This is so much more readable than I expected. Why have I procrastinated reading this incredibly rich, beautifully written novel until age 71? I so enjoyed your review Henry. Thank you for the additional supporting material as well as the images you’ve shared. Pure delight. Nan
Petya and I are of the same mind here, although stick with me here because I am going to sound pretentious. Reading these first sections not only brought me back to a certain level of concentration that's lacking in my general daily doom scrolling, but actually bringing me back to life. It's so easy to get lost in the gloom of our political situation and the mundane of every day life. These characters are so layered - which I didn't expect for some reason - and I was surprised not to meet Anna for so long. It's worth the wait. Looking forward to seeing where the next section takes us.
As another refugee from 'War and Peace', my first reaction is: HOW DID I GET TO THIS AGE WITHOUT KNOWING THAT TOLSTOY IS INCREDIBLY READABLE. AND FUNNY.
As in W&P, LT provides lots of contrasts and SPOILER ALERT: one of them looks like being how differently men and women are treated, especially when involved in infidelity.
There's also the foreshadowing - which the original readers would only pick up towards the end. Railways are dangerous places and people end badly there.
And - as in W&P - can we acknowledge the servants? Matey is a wonderful characterisation: enough detail to make him interesting (and funny) without becoming a distraction. It's the same with the Tartar waiter.
Talking of which, there's an awful lot of eating - no wonder Stepan is plump (even if well groomed).
But for me, the triumph is that Anna can see that Vronsky poses danger and looks like trying to resist. I'm inclined to think she sees through him - was the money for the widow partly to show Anna that he's a good man.
Ha! I know! It is so funny. Thank you Bren, as ever, for these excellent observations. The foreshadowing is very clear - and I completely agree about the servants! They're brilliant. Yes – you feel that Anna knows she should resist Vronsky, but she can't . . .
I think Russia's reputation - think Ira Gershwin 's "I've found more clouds of grey / Than any Russian play can guarantee" - is for gloom and misery so we overlay that onto everything Russian, but even Chekhov has his comic moments.
I'm just off the back of having finished War and Peace and nobody writes a ball scene like Tolstoy! And poor Kitty—her dismay is palpable. These lines stood out to me in her descriptions of Anna:
-- there was something terrible and cruel in her loveliness.
-- 'Yes, there is something alien, demonic, and lovely about her,' Kitty said to herself.
And when Anna saw Kitty's disenchantment and turned away from her. Ooft.
It's an interesting choice, isn't it? I suppose we can forgive a biassed view from Kitty, as she's just been passed over in favour of Anna – but it also suggests a superhuman quality, something powerful in Anna that sits in opposition to society's professedly Christian morality.
Such a pleasure to spend time with these characters (again). I completely agree with your appraisal of how relevant and fresh they seem - their interactions are immediately recognisable, so much so that I found myself thinking, I have experienced that, or - worse - seen other people experience it, and known how it will end. Tolstoy is extraordinary at fleshing out his characters, so that we feel we know them, and care about them and what happens to them. Of course, the only significant character we haven't met yet is Alexei Karenin - we know he is going to be cuckolded, and it is so clever of Tolstoy to hold him back, to hide what it is about him that Anna is contemplating leaving behind.
Yes very good point! So interesting that we're shown Anna and Vronsky falling in love, before we meet Karenin – the opposite to the way Stepan and Dolly Oblonsky are introduced. It primes us to empathise with Anna.
Loving this & struggled to stop at the end of the first instalment! All of the characters are so good - seeing them through different eyes helps give a feeling that you get to know their characters. I am struggling to like Vronsky and thought it was telling that Kitty’s father was against the match and had seen right through him. Thank you, Henry, for your insights and sharing information. Looking forward to reading the next part
Like Nancy, I’m also pleasantly surprised at how readable this is. I can’t believe I have left my copy unread for so long, and yet I’m delighted to have your guidance on this. Those initial character descriptions were so helpful in understanding the opening pages, and oh my, I love your video! I am trying to learn how to read more closely and how to articulate exceptional craft in fiction. To see how you have drawn together all we’ve been reading is so helpful in refining what I can tune into as we progress. Thank you!
