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"Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy

A Reading Experience (Pt.8)

By Annie KapurPublished 4 years ago 7 min read
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I read the book “Anna Karenina” when I was around fifteen years’ old and I’m not going to lie to you when I say that I bought a special notebook in which I wrote down the names of the main characters and who they were married to, who they were related to, who they were friendly and not friendly with. I would write key points about the places they lived and their personalities, I would write things about their often strained marriages - starting with the obvious affair that Stefan Oblonsky had with a French Maid. Therefore, you can imagine that my first reading experience of this novel was pretty intense stuff. I was entirely consumed and obsessed with it. Every detail fascinated me and I spent ages looking for that very particular point for when Anna becomes ostracised from high society Russia. This book entirely changed my perception of sorrow and grief in literature because no matter what Anna did wrong, it was normally done in good faith in order to escape a lifestyle in which she was either dealt a bad hand, or pushed and coaxed towards dulling or muting herself for the sake of another. Whether these can therefore truly be called ‘mistakes’ on her part is still a question I have to answer.

My favourite character in the entire book is Levin. Levin is the character who has the best question of morality to me - he does not only seek to do what is right in the moment but he also thinks to the future and how whether doing the right thing now will impact and change his life later on. He is the most contemplative character in the book, he seeks to add value to his life by finding faith in God, gaining a wife and having the happinesses that the other characters in the book may call a bit basic and dull. Levin’s best quality has always been his patience. He is incredible patient especially when it comes to Dolly’s sister, Kitty. Levin finds himself clearly enamoured by Kitty but takes his time and keeps good faith. As you have probably noticed, I prefer the quieter more philosophical characters of literature like Princess Maria of “War and Peace” and Alyosha of “The Brothers Karamazov”. Levin is one of them.

But, again he does have his faults and like Alyosha - his fault is naivety. He believes that people somewhat seek to do good for others as well as themselves and only when he becomes fatefully romantically involved with Anna does he realise that this is not the case. Anna at this point in the latter part of the novel is only trying to salvage what is left of her own reputation. Levin realises this and it is then that their romance dissolves and Anna goes on to kill herself, realising that she is not worth saving now. Levin represents the philosophical and existential side of the novel. Even before Anna commits suicide, Levin is under contemplation of what it means to be human, what it means to have faith and what it means to be ‘good’. Whilst we see all the other characters in extreme extravagance, compared to Anna’s sophisticated black dress at the ball with Vronsky - we see Levin as the complete opposite. If you look at Chapter 27 in Part 1, you will understand. Levin lives in a massive house - yet most of it is described as empty and muted. This is my favourite part of the entire book because it is a direct presentation of Levin’s character. He, in comparison to the other characters, is muted. This explains his internal contemplation.

A painting of the character Anna Karenina from a postcard

A key theme in “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy is obviously death. From the very beginning we see many different kinds of death. The very first is the death of the marriage between Stefan and Dolly. This is directly linked to Stefan’s infidelity and so, it is a massive foreshadowing of what will come later on. Russian High Society chooses though, to ignore the transgressions of Stefan as they do not transpire into anything worse. It is Anna that will make her transgressions more and more well known and with this, the reader comes to realise what happens when the death of love is mocked over and over again. It results in an almost karma-like death of an individual. Then we have the question of what that love is. There is clearly little love between The Count Karenin and his wife Anna, but when she is in love with the Count Vronsky, she is clearly happy. It is both of them who are to blame for the dissolving of their relationship. The death of true love therefore produces the death of the individual. A scene that can be directly linked to the train scene earlier on in the book in which Anna meets Vronsky. The theme of death really changes the way you read the book because though it is not as harsh as it is in “War and Peace” and nowhere near does it have the same body count - we are forced to admit to ourselves that when Anna dies, there is a certain amount of grief there. Even though she is not the model being of Russian high society, there is still a grief within her death. It is her death that acts as the turning point in Levin’s life as well, in which he confesses and finally pursues Kitty once again. So the theme of death normally leads to a change or turn in the novel. The first time a suicide is enacted in the book, Anna begins her own turn towards transgression.

“Anna Karenina” has always been a book that is close to my heart and is to this day, still one of my favourite books of all time. It is a drama of Russian high society with a primary focus on what these people understand of love and death. My latter reading experiences of this book have been with a massive concentration on character. I love to go through the book in order to find out more about Levin and his contemplations. He is almost like this St. Augustine sort of character. He transgresses, he confesses and he redeems himself. The polar opposite to Anna. After “Anna Karenina” I sought out more fiction on love and human contemplation. “First Love” by Ivan Turgenev was next on my agenda and so were books such as those by Richard Yates, John Cheever and many more. The very best thing about “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy though is the way it moves you as you’re reading it. The way you become lost in this world of over-the-top Russian decadence. The way you become charmed and attached to the tragic main character.

I think more people should give ‘Anna Karenina’ a chance. I know a lot of people are put off by the size of Leo Tolstoy’s books but they are well worth the read even if it takes your entire lifetime to do so. Let’s just put it this way: if you were to read 100 or so pages of “Anna Karenina” (on average) per day, you would have the book completed in about a week or so. 100 or so pages is not nearly that much and I can guarantee you that you will probably do more seeing as you will completely lose yourself in the book. If you haven’t read it already I am very jealous of you because I would give anything to experience reading that book for the first time again. People still read “Anna Karenina” today I think because of the fact that each character is so different to the other. Stefan is a serious but often immoral and questionable character. Count Karenin is shrewd and often a nasty character. Dolly is a emotional mess most of the time. Kitty is the young and adventurous sister. Anna is an escapist, often with horrifying results. Levin is philosophical, quiet and contemplative. Count Vronsky is a serial womaniser with no real respect for women - he proves to be shallow even though he has good intentions. The characters display a wide array of human personalities all at once and each have a fault that they will require to fix if they want to be truly happy. Upon my next read of this book this is what I want to investigate - how these different personalities clash with each other in the book. For example how Count Karenin clashes with Count Vronsky and how Stefan and Dolly clash at the beginning of the book. Ultimately it is the clash between Dolly and Anna that I want to really delve more into. It is very subtle, almost passive aggressive.

"He was afraid of defiling the love which filled his soul"

"Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy

literature
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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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