Hello, reader!
Just yesterday, I finished Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – it was a month-long trek to finish this novel, but it was worth it! I haven’t had much time (nor energy, in that case) to do anything but work and finishing my graduate school applications (one is submitted already, woo!). I’m slowly learning Italian, but this has been higher on my priority list of hobbies. So, I read this book in about a month. 800 pages, done. So, what did I think of it?
I had read Tolstoy’s War and Peace and other short stories by him and Dostoevsky in high school and loved all of it. I’m not sure what attracted me the most: was it the “social” culture of the upper-class in Russia before the revolution? or was it the fact that much of it was relatable, considering that I’m at the age where men are going off to war? or was it his style of writing? Whatever it was, it caught me. The thing to remember when taking up Tolstoy, however, is that it requires a lot of discipline and patience to get through any of his works. Each chapter is only several pages long, and he will explain everything in great detail, especially the thoughts of the characters.
As in any modern Russian novel, there are numerous “main” characters in the novel, though they are depicted to different extents. I could very much relate to several characters simply because they faced similar struggles that I have faced in life – not so much marriage or child-rearing, but just emotional strife and separation. Tolstoy is a big fan of family ties, hence the large number of major characters and social groups. I don’t have a favorite character, but I loved the internal debates of Anna and Levin (the husband of her lover’s almost lover). These two were in separate groups simply because they did not share any direct relatives. However, they struggled with similar issues. I’ll begin with Levin.
Konstantin Demitrievich Levin (or simply Levin) married Kitty after she had lost her relations with Vronsky, the soon-to-be lover of Anna. Although he lives in the country – a fairly simple life – he struggles with the development of government and regulations in Russia and even his own faith, or lack there of. He also becomes extremely jealous of Vronsky when Kitty comes in contact with him simply because he is not always entirely sure that Kitty loves him more. Their marriage/wedding is completely adorable. Levin and Kitty’s strife reminds me of the relationship I studied among medieval marriage in France – Levin is worried that Kitty will leave him for Vronsky at any moment, but at the same time their love for one another distracts him from his duties as a “lord,” or head of his farm. He feels ashamed for forsaking some of his duties to be with his wife and even love his son. In the end, Levin does finally come to terms with his and her roles on the farm. Their marriage is probably one of my favorites because their love for each other is so innocent.
Now, Anna Karenina. Oh lord, she’s trouble. Here’s her situation: she leaves her husband Alexy Alexandrovitch (Alexy for now) for Vronsky, a young soldier. However, she can’t live without her and Alexy’s son, Seryozha, of whom she will lose custody if she divorces Alexy. She and Vronsky have a daughter, basically a bastard child because she can’t legally belong to either man (but I think she technically belongs to Alexy because he and Anna are still married). The cherry on top is that Anna has depression and separation anxiety (my diagnosis from experience). This is a complicated time for Anna in Russia simply (or at least, I’m explaining away all the complicated stuff) because she as a woman has no say whatsoever in society. I think that she can buy her own property, but she cannot vote. Adultery is obviously looked down upon although it may be ignored by those who participate. If Alexy were to divorce Anna with the cause as adultery, she would be damaged goods to her own society and class. Even though they never divorce, she is abandoned by most of her friends. Think of Anna as a young child in a pool, swimming from one floaty to another – when she leaves Alexy, she must swim for her life until she reaches Vronsky, although he isn’t such a stable floaty.
Anna and Vronsky have an unstable relationship for many reasons: they never marry but have a child together; they stay in the country very often although it bores them both; and then, when they go to the city (Moscow or St. Peterborough), Anna enters society on her own although every one knows what she has done. Vronsky repeats often how much he loves her (and actually shoots himself at some point for her), but the stress of their relationship quickly changes his heart. He loves her but does not respect her as he should (but she hasn’t done anything to deserve respect, now has she?). By the end of the book, it’s clear that he doesn’t love her as he originally did but just got a little tired of her shit (pardon my French). Although I love Anna and sympathize at times, she drives me bat-shit crazy by the end. She can’t stand to be without her son, doesn’t really care about her daughter, and THEN, after convincing herself on multiple occasions that Vronsky no longer loves her, decides to punish him by killing herself and making him mourn for her the rest of his life. I’ve always believed that no matter how mentally ill one may be, suicide is a very selfish act (I’m Catholic, what can I say). And even for the one relationship I have been in, I easily became jealous because he was living his own life on the other side of the world (long-distance really sucks, you guys). I’ve also developed separation anxiety since high school, so any kind of separation like that (even away from my family for too long) and cause great emotional stress. So I sympathize with Anna, I really do. And depression sucks – it makes you question every relationship that you have, especially the ones closest to you because your life has been molded by them and your relationship together. So any kind of stress like that can make you crazy. But suicide like that is NOT the answer. Also, passive-aggressive conversations – not the answer. Had I been Vronsky, I would’ve said, “Anna, tell me what’s wrong!” Don’t fake a headache and ignore me. Sweet baby Jesus, Anna, get it together.
Done with the rant. Ok now Alexy. I just wanna talk about him a little bit because he is a fairly important dude. I felt for him a little bit simply because he was the “cheatee.” His wife left him for another man and then expected him to divorce her so they could be together. It’s hard to tell if Alexy truly loved Anna, but turning a cold shoulder to her wasn’t the best decision. For the majority of the novel, he refuses her plea for divorce, which leaves them both in a rut and unstable place. Anna can’t technically marry Vronsky, but she won’t acknowledge her marriage with Alexy. I sympathize with him for wanting to keep his high moral standards, but he isn’t exactly trying to work out his marriage with Anna either – has he just given up? It seems so. **And ironically enough, “I can’t make you love me” (Sung by Adele) is playing on my Pandora as I type this.
In sum, I would definitely recommend this novel to the avid modern critic. It covers a lot of ground and tells us a lot about Russian society at the time…or at least it tells us what Tolstoy thinks of society. As far as I know, he was a poor drunkard that lived off what his books made him. So he wrote to live. If you’d like to learn more on his life, I recommend the film The Last Station, a very good historic drama!
Til next time. Bisous!
Kate's Gap 