Yes, Susan, the “ daily doom scrolling”. What a perfect description. I’m always working to mitigate that and am eager to soon read Chris Hayes’ new book on to what we give our attention.
That said, slow reading W and P last year (and now AK this year) is a wonderful antidote to a flitting inconstant attention. All the characters were immediately recognizable (Tolstoy’s genius) and found places in my consciousness where they will now settle for several months.
It’s Vronsky who is the most elusive at this point….. “this little fop from Petersburg..” says Kitty’s papa.
But Stiva says Vronsky is “.. one of the finest examples of the gilded youth of Petersburg…terribly rich, handsome..a very sweet, nice fellow…cultivated and very intelligent.”
At the end of this first section: Kitty’s heartbreak as she watches the fatal attraction that is developing between Vronsky and Anna…and her “bared, thin, delicate girlish hand sank strengthlessly into the folds of her pink tunic..”
Yes…Of course I agree and would not rely on Stiva’s assessment. But Vronsky can’t be easily dismissed. Anna is presented in glowing generous terms, as a woman of quality. She has an older husband and a child. I doubt she expected this tsunami of love? lust? passion? release from tedium and a boring life? to wash over her.
I am relishing all of it as a slow read in ways that would never happen were I turning pages as fast as I could to discover what happens next. All the trivial vignettes that happen between the larger events…the lesser characters, the food, parties, squabbles, friendships…every page is a pleasure.
I am also one of the W&P slow readers, last year, and repeating this year. I am so impressed with the maturation of Tolstoy’s writing skill over just a few short years. In War and Peace he is all over the place, undisciplined even. He just has so much to say, and by inserting himself as narrator he wants to make sure we know he is the one saying it. The personal is overshadowed by the global, and I do recognize the genius in that intent. Anna Karenina, however, is a polished jewel. Our attention is focused deep into the soul of each of these characters from the inside. W&P may be more widely known, but if the rest of Anna lives up to its opening chapters, I think this is his masterpiece.
That's such a fascinating observation Donna! It will be interesting to keep discussing as we read. One thing we'll certainly discuss is why Anna Karenina was the first book by Tolstoy to carry the subtitle 'A Novel'.
Poor Kitty. Watching her grow up on the page is heartbreaking. Tolstoy really invites you behind the curtain, lifts the veil and exposes just enough to keep you turning the page. Side note: his wife was pregnant for almost 15 consecutive years. FIFTEEN YEARS
I am not sure what I was expecting. I suppose I thought it would be stuffy and a bit of a slog. However, it flows at a nice rhythm. Was not expecting soap opera vibes. I am loving the language and use of words. I find novels today are lacking in that respect.
What a set up by Tolstoy! Fantastic introduction to the characters. I struggled initially with the Russian names, yet the skill of how they are described made them real and very different to each other. I found the combination of both ‘show’ and ‘tell’ in how they are written interesting.
Lots of foreshadowing in this installment - the infidelity, the death at the railway.
The only slightly jarring element was how quickly Dolly forgave Stiva. I wasn’t convinced that a conversation with Anna would change her view so quickly. Maybe this is more a product of the time it was written. Anyway, minor point.
Thank you John – I completely agree. There's a great balance of show and tell – you feel in safe hands, but Tolstoy never gets in the way either. I'm so glad you're enjoying it!
