Anna Karenina

I’m not too sure what to say about Anna Karenina.  It’s the first proper classic I’ve dealt with here and so I want to be able to write something terribly profound.  Naturally, I can’t think of a thing except, “I liked it- mostly.”  For a very famous book I didn’t know much about it prior to reading apart from the names Anna and Count Vronsky.  Knowing I’d be reading it at some point, I avoided the recent Kiera Knightly and Jude Law film version like the plague.  And I’m glad that I went into it without too many preconceptions, I think I would have been more disappointed if I did.

First off, it’s a long book: one of those long books that could have been made so much better by an editor who would just put their foot down a bit.  You know, someone to say, “I know it’s a pet cause, but these chapters where one of the characters spends methodically ploughing his fields?  Leo, they’ve got to go.”  It’s as well written as it can be, and it’s still bordering on engaging, I’ll give Tolstoy that, but there’s still a hell of a lot of content that could have been cut and we’d still have understood that Levin is a country boy at heart.  There’s another section later in the book about a shooting party that bored me stupid, reading about people killing animals for pleasure (or their frustration at failing to) just doesn’t do it for me.

Having said all that, there is a lot going on in the book.  One of the most interesting bits for me was the contrast between the treatment received by Anna and her brother, Stiva.  Both are guilty of infidelity but they are not treated in the same way by society.  Spoiler: things are worse for the woman.  Stiva is not only still welcome in Russian society despite his womanising, he is also seen for some baffling reason, as an appropriate go between when Anna and her husband attempt to hash out a divorce.  Anna even fairs worse than Vronsky, the man she has left her husband for and it’s this that leads to her death.  Even after she has died, she is still condemned, no one learns from her death.  Affairs for women lead to death.  Stiva gets a promotion.

There’s a fair bit of politics in the novel, the kind I half remember from my history A-Level.  The Russian Revolution was a while later than Tolstoy’s writing, but you can see the groundwork being laid in it.  The feudal system is still in place in this book but some people are starting to feel bad about it.  All the fore mentioned chapters on farming are Levin’s attempts to bond with his peasants.  Levin doesn’t fit in in Moscow and frequently airs his controversial views.  But again, nothing has changed by the end of the novel.  I really enjoyed reading this book, but it’s definitely one I wish I’d read earlier.  There’s so much I’ve forgotten about Russian politics and I’m sure I would have gotten so much more out of the book if I’d have read it when I knew those things. 

Anna Karenina simply wasn’t what I thought it would be.  For a book named after a character, she appears in it startlingly little and is a character acted upon rather than one who acts herself.  Other than loving Vronsky and her son, she does very little.  And (aside from the odd moment) is a woman whose life is at the whims of charismatic men.  I think I was expecting a stronger woman to take charge of the role of the tragic hero.  It’s the odd moments that annoy me most, possibly.  Every so often Anna just says, “fuck it” and is pretty much amazing, only to be brought back into line.  It’s a shame she couldn’t retain a little more of that spirit for a while longer.

I am currently reading The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst.  Blog posting may be a little sporadic for a bit while I attend my grandmother’s funeral.