It's summer here in Smalltown, which means I'm reading what I want when I want. (I collect lists and stacks for each and every summer.) Currently I'm reading Dear American Airlines, listening to Atmospheric Disturbances, and reading a number of children's books for review. But today it hit me: Come fall, I'm going to be reading Anna Karenina yet again. I honestly have no idea how many times I've read and taught this novel. I chose eleven for the title, but only because I like that number.On Reading Anna Karenina for the Eleventh Time
Once a year I think of you,
in a black velvet dress, eyes
flashing and shattering hearts.
The opera. Trains. A red handbag.
Can I break that aged spine
and live your torment anew?
At sixteen I understood:
Karenin is bo-ring!
He has big ears. Pe-Dan-Tic.
Of course you must leave for
dancing dangerous Vronsky.
At twenty five I understood
life is difficult, there are
many choices. Husband. Son.
New man. How could you have known
you’d chosen so tragically?
At forty I understood
Tolstoy meant it: “Vengeance is
mine; I will repay.” For what
was Vronsky but a spoiled frat
boy you chose over your son?
Can I travel your road again?
I don’t know. But at least I’ll
have Shcherbatsky, Stiva,
and Dolly to walk me through
with joy, humor, and faith,
to the very bitter end.
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Jennie, who studied in Smalltown, is on the roundup this week at Biblio File. Head on over and leave your links...
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Don't get me wrong: I certainly appreciate Anna Karenina and consider it to be, structurally speaking, a great novel. Maybe THE great novel. But my heart remains true to War and Peace and to the Tolstoy who wrote War and Peace.
14 comments:
Anna was my first piece of Russian lit. I sat on my parents' porch all summer before my junior year in high school, reading her story. It was the same edition used in your picture...
I haven't read War and Peace yet. Well... I've read part of it, but it was craptacular translation. (I mean, anything that uses Andrew instead of leaving it as Andrei? eh.) I have the new translation, but haven't read it yet...
I, am however well versed in my Dostoevsky, thanks to Smalltown...
Admittedly, I've not finished War and Peace (and apparently I had a craptacular translation as well); I've never taken a Russian Lit course so have read more Solzhenitsyn and Checkov than Dostoevsky and Tolstoy... but I love that you can just whip out a poem on Anna... There's just no place else but Big A, little a where you'll find poetry on Tolstoy's novels using the phrase 'frat boy.' Classic.
Like Jennie, Anna was my first foray into Russian lit in high school as well. And I went on for the BA and MA eventually. I agree that War & Peace is the better novel, however, I cannot imagine reading THAT masterpiece 11 times. I got through it, was amazed and impressed, and haven't completed another reading of it since.
Kelly, can you recommend a good translation of War and Peace? I have a very old copy at home and have tried opening the first volume literally... six of times, and the stodge of chapter 1 beats me into submission on every occasion. I'm sure it must be the translation's fault; I simply cannot square the evidence of my eyes with what I hear people saying about this book; there must be a version that reads better than my one!
Fabulous poem! *Feeling guilty over not reading War and Peace*
Jennie: You must have taken Dostoevsky during the tragic semester, right? Or did you take it earlier?
Tadmack: Admittedly Big A little a is not the ideal audience for this poem :) But you're *MY* audience and I've been thinking of Anna...Give her a try someday! It is a great novel, especially when reading for the first time.
Yay for "War and Peace," Heather!
Nick: I'd try the new translation of war and peace by Volkhonsky and Pevear. I haven't read it yet, but I've heard it's more lively than the old Garnett translation. Oh, and Tolstoy's first Chapter doesn't draw you in immediately, I'll give you that.
Jama: No guilt! Give Anna a read sometime, then go for War and Peace.
Kelly-- The tragic semester was the year after I graduated. But I did reread Brothers Karamazov during that time.
Tadmack-- I'm really picky on my translations and I find the treatment of names is a good indicator on how sensitive the rest of the translation is. It might be a bit of an arbitrary marker on my part but we all have our quirks, right?
Do you know that reading that novel has also been on my life to-do list for the longest time? Maybe I need to do that this summer, too.
I need to add it to my "to read" list too.
Jim D (the other J Danielson -- no realation)
I love War and Peace, too, and I blame Charles Schultz for it's undeserved reputation as being unreadably long. Gotta read it again.
I have my mom's Anna Karenina from when she was in college in Austin in the early 1940's.
I admire your fortitude, Kelly. I read ANNA K a few months ago, and words cannot express my loathing . . . I am just not a 19th-century lit kind of gal.
There is so much value in rereading. I love Anna K., but I've got a few others to rereread bfore I can reread it.
Titus Groan topping that list.
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