Thanks for the notes on the character names Henry. Very useful as my Russian is non-existent. In fact, I had remembered this as a difficulty of War and Peace, so I printed out a page of the main characters to help me keep up to speed although I quickly got used to the diminutive first names. Thanks too for the Nabokov lecture: the “timing” really is astonishing. My first thought was that the short chapters make the reading very palatable and - leaving aside the authorial control of narrative/pacing, etc. - we are thrown straight into the action. Apart from that stunning first sentence, I also thought the second sentence could have easily started us off as I immediately wanted to read the next sentence and so on. My general thought is that we are definitely the “fourth wall” of this novel, in the sense that we are given all available information about all the characters that is in turn, if not known between all of them, certainly suspected. An early example is in C2 when Stiva is shown to us in all of his self-regarding/self-pitying yet very likeable glory, “He only regretted that he had not managed to hide things from her better.” Dolly suspects this. Equally, Stiva’s son is, like us, well aware of his father’s greater love for his daughter, ‘Tanyakin’. Lévin’s self-doubt is beautifully drawn: “he was just a country squire spending his time breeding cattle”. His mood shifts between elation and moroseness in relation to Kitty marked this first part for me, obviously culminating in the set piece of the ball. I was utterly captivated by Anna Karenina, whose charisma and repressed yearning really jumps off the page. Great that Dickens is mentioned. I found this comment about that: “Tolstoy may have had in mind either Harold Skimpol in Bleak House (especially his attitude in chapters 6 and 8) or, more likely, Podsnap in Our Mutual Friend, chapter 11: ‘Mr. Podsnap had even acquired a peculiar flourish of his right arm in often clearing the world of its most difficult problems, by sweeping them behind him.’ “ I found the ball sequence so brilliant, sensual and captivating in its pacing I had to read it a couple of times. A real firework display to articulate the desire between Vronsky and Anna Karenina. Already started on Part Two. Marvellous.
Wonderful comments Royston - thank you so much! I love the idea that we're the 'fourth wall' – there is definitely something theatrical about the presentation – although not in the sense that it feels any less real. And yes – I enjoyed that Dickens reference too. And you're right, the ball is a real firework display to conclude this first instalment. He knew how to hook his audience!
I'd also point another sentence I liked. It's Levin seeing Kitty: "He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking".
Thank you Henry. Really enjoyed the 1st instalment and loved your summary. I’ve had AK on my bookshelf since lockdown. Having done W&P as a slow read last year, I was keen to continue with Tolstoy. So glad I found you were doing this, and yes, was very tempted to read on! See you next month for more.
Great introductory remarks, Henry, both the written and the spoken. Tolstoy's storytelling is so smooth and seductive that I hardly even notice that I'm reading. His descriptions are so perfect, I feel as though he couldn't have added or subtracted a single word without spoiling the effect. That's the sort of writing I would expect in a short story or a poem. But to find it in an 800+ page novel is beyond belief. I'll offer three observations.
First, his sense of which descriptive details to include and which to leave out is impeccable. It combines visual clarity and rhythmic sensitivity. With one more detail, the picture would get cluttered and the pacing would drag.
Second, he escorts us back and forth between the minds of characters with the confidence of an Italian tour guide. He knows when to dwell in someone's inner life, and when to touch on it glancingly. Here’s one example. In chapter 3, Stepan asks his daughter about Dolly.
“And is she cheerful?”
The girl knew there had been a quarrel between her father and mother, and that her mother could not be cheerful, and that her father ought to know it, and that he was shamming when he asked about it so lightly. And she blushed for him. He understood it at once and also blushed.
What a brilliantly compressed account of a complex understanding!
Third, Tolstoy dwells almost entirely on the emotions of all the characters. What he reveals to us when he peeps inside their minds are not so much their thoughts as their feelings. And the honesty with which he lays those feelings bare to us is what makes us care for these characters almost as much as for our closest friends. I’ll add that Anna’s success in blunting Dolly’s anger at Stepan was because she revealed Stepan’s feelings to Dolly.
Fabulous comments Robert - thank you! That moment between Stepan and his daughter is extraordinary. And I completely agree about the rhythm and clarity.
So many great comments here already! I would only add, since this is my third reading of Anna Karenina: of all the books I have read in the last 60 years, I have found this the one that most rewards rereading at different ages and stages of life (with W&P a close second). With each rereading I have been surprised to find myself either relating to characters I wasn't drawn to in previous readings, or to different aspects of the characters I already admired. For instance, as a mother (and grandmother), I feel more pity for poor Dolly with her insufferable husband and numerous pregnancies; as a divorced/happily remarried woman I feel much more empathy for Anna and her own difficult choices...and as a longtime gardener and livestock farmer, I'm all about Levin (!). Anyone else an AK rereader?
