Comments on Anna Karenina
~ Leo Tolstoy, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky
Comments (45)
Aug 19, 2010, 3:11 AM
WillDuss, a 25-year-old man in Ottawa
“It's on my shelves, waiting for me. One day I'll have time and I'll read it, but not before I finish War and Peace”
Aug 31, 2010, 5:03 PM
WittyWoman27, a 29-year-old woman in Cary
“" the impassioned four page rants about modern agricultural methods aren't as exciting as the bits in train stations"
Ha! Agreed. Still beautiful.”
Oct 2, 2010, 2:13 PM
love2read, a 62-year-old woman in Vancouver
“Highlands: you have an interesting book list, including some books that I found difficult to navigate or appreciate. So I will read your comments with interest.
So, good old Leo. You will probably not believe it, but I studied him in Russian (yes, I did start a PhD in Russian literature and linguistics). And isn't it crazy that I never really read any of his books in English translation. My native language is English. Yet, I battled thru his prose in the original, even studying his ms for his edits and reasons for changing the text.
Nonetheless, more than the barrier of language, I found a barrier of context with Tolstoy----Russian slavophile, aristocrat, patriarch, controlling and controlled by a vision that never existed except in his fantasy (of good Mother Russia) that separated me from his literature.
As I write, I try to analyze what I am saying. It isn't just his 19th century Russo-centric perspective. I really love Dostoevsky. Maybe its Dostoevsky's urban v. Tolstoy's rural presence.
Or maybe, Dostoevsky was a tiny bit easier to read in Russian. Or his themes were more simplistic.
I recognize that Tolstoy offered very grand themes, and Anna K. is a prototype of a certain kind of woman. I share many of her failings.
You have a great garden. Thanks for sharing your list.”
Oct 3, 2010, 2:22 AM
Highlands, a 58-year-old woman in Toronto
“It's not my garden but a beautiful tropical hotel in Costa Rica! I live in an apartment with no balcony, sadly. Thus the importance of escape via books, I guess.
I think I'm able to appreciate Tolstoy only in AK, where some strange chemistry made him able to empathize with a female character to the utmost extent. War and Peace did not have the same effect on me - Natasha is not Anna.
I loved Dostoevsky in my 20s but encountered Tolstoy later when more interested in fictional portraits of characters in more "normal" domestic settings - when Anna is torn between her love for her child and her obsessive love for Vronsky, I could relate! D's characters all a bit too close to the unmedicated psychiatric patients who roam the streets in my part of Toronto..”
Oct 3, 2010, 2:38 AM
love2read, a 62-year-old woman in Vancouver
“Ha! Ha! You must live around Queen's street. I lived north of there around Bloor.
What you say about Tolstoy v Dostoevsky is probably true. I was young and pretty shallow in life's experience when I encountered these authors. Maybe it was just that Dostoevsky's novels were somewhat shorter that appealed to me. Also, the fact that I studied for a semester at the University of Leningrad, and we were able to see the streets where Raskolnikov lived, roamed, etc. Loved it.
Amazing that you have read Chinua Achebe. Few folks in Canada are familiar with him or any African writers.”
Oct 3, 2010, 11:57 AM
Highlands, a 58-year-old woman in Toronto
“Tolstoy more like watching a beautifully produced BBC period drama, while Dostoevsky closer to a film by Quentin Tarantino or David Cronenberg. But i did dip into Crime and Punishment again in recent years. I don't want to suggest it's not a great book.
i spent 9 months in East Africa in later 80s and at one time hoped to do a thesis on the portrayal of colonial African religious scene in African novels. So collected many novels and have now given a lot away. Still have core collection but don't have anything recent. African Writers Series from Heinemann has all the 'classics". It's a bit specialized for this site and I don't expect to find fellow admirers of Achebe, Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Bessie Head. I mentioned Gordimer and Coetzee as the most well known white South African novelists but have not found a lot of people on this site who list them either. That's life.. Do you read non-Western authors (I'm including Russia in the West)”
Oct 4, 2010, 7:35 AM
love2read, a 62-year-old woman in Vancouver
“Good stuff, that 1960s & 70s African literature. I met Ngugi a few times in Kenya. Didn't Bessie Head live in Toronto for awhile? I remember her husband or ex as being on the scene in the 80s, but can't remember where she was at the time. I just Gordimer's book on Living or Writing (or some title like that) and I look forward to reading it. Much to many people's surprise, I haven't been able to get into Coetzee and I am giving away his books.
