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.

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.

Nearly there. This has been good fun.

Yes. I've really enjoyed this.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

Thank you @StColumbofNavron for organising this and @DesdamonasHandkerchief for posting the summaries - they've been really useful for keeping me on track.

I like the analysis of part 8, especially the comments about the various marriages / relationships in the book and why they are flawed or successful, and the bit about the "incredible appeal of Anna as a character". But I'm disappointed we didn't return to Karenin in part 8, as I'd have been interested to find out how he reacted to Anna's death. Did he feel any guilt? Probably not - just as Vronsky didn't.

Yes, thanks StColumb for organising and Desdemona for the summaries. I would never have got through it without this readalong. I’ve enjoyed this a bit more than War and Peace but can’t say I’m likely to ever reread either of them! Pleased I have read them though. I’m also giving Madame Bovary a miss but might see you all on a future readalong.

Thank you @DesdamonasHandkerchief the summaries have been instrumental as they were with W&P. They really help with the pace to digest all that is going on.

I've now read War and Peace and Anna Karenina twice each. I think that War and Peace lends itself to a reread every few years, there is just something about the content, the messages, the reflections on life and where our decisions can take us (or not). Anna Karenina does this as well, but there is something that exhausts me about it, I think it is the intensity of emotion, it is draining. The first time I read it cover to cover a few years ago, I also read it one chapter a day and I kept finding bookmarks where I had clearly attempted it before, but I think I could just never get through the heaviness. War and Peace feels lighter, in spite of the War elements.

If you do get to watch the RUI adaptation with Puccini and Cabrera, that really achieves the same thing. It is in 2 parts, and manages to bring you along in the whirlwind but utterly drain you by the end.

I will say, I do believe that both books deserve their space in the literary canon and are incredible feats, that I think have stood the test of time, in spite of some of the more dated aspects.

Hope to see those of you not Bovary'ing on another thread (I'm keen on Moby Dick, Les Miserables for 2024).

Thanks everyone for all the chat, thoughts and sharing.

It's very satisfying to have reached the end of Anna Karenina. A very big thank you to StColumb and Desdamona for organising this and keeping us on track. The daily chapters and end of part summaries were so useful for place-marking and to think about themes, a lot of which would have gone over my head.

I liked the conclusion and how Levin came to a resolution about the role of God and religion in his life. It seemed reasonable to me. I kept going between liking Levin and finding him annoying, but he was a nuanced character with all his good points and his failings as a human being. I found the Anna/Vronsky/Karenin affair very compelling reading and when I will think of the book, it's part seven with the incredible description of Anna's tortured state of mind that I will remember most and her tragic death. As cassandre has said, when you look at it from a feminist point of view, it's such a powerful statement.

I suppose time will tell if I will go back to read either W+P or AK again.* I'll see! I feel there's always so much more to read but it's also good to back and appreciate it again on subsequent readings. I'm not sure if I can say which of the two books I preferred. I loved the huge canvass of W+P. I thought it was amazing and I even liked the war scenes. I liked Pierre as a character, probably more than Levin. I remember how he went off to have a look at what was going on and bumbled off, and ended up fighting in the war. So Pierre. AK had a more intimate feel, a smaller setting. A bit more to do with domesticity and marriage and affairs of the heart, societal conventions and pressure to conform. Both were good anyhow and I'm glad to have read them. Thanks to everyone for the company, chat and insights! See some of you for Madame Bovary! *

I had got a few chapters behind so just caught up. Just to echo the thanks to StColumb and Desdemona - I’ve never previously managed more than a few pages of AK so to have finished it feels like an achievement, and it’s been greatly enriched by the read along. Thanks to everyone for the companionship and insights.

I hope I will come back to both this and W&P but it might be quite some time.

Must admit I’ve skimmed much of part 8. I too was hoping for more about how AK’s death impacted others. All that soul-searching from Levin yet he never seems to think ‘if I don’t care about my wife’s sister’s husband’s sister’s despair and death am I not a monster’. By putting Levin’s section at the end it feels like he’s given top billing over Anna.

looking forward to Bovary’ing with some of you!

I agree @CornishLizard - I wanted to read how Anna’s death affected those around her and how they rationalised their own part in her story. What I got was Lenin thinking about himself and how to be a good person. However I am so pleased to have read the book again. When I first read it when I was about 19 I was all for Anna but now, 35 years later and a mother myself, I was far more torn. I really enjoyed the feminist slant people raised as well.

I will be Madame Bovary-ing.

I got momentarily excited by the thunderstorm but - alas! - like a disaster episode of Home and Away, no characters actually perished.

To continue the metaphor, what a damp squib.

And I repeat the thanks to OP and des for all their work!