This is my third time reading it and I have had the same experience that you describe. I first read it in college, then again about 6 or 7 years ago. ( Im now 56) As a young woman, I didn’t really get it, but on re-reading it, I identified so much with the women in the story. My heart broke!!! I’m curious what parts will speak to me now.
Thank you so much Cynthia - this is such a wonderful post - and it's so true that rereading is rewwarding experience. Here's a nice article on the subject by Victor Brombert: https://yalereview.org/article/on-rereading
This is so much more readable than I expected. Why have I procrastinated reading this incredibly rich, beautifully written novel until age 71? I so enjoyed your review Henry. Thank you for the additional supporting material as well as the images you’ve shared. Pure delight. Nan
I completely agree! It's so readable, isn't it? Thank you for your kind words, Nan – it's wonderful to have you with us!
I LOVE that you're delving into this at 71!!!
Petya and I are of the same mind here, although stick with me here because I am going to sound pretentious. Reading these first sections not only brought me back to a certain level of concentration that's lacking in my general daily doom scrolling, but actually bringing me back to life. It's so easy to get lost in the gloom of our political situation and the mundane of every day life. These characters are so layered - which I didn't expect for some reason - and I was surprised not to meet Anna for so long. It's worth the wait. Looking forward to seeing where the next section takes us.
I'm so glad you feel that way Susan! Great literature really is good for mental health. It's brilliant to have you on board.
As another refugee from 'War and Peace', my first reaction is: HOW DID I GET TO THIS AGE WITHOUT KNOWING THAT TOLSTOY IS INCREDIBLY READABLE. AND FUNNY.
As in W&P, LT provides lots of contrasts and SPOILER ALERT: one of them looks like being how differently men and women are treated, especially when involved in infidelity.
There's also the foreshadowing - which the original readers would only pick up towards the end. Railways are dangerous places and people end badly there.
And - as in W&P - can we acknowledge the servants? Matey is a wonderful characterisation: enough detail to make him interesting (and funny) without becoming a distraction. It's the same with the Tartar waiter.
Talking of which, there's an awful lot of eating - no wonder Stepan is plump (even if well groomed).
But for me, the triumph is that Anna can see that Vronsky poses danger and looks like trying to resist. I'm inclined to think she sees through him - was the money for the widow partly to show Anna that he's a good man.
This is going to be an exciting 14 months.
Ha! I know! It is so funny. Thank you Bren, as ever, for these excellent observations. The foreshadowing is very clear - and I completely agree about the servants! They're brilliant. Yes – you feel that Anna knows she should resist Vronsky, but she can't . . .
Hi Bren! I'm with you on the humor - why did no one tell us about this?
I think Russia's reputation - think Ira Gershwin 's "I've found more clouds of grey / Than any Russian play can guarantee" - is for gloom and misery so we overlay that onto everything Russian, but even Chekhov has his comic moments.
We should know better after W&P.
I'm just off the back of having finished War and Peace and nobody writes a ball scene like Tolstoy! And poor Kitty—her dismay is palpable. These lines stood out to me in her descriptions of Anna:
-- there was something terrible and cruel in her loveliness.
-- 'Yes, there is something alien, demonic, and lovely about her,' Kitty said to herself.
And when Anna saw Kitty's disenchantment and turned away from her. Ooft.
I too highlighted this. What do you think of the word ‘demonic’ being used?
It's an interesting choice, isn't it? I suppose we can forgive a biassed view from Kitty, as she's just been passed over in favour of Anna – but it also suggests a superhuman quality, something powerful in Anna that sits in opposition to society's professedly Christian morality.
Amazing - thanks Cams - those quotations are fabulous . . .
