Also, your depression? How do you manage it? (if you don't mind my asking)
2. Also, Anna's husband. I can't say he interested me very much. He didn't seem to know himself very well, and he was such a dry little man. What would have happened to Anna had she stayed? They were woefully ill-matched. I watched the most recent movie version in December and it was a much more sympathetic portrait of him than the book. You've read more, and certainly more Russian literature than I have. I have only about 50 pages left of Lolita. It's alright, but I can't say that I love it as much as everyone else, although Nabakov is clearly a genius. I don't think you have to love African-American literature the most. Although I think it is somewhat underrepresented here on the forums. I haven't read many of the novels, but I do have a passing familiarity with some poetry.
1. Adolescent09! I loved the horse metaphor in Anna, but to me that showed Vronsky's shortcomings more than anything. I know he didn't mean to hurt Anna or be a part of destroying her life (which she was a part of, also, of course), but he was. And I think that is the true tragedy, that of the unintended consequences of one's good intentions. I also like watching Levin's interactions with both his brothers. Actually, I liked reading about all his interactions. He was always so awkward. He entered into all of them with such high hopes, which were always almost immediately crushed. Only Kitty seemed to really get him. He was lucky in that. I liked his brother who also seemed like someone not quite of this world. And reading this and knowing the chaos that was about to descend on all of them was rather haunting. I know very little about Russian life at that time, and this was a very interesting peek into that.
Hey! Nah, sorry to say, this is Cossette, A09 (sounds like a highway, eh?): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosette BUT, Gavroche does have his own illustration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavroche I rather like the little statue of him and his brother. More to come...tomorrow. I'm intrigued by your viewpoints! I get so used to my own they become a little stale and day old breadish!
I can't wait to read Nabokov's Pale Fire and Lolita! I friggin' love Russian Literature!!!!!!! Even more so than African-American literature, which some might see me as a 'sell-out' but I do appreciate W.E.B. Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk and Frederick Douglass' My Bondage and My Freedom. I have yet to read The Invisible Man (not H.G. Wells, I have read that!!) Oh qimi! I'm so in love with your avatar! Oddly, as much as I like it I have always wondered whether the child depicted is Cosette as a little girl or Gavroche. Do you know? Reply ASAP! Or else... or else... I will cry! And you will be responsible for making me sad! Take that! Lol, jk. Sorry for the long, random response. I just love literature so much.
I cheered when Levin worked with his own peasants in the fields and I felt sorry for Anna during the heart-tugging parts where she was forcefully isolated from her son. Oddly enough though, I felt exhilarated when she was crushed by the train and I thought that the similarity of the description of her demise to the character who met with a similar fate towards the beginning of the book, was uncanny. I felt pity for Vronsky during the infamous horse race part where Anna's infatuation (more so than love) for him becomes very apparent.
My favorite character is Konstantin Levin, but I love his more acerbic counterpart personified as his brother, Nikolay. His demise is so drawn out and it seems as though the pages goaded me to tears as I witnessed his agony (A similar effect of Raskolnikov's visceral turmoil and Prince Myshkin's angelic purity in a world overrun with mendacity/sin). It also reminded me of my personal bout with chronic depression that lasted over 5 years. I love all the philosophical discussions (though I must admit I did not understand many of the historical references) of Russia's servant class and Tolstoy's intimation through Levin of an impending overthrow of the aristocracy.
2. Not to mention that Anna vastly underestimated her ability to handle her expulsion from society. As one acquaintance said "she flew too high and touched the sun" and I think that is it exactly. I also understand that we are supposed to see Vronsky as valuing the wrong things, and he certainly was wrong in "taking" Anna from her safe and comfortable life. She was not for him, and while he was careless of the consequences, I do not think he was, at heart, a bad man, do you? I rather liked him. What about you? What's your opinion of these four? Personally, my favorite was Levin. I really responded to his character. I could also relate to Dolly Oblonskaya, whose life most closely resembles mine (sans the irresponsible husband, of course).
1. Hey, Adolescent09! It's interesting you chose those four. The easy answer is Kitty. But she only just edges out the others. Honestly I felt bad about Anna and Vronsky. They weren't bad people, but they did what people often do, which is get caught up in their own misery and problems and then were unable to find their way out. I read somewhere that Tolstoy wrote this as a polemic for marriage. I don't really see it that way, but the way it is written does make me see that loving another can take you out of your preoccupation with yourself, which was one reason Kitty and Levin were more successful.
Hey you!!!!!! Who do you like more, Kitty Stcherbatsky (sp?) or Anna Karenina, Alexei Vronsky or Alexey Alexandrovitch... Ed, Edd n Eddy or The PowerPuff Girls?
