Read-along – Anna Karenina (7 of 14)
Part Four, Chapters 18-23, Part Five, Chapters 1-6 – and the Mystery of Crowning
Dear Anna Karenina readers,
We’ve finished the seventh monthly instalment of the novel. Here are my impressions:
Please do share your thoughts and favourite quotations in the comments below.
A small note on Russian marriage ceremonies, for those (like me) who were less familiar with the rituals of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
At a Russian wedding, the sign of marriage is not the exchange of rings, but the ‘mystery of crowning’.
For Levin and Kitty, this takes place in Part Five, Chapter Six.
The priest leads the couple to the middle of the church, where they step on to a new piece of pink silk cloth. (As Tolstoy observes, there is a tradition that the first one to step on to the cloth will dominate the relationship; Levin and Kitty appear to step on to it simultaneously.)
The couple make their vows and prayers and then crowns are placed on their heads. The crowns are presented (and then held in place) by key members of the wedding party. Chirikov holds Levin’s and Kitty’s father, Prince Shcherbatzky, holds hers.
After readings, prayers and sip of ‘warm red wine’, the priest leads the bride and groom, wearing their crowns, in a short procession, three times around a lectern (‘Analogion’) with the Gospels opened on it.
Shcherbatzky and Chirikov, who were holding up the crowns and getting caught in the bride’s train, were also smiling and rejoicing about something as they kept falling behind or bumping into the bridal pair whenever the priest stopped.
Traditionally, the couple would then wear their crowns for the next eight days, but Levin and Kitty remove theirs during the service.
The couple then exchange a single kiss and the wedding ceremony is complete.
Levin carefully kissed her smiling lips, gave her his arm, and sensing a strange, new intimacy, walked out of the church.
I hope you enjoy the next instalment of Anna Karenina. On 29th August we will discuss Part Five, Chapters 7-20. These chapters formed the eighth instalment of the novel, first published in the Russian Messenger in April 1876.
For reference, here are links to our previous Anna Karenina posts:
The Schedule (18 December 2024)
Leo Tolstoy (3 January 2025)
0. Introductions (10 January)
1. Part One, Chapters 1-23 – and Nabokov on Time (31 January)
2. Part One, Chapters 24-34, Part Two, Chapters 1-11 – and John Sutherland on Anna’s English novel (28 February)
3. Part Two, Chapters 12-29 – and Sergei Eisenstein at the races (28 March)
4. Part Two, Chapters 30-35, Part Three, Chapters 1-12 – and the Mowing Scene (25 April)
5. Part Three, Chapters 13-32 – and the Mirror of the Revolution (30 May)
6. Part Four, Chapters 1-17 – and Nabokov’s double nightmare (27 June)
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It all seems so perfect now that we are half way through the book. Tolstoy has presented us with disasters and near death but now all is well and the two couples intent on their happiness. The second half is going to be so good, can't wait.
I particularly liked the wedding scene and the gossiping, the bitchiness, the comments, Tolstoy is so good at describing these extraordinary scenes. The build-up, will Levin arrive at the church or not? all because of the shirt problem, so good.
I am so enjoying this book. Thank you so much Henry!
I found the little snippets referring back to Dolly and Anna's weddings interesting, now that we know how they turned out. In one instance, it's the husband who's unfaithful and, in the other, the wife. I feel that with Levin and Kitty there's no danger of infidelity and it's placed in the middle of the novel as a sort of fulcrum.