Such a pleasure to spend time with these characters (again). I completely agree with your appraisal of how relevant and fresh they seem - their interactions are immediately recognisable, so much so that I found myself thinking, I have experienced that, or - worse - seen other people experience it, and known how it will end. Tolstoy is extraordinary at fleshing out his characters, so that we feel we know them, and care about them and what happens to them. Of course, the only significant character we haven't met yet is Alexei Karenin - we know he is going to be cuckolded, and it is so clever of Tolstoy to hold him back, to hide what it is about him that Anna is contemplating leaving behind.
Yes very good point! So interesting that we're shown Anna and Vronsky falling in love, before we meet Karenin – the opposite to the way Stepan and Dolly Oblonsky are introduced. It primes us to empathise with Anna.
Nice catch about Alexei. I'm curious how/when he shows up - and how Tolstoy introduces him.
Loving this & struggled to stop at the end of the first instalment! All of the characters are so good - seeing them through different eyes helps give a feeling that you get to know their characters. I am struggling to like Vronsky and thought it was telling that Kitty’s father was against the match and had seen right through him. Thank you, Henry, for your insights and sharing information. Looking forward to reading the next part
Me too! Thanks Sam – yes good point about Kitty's father . . .
Kitty's father is such a wild card to me. I hope we get more of him as the novel progresses.
The small glimpse of their relationship that we have seen reminds me of Mr & Mrs Bennett in Pride and Prejudice - I too hope we see more of them!
Like Nancy, I’m also pleasantly surprised at how readable this is. I can’t believe I have left my copy unread for so long, and yet I’m delighted to have your guidance on this. Those initial character descriptions were so helpful in understanding the opening pages, and oh my, I love your video! I am trying to learn how to read more closely and how to articulate exceptional craft in fiction. To see how you have drawn together all we’ve been reading is so helpful in refining what I can tune into as we progress. Thank you!
Hello Juliet I can recommend a great book called ‘Close reading’ by David Greenham
Thank you, I’ve not heard of that before, Royston. I will go searching!
It's such a pleasure Juliet! I'm so glad it's helpful. Many thanks for your kind words. I'm looking forward to discussing the next instalment!
Yes, Susan, the “ daily doom scrolling”. What a perfect description. I’m always working to mitigate that and am eager to soon read Chris Hayes’ new book on to what we give our attention.
That said, slow reading W and P last year (and now AK this year) is a wonderful antidote to a flitting inconstant attention. All the characters were immediately recognizable (Tolstoy’s genius) and found places in my consciousness where they will now settle for several months.
It’s Vronsky who is the most elusive at this point….. “this little fop from Petersburg..” says Kitty’s papa.
But Stiva says Vronsky is “.. one of the finest examples of the gilded youth of Petersburg…terribly rich, handsome..a very sweet, nice fellow…cultivated and very intelligent.”
At the end of this first section: Kitty’s heartbreak as she watches the fatal attraction that is developing between Vronsky and Anna…and her “bared, thin, delicate girlish hand sank strengthlessly into the folds of her pink tunic..”
Perfect…
Considering the first things we learned about Stiva, I don't entirely trust his assessment on good character.
Agreed!
Yes…Of course I agree and would not rely on Stiva’s assessment. But Vronsky can’t be easily dismissed. Anna is presented in glowing generous terms, as a woman of quality. She has an older husband and a child. I doubt she expected this tsunami of love? lust? passion? release from tedium and a boring life? to wash over her.
I am relishing all of it as a slow read in ways that would never happen were I turning pages as fast as I could to discover what happens next. All the trivial vignettes that happen between the larger events…the lesser characters, the food, parties, squabbles, friendships…every page is a pleasure.
I agree, Vronsky is elusive - I can’t work out whether he is calculating or naive regarding his relationship with Kitty.
Lovely quotations you've picked out Barbara - thank you!
