lawyer suggests, instead of actual divorce, adultery by mutual consent. But Karenin says that such a thing would be out of the question for him.
•	The lawyer then says that if Karenin's want to get her on adultery, he needs proof from actual witnesses to make your case in court. Karenin doesn't seem to like that idea much either.

•	Karenin says he will inform the lawyer of his decision by letter.

It is difficult- I naturally sympathise with Anna who is married to a man who provides no emotional support and she is a warm character. Karenin is a cold fish. But to bring your lover into the marital home is not acceptable and she is pregnant with her lover’s child. I assume she invited Vronsky to the house in the hope of bringing the situation to a head as she couldn’t sustain her situation but I fear the outcome will be even worse. And don’t get me started on how shallow Vronsky is and how inadequate he will clearly be when Anna needs support. She certainly picks them!

20/04/23

Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 6

&bull;	At a recent committee meeting (picking up on the actions of <a class="break-all" href="https://www.shmoop.com/anna-karenina/part-3-chapter-23-summary.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Part 3, Chapter 23</a>3*), Karenin scores a political victory over his rivals in the state when a government report provides data to support Karenin's views on racial minorities in Russia.

&bull;	Stremov (remember, Karenin's stated enemy in their political lives) then adopts the clever tactic of proposing measures that follow the same lines as Karenin's but that are so extreme that they're ridiculous. This turns everyone against the guy with the original ideas: Karenin.

&bull;	Karenin refuses to give in, but instead proposes that he take a trip out to the provinces to examine for himself the lives of rational minorities.

&bull;	On his way to the provinces, Karenin stops for three days in Moscow.

&bull;	In Moscow, Karenin hears his name being called on the street. It's Oblonsky and Dolly with their children Tanya and Grisha.

&bull;	Oblonsky and Dolly express astonishment that Karenin has not stopped by for a visit. They insist that he come to dinner. Karenin is chilly and awkward the whole time.

It's hard to judge by today's standards. Obviously it would be awful these days to get pregnant by someone else while married, and to meet your lover in the marital home, but that's mainly because you would expect that person to divorce their husband, and that option isn't open to Anna. So I'm not sure what I think!

But even by their own standards, he effectively said he would turn a blind eye, and therefore is (presumably) going to legitimise the child and he just asked her to maintain propriety and explicitly said his line was having Vronsky in the family home. Of course, she is in love with Vronsky or at least the idea of Vronsky but Karenin I think knows even with divorce it cannot be what she wants. He is effectively saving her and her child by providing them with status to live their lives. I do see that Karenin is cold and has not/cannot give her the affection that she craves. The same might be said of Betsy or any of the other extra marital affairs we have seen so far, though we don’t know enough to know how their marriages are or are not impacted. I’m feeling a lot more for Karenin on this read than I previously have and can’t put my finger on it. It may influence of adaptation, or age, or recognising Vronsky as less than the dashing hero which is sometimes how I saw him in the past I think.

21/04/23

Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 7

•	The next day, Oblonsky goes to a ballet rehearsal to see his current mistress, a ballet dancer.

•	Afterward, he goes to the marketplace to select produce for dinner, and then he stops by Dussot's, where he plans on seeing three people: Levin, who has returned from his trip abroad, the new head of his department, and Karenin, who he wants to ensure will be coming for dinner.

•	The guest list for dinner is: Kitty, Levin, a girl cousin, young Shcherbatsky, Koznyshev, Karenin, and Pestsov. Oblonsky considers Koznyshev and Karenin to be the main course of the guests, and Pestsov to be an interesting garnish. (Pestsov is a liberal intellectual who also likes music and history.)

•	Oblonsky's happiness is marred by only two unpleasant circumstances. The first is that, judging from Karenin's chilliness towards Oblonsky, things are not going well between Karenin and Anna (who is, of course, Oblonsky's sister). The second problem is that Oblonsky's new department head has a strong work ethic and different opinions from Oblonsky. We have a feeling Oblonsky is more worried about the former than the latter.

•	Oblonsky first has a brief chat with Levin, who won't stop talking about workers and inequality. Levin has visited Germany, Prussia, France and England, and has determined that there is no "worker problem" in Russia (such as we might hear of in Marxist or socialist philosophies of the time.)

&bull;	Instead, what is causing the Russian peasants to fall behind is that their natural relationship to the land is being interrupted and destroyed. (<span class="italic">Muzhiks</span> aren't the same as Western European factory laborers, after all). Levin has also learned some humility, though. He acknowledges that this world we live in is profoundly insignificant, and that we all seek pleasures because we are trying to avoid thinking about death.

&bull;	Oblonsky only hears the &quot;pleasures&quot; comment, and says that Levin's finally starting to agree with Oblonsky's own way of living his life.

