Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Curtains Open: Let's Begin Anna


Yay! I started reading Anna. First impressions: I *love* it. I am going to havItalice to seriously pace myself.

I found myself slightly intimidated after Kate's fantastic scholarly post, but then I talked myself down and remembered that I want to talk about Anna K. like I talk about all my other books. Very casual. That's why we have this blog: lots of viewpoints, right? Right.

So. I'm up to Chapter XII. We have met Oblonsky, Levin, and a host of other minor characters. Anna is on her way, and there is great upset in the Oblonsky house. What I am really appreciating is the way that Tolstoy illustrates regular family life in late 1800s Russia: what people ate, the way they are with each other, what it means to be 'familiar' with an acquaintance. (For the rest, click here)

1 comment:

Kate said...

Oh god. Don't ever get intimidated by my "scholarly" posts - it's just sort of what I do for a living when it comes to art. I'm intimidated by the fact that you've read so much and I haven't even started yet. It's actually still on my stack o'books...I'm letting it marinate before really getting into it. Plus I've finally gotten into Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell so I'm trying to finish that too. But I can't wait to really devote myself to AK.