I am also one of the W&P slow readers, last year, and repeating this year. I am so impressed with the maturation of Tolstoy’s writing skill over just a few short years. In War and Peace he is all over the place, undisciplined even. He just has so much to say, and by inserting himself as narrator he wants to make sure we know he is the one saying it. The personal is overshadowed by the global, and I do recognize the genius in that intent. Anna Karenina, however, is a polished jewel. Our attention is focused deep into the soul of each of these characters from the inside. W&P may be more widely known, but if the rest of Anna lives up to its opening chapters, I think this is his masterpiece.
That's such a fascinating observation Donna! It will be interesting to keep discussing as we read. One thing we'll certainly discuss is why Anna Karenina was the first book by Tolstoy to carry the subtitle 'A Novel'.
Oh, that's interesting. I'm intrigued.
Poor Kitty. Watching her grow up on the page is heartbreaking. Tolstoy really invites you behind the curtain, lifts the veil and exposes just enough to keep you turning the page. Side note: his wife was pregnant for almost 15 consecutive years. FIFTEEN YEARS
Yes it doesn’t really bear thinking about it, does it? Poor Sophia . . .
Yes! I really felt I was getting a glimpse of Sophia through Dolly, and if that was intentional, how callous of Leo!
I am not sure what I was expecting. I suppose I thought it would be stuffy and a bit of a slog. However, it flows at a nice rhythm. Was not expecting soap opera vibes. I am loving the language and use of words. I find novels today are lacking in that respect.
These big 19th-century serialised novels do feel a bit like soap operas, don’t they?
I've also been describing it to my spouse and friends as a soap opera and a bit campy. But in a delightful way, not an eye-rolling way.
Exactly
What a set up by Tolstoy! Fantastic introduction to the characters. I struggled initially with the Russian names, yet the skill of how they are described made them real and very different to each other. I found the combination of both ‘show’ and ‘tell’ in how they are written interesting.
Lots of foreshadowing in this installment - the infidelity, the death at the railway.
The only slightly jarring element was how quickly Dolly forgave Stiva. I wasn’t convinced that a conversation with Anna would change her view so quickly. Maybe this is more a product of the time it was written. Anyway, minor point.
Fantastic novel, thank you for introducing it!
Thank you John – I completely agree. There's a great balance of show and tell – you feel in safe hands, but Tolstoy never gets in the way either. I'm so glad you're enjoying it!
Thanks for the notes on the character names Henry. Very useful as my Russian is non-existent. In fact, I had remembered this as a difficulty of War and Peace, so I printed out a page of the main characters to help me keep up to speed although I quickly got used to the diminutive first names. Thanks too for the Nabokov lecture: the “timing” really is astonishing. My first thought was that the short chapters make the reading very palatable and - leaving aside the authorial control of narrative/pacing, etc. - we are thrown straight into the action. Apart from that stunning first sentence, I also thought the second sentence could have easily started us off as I immediately wanted to read the next sentence and so on. My general thought is that we are definitely the “fourth wall” of this novel, in the sense that we are given all available information about all the characters that is in turn, if not known between all of them, certainly suspected. An early example is in C2 when Stiva is shown to us in all of his self-regarding/self-pitying yet very likeable glory, “He only regretted that he had not managed to hide things from her better.” Dolly suspects this. Equally, Stiva’s son is, like us, well aware of his father’s greater love for his daughter, ‘Tanyakin’. Lévin’s self-doubt is beautifully drawn: “he was just a country squire spending his time breeding cattle”. His mood shifts between elation and moroseness in relation to Kitty marked this first part for me, obviously culminating in the set piece of the ball. I was utterly captivated by Anna Karenina, whose charisma and repressed yearning really jumps off the page. Great that Dickens is mentioned. I found this comment about that: “Tolstoy may have had in mind either Harold Skimpol in Bleak House (especially his attitude in chapters 6 and 8) or, more likely, Podsnap in Our Mutual Friend, chapter 11: ‘Mr. Podsnap had even acquired a peculiar flourish of his right arm in often clearing the world of its most difficult problems, by sweeping them behind him.’ “ I found the ball sequence so brilliant, sensual and captivating in its pacing I had to read it a couple of times. A real firework display to articulate the desire between Vronsky and Anna Karenina. Already started on Part Two. Marvellous.