I read lots of NonEuropean/West lit: lots of Brazilian, Colombian, Jamaican and Haitian in particular. I've read some Indian. And some newer African lit which I'll put up on my site soon.
Its interesting that you include Russian as western. It is of course, in a way---a strong way. But it is also very Byzantine in its culture and philosophy and view of life. The coptic Greek Orthodox religion is shared with the Byzantine empire as well as the Egyptians and the Ethiopians---so its more complex.
btw, did you read the brief article on Flaubert in Saturday's book section of the Globr and Mail (including a reference to Tolstoy)? It was interesting, in that the most recent translation of Flaubert is apparently hugely better than the previous 4 translations which made his (very male) presentation of women a turnoff to some of us. I was never able to appreciate Flaubert, so perhaps I will check out the new version.
What parts of the world do you draw upon in your reads?”
Oct 5, 2010, 5:57 AM
tashabouvier, a 37-year-old woman in Prescott
“I was so furious when I finished this book. I really struggled to get through it, because it had so many really long diatribes about social and economic stuff in Russia that seemed to have very little to do with the plot. And I stuck with it because everyone told me how romantic it was. It was a terrible ending! I wanted to throw myself in front of a train by the end! Argh!”
Oct 5, 2010, 11:28 PM
DreamsTalk, a 69-year-old man in Toronto
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. [Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Chapter 1, first line]
This is pithy, interesting and wrong. He has it backwards, I always thought. What do you think?
Ken”
Oct 9, 2010, 5:00 PM
WritingandReading, a 52-year-old man in Alexandria
“Hi Deni
Do you reaally read this once a year! I think its the greatest novel ever penned and I wish I could read it every year....I mean what's to stop me from doing that? All those other books? Have you read War and Peace?
Mark”
Oct 10, 2010, 7:17 PM
Deni1335, a 58-year-old woman in San Francisco
“Hi Mark,
Yes I love all Tolstoy's books but at this point Anna, Levin, Kitty etc. are like my friends! Plus I love the intense descriptions of the government, society protocol and all the balls and clothes! As the years go by, I have had different opinions of each person as I reread the book but I suppose that can be said with every book. Really I have to beef up my book list here! I see you have Hemingway. I was friends with a good friend of Hemingway when I lived in Palm Beach FL years ago (he was 82 when I met him). In the Lost Generation, he was the artist named Henry Strater (also used Mike Strater). He painted EH many times and did the woodcut picture for his very first book. A really wonderful man and started a museum in Ogunquit Maine (summer home) in the 50's. Google him and take a look. He went to Princeton with F. Scott and then they all hung in the same group - Pound, Dos Passos, Stein etc. It was wonderful to hear the stories! So thanks for your comment! You have pushed me to get more involved in this site.
Laurie”
Oct 26, 2010, 8:06 AM
mogner, a 31-year-old man in New York
“I couldn't even bring myself to finish Madame Bovary. Anna Karenina, on the other hand, was great!”
Nov 21, 2010, 5:06 PM
Ravgirl, a 56-year-old woman in East York
“Not sure about that. Do you actually know any happy families?”
Dec 2, 2010, 4:23 PM
bgaunt, a 26-year-old man in Oakland
“I just started this! I don't know how I made it this long as a russophile without Anna Karenina, but I'm loving it so far. I'm already picking out quotes that I want to hang onto forever.”
Dec 4, 2010, 11:53 PM
trouble, a 22-year-old woman in Santa Fe
“Oh wow, I know. I love that initial scene where Levin goes to dinner with Stiva! That stands out as a particularly good one. Any favorites yet?”
Dec 7, 2010, 4:11 AM
bgaunt, a 26-year-old man in Oakland
“"Bold steeds I can tell by their something-or-other thighs, and young men in love by the look in their eyes"
Tolstoy paraphrasing Pushkin! Couldn't get better. Gonna use it all the time.”
Dec 11, 2010, 8:02 PM
trouble, a 22-year-old woman in Santa Fe
“Tolstoy is awfully quoteable! My favorite is, of course: 'All happy families resemble one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' Nailed it.”
Dec 17, 2010, 8:35 PM
MonicaMomo, a 46-year-old woman in New York
“"tutte le famiglie felici sono simili tra loro, ogni famiglia infelice è infelice a modo suo" un incipit curioso, un grande libro, great book, I've loved it when I was young.”
