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Thread: Tolstoy

  1. #1
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    Tolstoy

    I just finished AnnaK. and have to say I did not like it at all. Can someone tell me why this novel is considered so great? I appreciate the inclusion of political,social,moral,and religious themes and the parellels with the author's life. However, I don't think the title is right for it. And I hated the story line of AnnaK. I found Levin to be the true hero. Any ideas?
    Also last week I read TheAwakening/K.Chopin. I was going to reread TheReturnoftheNative next but I can not handle another affair/suicide story!
    Mirabelle

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    The Awakening

    Which story is "The Awakening?" Is that the one where the woman thinks her husband is dead, and she ponders life then thinks she's free only to find her husband return alive and she dies from "joy"? I didn't like that story... not sure why, just din't really like it.

    -David

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    TheAwakening

    This novel begins as a lovely story of a woman who 'awakens' to her true self while in the throes of marriage/family life; she realizes she abhors 'society' and starts painting etc. She moves out of the family home.She is in love with another man; at the end when there is a moment for them to be 'together', he leaves her with this reason"it is because I love you I must say good-bye" or something; then she drowns herself.

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    Awakening

    Ok, wrong story. I haven't read much Chopin, and I don't really intend to. But Anna K. is on my list of 'Books to Read" so when I get around to it, probably this summer, i'll let you know what I think

  5. #5
    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mirabelle View Post
    I just finished AnnaK. and have to say I did not like it at all. Can someone tell me why this novel is considered so great? I appreciate the inclusion of political,social,moral,and religious themes and the parellels with the author's life. However, I don't think the title is right for it. And I hated the story line of AnnaK. I found Levin to be the true hero. Any ideas?
    Also last week I read TheAwakening/K.Chopin. I was going to reread TheReturnoftheNative next but I can not handle another affair/suicide story!
    Mirabelle
    Tolstoy is one of my favorites and I read him oftentimes.

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

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    I absolutely adored Anna Karenina. Got me wondering why it took me so long to start reading Tolstoy. It's wonderful on so many levels, it's hard to select one specific thing and say "this is what makes it great". I suppose it's a mixture of all - the sweeping portrait of Imperial Russia it paints, the wonderfully human, all-too-flawed characters, a great storyline... I don't know what it is you didn't enjoy about this.

    I agree that Levin is the true hero of the book. The fact that he is not wholly likeable either makes him even more compelling as a main character. Tolstoy supposedly modeled him on himself.

  7. #7
    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pecksie View Post
    I absolutely adored Anna Karenina. Got me wondering why it took me so long to start reading Tolstoy. It's wonderful on so many levels, it's hard to select one specific thing and say "this is what makes it great". I suppose it's a mixture of all - the sweeping portrait of Imperial Russia it paints, the wonderfully human, all-too-flawed characters, a great storyline... I don't know what it is you didn't enjoy about this.

    I agree that Levin is the true hero of the book. The fact that he is not wholly likeable either makes him even more compelling as a main character. Tolstoy supposedly modeled him on himself.
    All I think is the world has done justice to him, and critics ignored him. He was such an impeccable author and at times I feel he is the greatest writer born here.

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

  8. #8
    Jealous Optimist Dori's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JackWolfDA View Post
    Which story is "The Awakening?" Is that the one where the woman thinks her husband is dead, and she ponders life then thinks she's free only to find her husband return alive and she dies from "joy"? I didn't like that story... not sure why, just din't really like it.

    -David
    That would be "The Story of an Hour".
    com-pas-sion (n.) [ME. & OFr. <LL. (Ec.) compassio, sympathy < compassus, pp. of compati, to feel pity < L. com-, together + pali, to suffer] sorrow for the sufferings or trouble of another or others, accompanied by an urge to help; deep sympathy; pity

    Dostoevsky Forum!

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    Registered User Etienne's Avatar
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    I thought Anna Karenina very good, however the real deal is War and Peace, which is simply incomparable.
    Et l'unique cordeau des trompettes marines

    Apollinaire, Le chantre

  10. #10
    mind your back chasestalling's Avatar
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    But you must see the hypocrisy of a society which allows Oblonsky to "tread the path of silken dalliance" [ Hamlet], while Anna is unanimously condemned and made a pariah of.
    Last edited by chasestalling; 07-03-2008 at 09:51 AM. Reason: L missing
    If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly.
    --Shakespeare

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    Inderjit Sanghera
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    Of course-but Anna is set in a fundamentally patriarchal society, and 'good old' Leo certainly had some strange opinions on womanhood himself.
    The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.-Vladimir Nabokov

    human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars-Flaubert

  12. #12
    mind your back chasestalling's Avatar
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    Geniuses are permitted oddball viewpoints.
    If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly.
    --Shakespeare

  13. #13
    Inderjit Sanghera
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    Geniuses are permitted oddball viewpoints.
    Raskolnikov would be inclined to agree with that particular senitment.....
    The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.-Vladimir Nabokov

    human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars-Flaubert

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