Wonderful comments Royston - thank you so much! I love the idea that we're the 'fourth wall' – there is definitely something theatrical about the presentation – although not in the sense that it feels any less real. And yes – I enjoyed that Dickens reference too. And you're right, the ball is a real firework display to conclude this first instalment. He knew how to hook his audience!
I'd also point another sentence I liked. It's Levin seeing Kitty: "He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking".
That's so beautiful, isn't it?
Gorgeous.
The Dickens reference caught me too. Thanks for sharing what you discovered.
Thank you Henry. Really enjoyed the 1st instalment and loved your summary. I’ve had AK on my bookshelf since lockdown. Having done W&P as a slow read last year, I was keen to continue with Tolstoy. So glad I found you were doing this, and yes, was very tempted to read on! See you next month for more.
Thanks Lynn! I'm so glad you're enjoying it – and coming straight from W&P is perfect! Exactly what Tolstoy did himself.
Great introductory remarks, Henry, both the written and the spoken. Tolstoy's storytelling is so smooth and seductive that I hardly even notice that I'm reading. His descriptions are so perfect, I feel as though he couldn't have added or subtracted a single word without spoiling the effect. That's the sort of writing I would expect in a short story or a poem. But to find it in an 800+ page novel is beyond belief. I'll offer three observations.
First, his sense of which descriptive details to include and which to leave out is impeccable. It combines visual clarity and rhythmic sensitivity. With one more detail, the picture would get cluttered and the pacing would drag.
Second, he escorts us back and forth between the minds of characters with the confidence of an Italian tour guide. He knows when to dwell in someone's inner life, and when to touch on it glancingly. Here’s one example. In chapter 3, Stepan asks his daughter about Dolly.
“And is she cheerful?”
The girl knew there had been a quarrel between her father and mother, and that her mother could not be cheerful, and that her father ought to know it, and that he was shamming when he asked about it so lightly. And she blushed for him. He understood it at once and also blushed.
What a brilliantly compressed account of a complex understanding!
Third, Tolstoy dwells almost entirely on the emotions of all the characters. What he reveals to us when he peeps inside their minds are not so much their thoughts as their feelings. And the honesty with which he lays those feelings bare to us is what makes us care for these characters almost as much as for our closest friends. I’ll add that Anna’s success in blunting Dolly’s anger at Stepan was because she revealed Stepan’s feelings to Dolly.
Fabulous comments Robert - thank you! That moment between Stepan and his daughter is extraordinary. And I completely agree about the rhythm and clarity.
I'd forgotten about that exchange between Stepan and his daughter. So good. And so real. We get so much about each of them (and Dolly) from it.
So many great comments here already! I would only add, since this is my third reading of Anna Karenina: of all the books I have read in the last 60 years, I have found this the one that most rewards rereading at different ages and stages of life (with W&P a close second). With each rereading I have been surprised to find myself either relating to characters I wasn't drawn to in previous readings, or to different aspects of the characters I already admired. For instance, as a mother (and grandmother), I feel more pity for poor Dolly with her insufferable husband and numerous pregnancies; as a divorced/happily remarried woman I feel much more empathy for Anna and her own difficult choices...and as a longtime gardener and livestock farmer, I'm all about Levin (!). Anyone else an AK rereader?
This is my third time reading it and I have had the same experience that you describe. I first read it in college, then again about 6 or 7 years ago. ( Im now 56) As a young woman, I didn’t really get it, but on re-reading it, I identified so much with the women in the story. My heart broke!!! I’m curious what parts will speak to me now.
This will be my fourth or fifth time reading AK. I find something new every single time and am excited to settle in with it once again.
Thank you so much Cynthia - this is such a wonderful post - and it's so true that rereading is rewwarding experience. Here's a nice article on the subject by Victor Brombert: https://yalereview.org/article/on-rereading