Dec 17, 2010, 9:29 PM
WritingandReading, a 52-year-old man in Alexandria
“I think your quoting the opening line from the novel right? I dont know italian, just a few words here and there....I also loved this book. Since you know Italian, have you read Calvino? He's one of my writing heros.....”
Dec 17, 2010, 10:04 PM
MonicaMomo, a 46-year-old woman in New York
“yes it is.. Calvino is one of the most important writers in Italy, we read his books at school I have an old book of little stories of him that I love so much , have a nice day, here is 11 PM and I go to sleep. happy to meet you. monica”
Dec 18, 2010, 5:42 PM
WritingandReading, a 52-year-old man in Alexandria
“I can't wait to read this again. I agree with Nabokov that this is the greatest novel ever written. I enjoyed it far more than War and Peace, which serves almost as a practice round for AK. What do you think?”
Jan 11, 2011, 1:07 PM
stefterenz, a 41-year-old man in Arnhem
“great book....
..although, the end is very sad...
i'm still cryng for ANNA....!!
hi!!!”
Feb 4, 2011, 8:22 AM
sivvyx01, a 33-year-old woman in Brisbane
“I did fall in love with Anna, damnit.”
Feb 11, 2011, 5:17 AM
Tanya, a 21-year-old woman in South San Francisco
“what is the book about, cept the obvious.”
Feb 17, 2011, 1:24 AM
Bradf, a 44-year-old man in Los Angeles
“This book intimidates me. Did you really read it?”
Feb 25, 2011, 1:15 AM
Shamisen, a 23-year-old woman in Sun City
“I think Anna Karenina makes women question ourselves and morals. On top of it all she is sexy, savvy, and not to mention a great character !!!”
Feb 28, 2011, 4:09 AM
DavidRP, a 55-year-old man in Providence
“There's a passage in "Anna Karenina" about serfs working in a field and a stream that passes through the field that jolted me when I read it, because it was such a clean, plain style that it could have been written by Hemingway, and I wonder if Hemingway read it before he ventured forth with his revolution in simplicity. Of course, if what I've read, or think I've read, is true, and Tolstoy's wife was largely responsible for editing down his scribble, then perhaps she should receive a share of the credit. I haven't read this in years, but I remember well my several years of fascination with the Russian writers, and coming to an understanding of them as people no different than any others, not the evil Soviets but just a people... probably fearing us the way we feared them, with our governments messing up any hope of rapproachment. Thank God for Olga Korbut and the ice skaters...”
Feb 28, 2011, 9:14 PM
DoTheRumba, a 46-year-old woman in Hollywood
“I agree, although unless you ever danced with a Russian or Russian ballroom instructor, you'd think differently about them being "just like us." They aren't lol. They're a lot tougher...believe me.
Lisa”
Mar 13, 2011, 3:18 AM
Lindy12, a 28-year-old woman in San Pedro
“Wow! You really made me want to read this book. I'm gonna have to go pick it up :)”
Mar 26, 2011, 2:27 PM
slavophile, a 71-year-old man in Bangor
“Train suicides may no longer be available but there is always the subway or light rail.”
Apr 1, 2011, 9:28 AM
DavidRP, a 55-year-old man in Providence
“Oh, thanks a lot; now I have to rewrite the end of my novel... maybe a king in a golden suit, riding an elephant... across the desert... I don't mind borrowing, but would never steal outright, no matter what Picasso said...”
Apr 3, 2011, 10:35 AM
slavophile, a 71-year-old man in Bangor
“Just a minor change. How about Annie walking into the path of a jet and being sucked in by the engines?”
May 21, 8:16 AM
crouchback, a 38-year-old man in Kamuela
“I started reading this in the Constance Garrett translation, in a beautiful cloth 2-vol. set with slipcase... yes, a beautiful edition, but then I glanced at this Pevear/Volokhonsky trans. at the library, and I had to have it. The language resonates in my heart much better than the stuffy Garrett.”
Jun 2, 5:11 AM
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Jul 9, 12:09 AM
dionusos, a 31-year-old man in Buellton
“I don't think she would have posted it if she hadn't. But I get the sentiment behind that question. I just bought a copy. I got through Brothers, but that was a completely different kind of book”
Jul 27, 12:34 PM
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May 11, 12:15 PM
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Aug 19, 2010, 3:10 AM
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WillDuss, a 25-year-old man in Ottawa
“I had the same revelation about Tolstoy last fall, except I not done yet with my degree but i bought myself a great deal of Tolstoy for the future”