&bull;	Levin promises to come to dinner. Not surprisingly, Levin is too shy to ask if Kitty will be there.

&bull;	Oblonsky then goes in to see his new department head, who turns out to be friendly. They chat until four o'clock, at which point Oblonsky realizes that he still needs to see Karenin.

22/04/23

Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 8

•	That morning, Karenin performs two tasks. He receives a delegation from the provincial racial minorities currently visiting Moscow, and writes the promised letter to his lawyer, enclosing three letters from Vronsky to Anna.

•	Having settled on his course of action regarding his family, Karenin feels more comfortable in carrying out the lawyer's plan.

•	Oblonsky arrives and insists on seeing Karenin.

•	Karenin turns down the dinner invitation. Oblonsky looks at him kindly, and the two men have a chat about Anna. Oblonsky begs Karenin to talk the matter over with Dolly.

•	Finally Karenin relents and agrees to come to dinner.

•	The two then chat about Oblonsky's new department head.

•	Oblonsky dashes off after securing a promise from Karenin that he'll come to dinner.

I’ve just caught up with these 8 chapters. Perhaps because I’m not taken with Vronsky, I’m struggling to sympathise with Anna. As StColumb says, inviting Vronsky to their home crossed a line. I enjoyed the Moscow chapters with Oblonsky more, he feels like a breath of fresh air at this point!

I was also a bit behind but discovered the book in audio format which has been handy on my commute to placement and I've now ended up about a week ahead (which will be handy as i get busy writing my final assignment of the year). However there have been bits I've missed so thank you Desdamona for the faithful summary postings, they've been very handy.

Agree about Oblonsky CornishLizard, I wasn't keen on him at the start for obvious reasons but it was oddly nice to see him pop up again! I can't make up my mind whether I like Levin or not, jury's still out on that one.

Too many "handys" in that post! 😳

Yes, I enjoyed Oblonsky's reappearance too. A change from the usual characters. He's a rogue. His liaison with the ballet dancer is no surprise.

I agree. Anna crossed a line inviting Vronsky to their home. While Karenin is technically correct, I didn't like the intrusion into her privacy when he demanded her letters and the key to her desk. It was quite a violent act on his part, I thought. He's not a man to offer second chances either.

23/04/23

Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 9

•	Oblonsky is late to dinner, and when he arrives, all the guests are sitting around awkwardly.

•	Oblonsky quickly smooths over the whole situation and gets everyone chatting amicably.

•	He leaves the dinner to check in on the drinks. In the hallway, he bumps into Levin. Oblonsky tells him that Kitty's here, and that Oblonsky will introduce Levin to Karenin.

•	Upon hearing that Kitty is in the room, Levin gets flustered and could care less about meeting the celebrated Karenin.

•	Both Kitty and Levin are filled with emotion when they meet again.

•	Oblonsky takes Levin over to meet Karenin. It turns out they've spent three hours on a train together before.

•	Oblonsky motions his guests towards the buffet.

•	Koznyshev, who is discussing the gradual annexation of Poland by the Russians, effortlessly transitions his conversation with Karenin and Pestsov from this deep intellectual topic to a humorous one (i.e., children).

•	Oblonsky asks if Levin has been doing gymnastics, and when Levin flexes his arm, his bicep is like a mound of steel.

•	Kitty asks Levin about bear hunting; her body language asks for forgiveness for her former mistreatment of him, and pledges her own love to him.

•	Levin launches into an entertaining story of the first time he met Karenin, on a train, when he blundered into Karenin's compartment wearing the sheepskin jacket of a much poorer man.

•	Listening to his brother, Koznyshev wonders what has happened. Tonight Levin is a confident entertainer: he's funny and self-assured, and unlike his usual self.

•	Levin feels as though he has grown wings, as though he's floating above all the Karenins and Oblonskys of the world.

•	Oblonsky puts Levin and Kitty next to each other during dinner.

•	The dinner party is a magnificent success—both the food and the conversation are excellent.

Despite his flaws, Oblonsky sounds like the perfect person to have at your party.

Thanks for the thanks Cludgie

I agree Butta, Oblonsky really oils the social wheels - you can see why women would be attracted to him. Quite the contrast with cold fish Kerenin

24/04/23

Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 10

&bull;	Pestsov, Karenin, and Koznyshev continue their earlier conversation about the Russification of Poland (i.e., Russia's <span class="italic">occupation</span> of Poland in the nineteenth century, discussed in Part 4, Chapter 9). [History repeating itself? Seems like Russia just can't keep its hands to itself!]

&bull;	The three discuss how it is that some nations have the authority to annex, or occupy, others. What is it that gives some countries a leg up over others? Koznyshev says that it all comes down to education. This leads into a discussion over which is better, a classical education (i.e., in Latin, Greek, philosophy, and literature) or a natural scientific education (in astronomy, botany, and other sciences).

