Anna Karénina : novela en ocho partes

"Anna Karenina" non è esente da difetti. Ci sono alcune parti di scarso interesse per il lettore moderno, a volte anche piuttosto lunghe: in particolare quelle relative alle gestione dei latifondi o l'amministrazione della Russia zarista. Si tratta di temi che erano a cuore per Tolstoj, ma che non sono sopravvissuti al secolo e mezzo da allora. E poi, anche se lo sguardo dell'autore è di pietà e non di condanna, tutta la storia di Anna come peccatrice e "donna perduta" agli occhi odierni appare eccessiva.
Ma pazienza. Anna Karenina, nonostante il titolo pensi si focalizzi su una persona, è un romanzo corale in cui Tolstoj dimostra una vertiginosa abilità nel mettersi nella testa dei suoi personaggi, a volte anche nello stesso capitolo: è una tecnica che i corsi di scrittura dicono di evitare a tutti i costi, "a meno di non essere estremamente bravi". Ecco, Tolstoj lo è. E questi personaggi, anche grazie all'introspezione, sono costruiti proprio bene. Ognuno avrà il suo preferito, il mio è il crapulone Stepan Arkadič, quasi una spalla comica ma motore di molta azione, a partire dal celeberrimo incipit.
E oltre i personaggi, la quantità di scene memorabili: cito solo, tra le mie preferite, la proposta fallita di Levin a Kitty; quella invece riuscita (la celebre scena con le iniziali delle parole) e la successiva notte d'euforia di Levin; la morte di Nikolah, fratello di Levin; il flusso di coscienza di Anna prima della sua uscita di scena; la fallita dichiarazione dell'altro fratello di Levin; la corsa di cavalli di Vronskij.

Anna Karenina is the tragic story of the socialite’s marriage to Karenin and her affair with the wealthy Count Vronsky. The novel begins in the midst of their families break up due to her brother’s constant womanising; a situation that preferences her own situation throughout the novel. Running in parallel to this story of Konstantin Levin, a humble country landowner that wishes to marry Kitty, who is Anna’s sister in-law. Anna Karenina is a pinnacle piece of realist literature, exploring a wide range of family issues.

At over 800 pages, Anna Karenina can be a daunting novel to pick up; the large cast of characters does not make it any easier. I look at this classic novel as an exploration into melodrama that just about every family experiences. Born in 1828, Lev (Leo) Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born into a large and wealthy Russian landowning family, and has often been suggested that Anna Karenina is based on a similar social upbringing. While there are vast differences, issues with wealth, religion, farming and morality are issues that seem to parallel between reality and fiction. The story arch of Levin is considered to be autobiographical; Tolstoy’s first name is Lev (although in English he is known as Leo) and the Russian surname Levin actually means Lev.

Leo Tolstoy has been known for adding real life events into his fiction as a way with dealing with current political and social issues. Within Anna Karenina, events like the liberal reforms initiated by Emperor Alexander II of Russia and the judicial reform are used as the backdrop for the novel. This allows him to explore current issues, like the developing of Russian into the industrial age and the role of agriculture in these changing times. Also Tolstoy questions the role of the woman in this changing society and (the ever popular in Russian lit) class struggles.

The story of Anna Karenina is probably the most interesting for me and I enjoyed reading the struggle between love and the public opinion. She was trapped in a marriage and wanted to divorce but Karenin, who was a politician cared more about his public image. Then there is the fact that Anna’s brothers womanising destroyed the family and now she is faced with a similar situation that could cause the same damage. Adultery becomes a big theme within the book and seems to be a common theme within Russian literature to this day. However with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850) and Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1857), these three novels seemed to start a fascination in exploring the themes of passion and adultery in the mid to late nineteenth century.

There is a lot to explore within this book, and re-reading Anna Karenina was such an enjoyable experience. I know big books often scare me but there is something about going back to a much-loved novel that I find enjoyable. Leo Tolstoy intentionally made this novel long, he wanted to replicate life’s journey and the struggles people face along the way. I think he was able to capture that struggle and Anna Karenina will remain a favourite on my shelves and in Russian literature. There are so many more themes that could be explored within the novel but I will leave that for others to discover on their own.

This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2015/05/28/anna-karenina-by-leo-tolstoy/

Tolstoy has got to be the only author I have read that constantly lets you know that you are at his mercy when you take up one of his books. If he wants to kill somebody off then he will and you are left helpless watching events unfold knowing that shouting at the book is not going to help. Normally in a book a character will almost die or if they do I am not the bothered by it. I had the same feeling of helplessness when reading war and peace.

I loved everything about this book, from discussions on Politics and Princesses gossiping, to Levin mowing a meadow. Levin took about 30 pages to do the whole meadow but I was there the whole time, jealous that it wasn't me.

As for the characters you have Anna and Vronsky who I did not like, not sure if that is how you are supposed to feel, when you first meet them I had an instant dislike to the both of them. Next you have Kitty and Levin, wonderful characters who have a wonderful part to play in the story. For quite a lot of this book I wondered why they were there, they needed their own book, but by the end I could see it was a kind of balance, as one couple are falling from grace, another are on the up and up.

At the end of part 7 there is an event that was so unexpected and sudden I was left feeling completely empty, I had to put the book down for a while just to come to terms with what happened.

The version of the book I read was a translation by Rosamund Bartlett, I thought she did a fantastic job, lots of footnotes and endnotes giving you a bit of background on what was being discussed in the story. One awesome thing Rosamund has done in this book is give you a little section at the beginning giving the various names and nicknames of each character, I do find it a bit confusing coping with Russians having different names depending on what social situation they are currently in, so found this very helpful.

I think I will have to read more Tolstoy, does anybody have any recommendations?