Lol Piggy...Terrible to get your hopes up there 🤣

Joining in with the thanks to StColumb and Desdaemona I enjoyed AK much more than W&P. I found the characters more convincing, particularly the women, & overall the whole novel felt much more nuanced. While Levin was annoying, he was also very realistic.

Interesting that you feel differently about Anna being older & a mother @JamesGiantPledge1 I can't help reading her as someone struggling with her mental health from early in the book - her attempts to remove herself from Vronsky early on (which he frustrates by following her), & a self-destructive spiral into the relationship which feels outside of her control.

I agree that Levin's conversion (and often Levin himself) was rather tiresome, and I was a bit disappointed not to get more resolution on Kitty / Stepan's relationship. But perhaps that's the point, that often in life muddling along in imperfect circumstances is the best we can do, rather than acting in grand gestures.

I’ve just gone back and read the introduction of my edition. It says we infer that ‘Vronsky, like Anna herself, has had a family background more worldly and ambitious than affectionate.. in the country he is self-consciously and rather pathetically playing at ‘happy family life’’.

I didn’t pick up on any of that I don’t think, especially about Anna (and Stiva). Though Vronsky’s mother’s callousness is striking later. I don’t remember having much sympathy for Vronsky when they are staying in the country, just a dread that he wasn’t up to following through what he’d started. I didn’t catch the inference that Anna’s background had been lacking, though we don’t meet her parents as we do Kitty’s, or the Rostovs in W&P, where we get a sense of the warmth of those families.

any thoughts?

Anna and Stiva are brought up by an aunt, so it’s inferred but not necessarily explicit. Vronksy’s mother brought him up alone and took many lovers, again a passing sentence I think. Whilst I don’t have lots of sympathy for Vronsky, I think I am a little more amenable to him than some perhaps. I think he did try with Anna, and did genuinely love her, even if it is grounded in passion. Without her divorce, which she refused to get he couldn’t really make the life she wanted or that he wanted. Obviously, he is able to have a life outside of the domesticity that isn’t available to Anna and we are led to believe that before Anna all of Vronksy’s affairs have been transitory, so he hasn’t found love before Anna, and it’s not a healthy or available love.

Those are very confused thoughts.

Thanks StColumb, I had missed that about Anna being brought up by an aunt and Vronsky only having his mother. I wonder if I would be more sympathetic to Vronsky on a reread. As it was I was focused on how to divide sympathy between Anna and Karenin for much of the book.

I am so sorry... coming in at the end but I did readalong with you all and finished it last night.

What a cracking book - I enjoyed it way more than I expected to and again, to my surprise, preferred it to War & Peace which I loved the first time I read it.

I couldn't believe Anna died - that came out of nowhere, well sort of. I need to scroll back a ways to read all your thoughts on that but for me, I'd kind of had enough of her by then 😳She was jealous and needy and self-absorbed - I really went off her. That said, her life turned out so very different from what she originally hoped for and Vronsky was who he always was - quite shallow, cocktails, self-assured privileged young man. I don't know - their whole relationship deteriorated quite significantly (although I felt really bad for him at the railway station!)

I liked Levin even though he also became a bit self-absorbed towards the end but his life seemed happy - him and Kitty seemed to be a great match and I liked his mad dash through the storm towards the end.

I may have more thoughts but this is just a brain dump between meetings and will pop back on later to see what everyone else thought.

But just to say - I know I've not been very active on this thread but thank you all so much for starting this, keeping it going and I would definitely not have finished this without you all in the background! I know there was talk of picking up one last Tolstoy for the remainder of the year but I may bow out of that... although I am definitely going to 'do' Les Mis next year!

*cocky... not cocktails 😆

Hi SanFran! 👋 Good to see you :) We will be moving onto Madame Bovary next.

I felt quite sorry for Vronsky towards the end. I think he tried to get through to Anna as best he could but she shut him out along with everyone else.

Is the idea that because Anna and Vronsky came from dysfunctional backgrounds that they couldn't live happy fulfilled lives as adults? This explains the emphasis on Levin and Kitty at the end of the book as a couple who succeeded in marriage. It felt that Anna's story died with her in death. There was hardly a mention of her in part eight apart from Old Mother Vronsky's spiteful grumbling.

‘Is the idea that because Anna and Vronsky came from dysfunctional backgrounds that they couldn't live happy fulfilled lives as adults?’

I think the intro I read was suggesting something like this but I think it was suggesting ‘ambitious’ (possibly in the ‘new money’ sense?) backgrounds rather than what we’d consider ‘dysfunctional’. I didn’t pick up on this at the time.

Ah okay. Dysfunctional is the wrong word. It wasn't conservative.