&bull;	This conversation leads over into the education <span class="italic">of women</span>: should it just be a matter of women's liberation? Or should we believe that women can occupy parliamentary positions and join the bureaucracy the same way men can?

&bull;	Koznyshev and Pestsov support the idea of women's total inclusion in government, while Oblonsky and Karenin both seem to have misgivings about changes in women's natural role in the family.

&bull;	Dolly, who has just entered the conversation, comments that a woman entering politics would probably be forsaking her family. Pestsov doesn't see a problem with this, because he stands for the general ideal that a woman should be allowed to be involved in all the tasks men do.

25/04/23

Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 11

•	Kitty and Levin refrain from joining in the general conversation, although parts of it would have been interesting to them in different circumstances.

•	Levin explains to Kitty how he saw her the year before in the carriage.

•	They talk about the merits of Turovtsyn, a seemingly shallow society man whom Kitty reveals to have a self-sacrificing streak. When Dolly's kids all had scarlet fever this past summer, he was so moved that he helped her look after them. Levin determines never to think poorly of anyone ever again.

•	Levin could not be happier than he is right now, talking to Kitty.

These last two chapters have bene very interesting on nascent views on women's rights, education, divorce , adultery, and male hypocrisy. A bit Hardyeseque in its ' blame the woman; shame the woman' theme but more ambivalent?

26/04/23

Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 12

•	The men and women separate into different rooms after dinner, because that's what they did back in the day. Also, what's more, the guys want to talk about inequality of marriage rights, which they feel would be indecorous in front of the ladies.

•	For some reason the conversation keeps turning to unfaithful wives, making things super-awkward for Karenin.

•	Finally, Dolly gets him away into a private anteroom. She implores him to tell her about Anna. Dolly is convinced of Anna's innocence, and credits her with holding Dolly's own marriage together.

•	Karenin remains adamant that he must divorce Anna, while Dolly is convinced that would mean Anna's ruin. Karenin can't destroy his wife's life, Dolly argues.

•	Dolly brings up Oblonsky's infidelity, and tells Karenin that as she forgave Stiva, so he must forgive Anna.

•	Karenin finally gets angry, saying that he cannot and will not forgive.

•	He apologizes for upsetting Dolly and bids her a good night.

27/04/23
Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 13

After sitting in on a heated argument between Pestsov and Koznyshev, Levin chats with Kitty. Their communication is clear and almost wordless.

•	The two of them go over to a card table. Kitty draws on the table with chalk.

•	Kitty and Levin continue the conversation about women's rights, and without even finishing her sentence, Kitty convinces Levin of Pestsov's point of view regarding women working.

•	Kitty gets up to leave.

•	Levin asks her not to go, saying that he's been meaning to ask her something.

•	On the table, he writes a series of letters in chalk. He's sure that she won't be able to decipher what it means, but Kitty is so in touch with Levin that she realizes it stands for: "When you answered me: "that cannot be," did it mean never or then?"

&bull;	Levin and Kitty are so attuned to each other that they can keep their conversation to these chalk initials and significant glances. They know instantly what the other person is trying to say. In response to Levin&#039;s initials, Kitty writes <span class="italic">t, i, c, g, n, o, a</span>. Levin looks at this a long time and then realizes it stands for: &quot;Then I could give no other answer.&quot;

&bull;	With just a look, Levin asks, &quot;Only then?&quot; and Kitty answers, &quot;Yes.&quot;

&bull;	Levin asks aloud, &quot;And n... now?&quot; And Kitty replies with the initial letters: <span class="italic">t, y, c, f, a, f, w, h</span>. &quot;That you could forgive and forget what happened.&quot; Levin replies with initials that mean, &quot;I have nothing to forgive and forget, I have never stopped loving you.&quot;

&bull;	Kitty has declared her love to Levin. Levin should call on her family in the morning.

Amazing communication skills 😅
Very sweet, though.

28/04/23
Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 14

•	Levin is so deliriously happy that he doesn't feel like he should be alone for the next fourteen hours.

•	He winds up going to a Council meeting with Koznyshev.

•	Levin finds everything magnificent and believes that everyone is being especially nice to him tonight.

•	After the Council meeting, Sviyazhsky invites Levin home for tea. Levin thinks this is splendid and proceeds to talk everyone's ear off until they're more than sick of his company.

•	Levin is so excited that he has the hall attendant at the hotel tell him his life's story. They talk about love and marriage until the servant is called away.

•	Levin can't sleep but instead looks out the window, feeling perfectly in harmony with the entire world. At six in the morning he gets ready for the day and goes outside.