I have several copies of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and this one is my favourite. It is not dated, which I always find disappointing when I buy an antiquarian book, but it has a lovely, faded green cloth cover with gold lettering, and was published by The Modern Library, Random House, New York. It is not my favourite translation, but what makes it so special is a handwritten letter of friendship, which dates to at least 1950, opposite the title page. The letter was written in fountain pen blue by a woman named Lynn to her long time friend, Nan. It's very personal and sincere and it warms my heart every time I happen to read it again. It speaks of the true nature of friendship, of no matter how life disappoints you, your true relationships will endure. You know, through thick and through thin, fat times and lean, you find a way to make the best of things together, and together you find a way through, with smiles in your hearts because you always have one another and an undying respect, even when one of you messes up royally.
I took this book down from the shelf this morning to find a passage I wanted to quote in a story that I am writing. Whenever I take this novel down I have to read the first few pages. The story begins with perhaps Tolstoy's most famous line, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." The long and intertwining tales of three families begin here, and in particular with the Oblansky family, where Dolly has learned that her husband has been having an affair, and subsequently many affairs, and soon confides in Anna Karenina that even though she despises him and can't bear to look at him, she is bound because of children. Nothing turns out too well for the Oblansky family, because as Tolstoy shows us, a family that begins without sincere love, or even a mutual and strong respect for one another, is doomed from the start. Yes, they remain together, but it is a tragic tale for all concerned.
The second family is of course the Karenins and once again we see a union that is doomed from the beginning. Anna fears and despises her husband and eventually falls in love with another man, Vronski, and begins an affair as well. Tolstoy uses these two scenarios to clearly show the double standards that were so present in Russian society at that time; while it was not condoned for a man to have an affair, it was much more accepted. When a woman such as Anna strayed from her marriage bed, the shame she incurred would ruin her life, while the men, such as Vronski and Oblansky, continued to move up in society. This is of course one of the major themes of this story. There is a very powerful scene in which Karenin confronts Anna about her infidelity and she replies:
"'No, you were not mistaken,' she said slowly, looking despairingly into his cold face. 'You were not mistaken. I was, and cannot help being, in despair. I listen to you but I am thinking of him. I love him, I am his mistress, I cannot endure you. I am afraid of you, and I hate you. Do what you like to me.'"
As Anna admits to Karenin that she has been having an affair with Vronsky, and also clearly portrays the utter despair in her marriage, you would think that this would be a great changing point in the novel, that the loveless marriage would be over. Instead, Karenin decides that he will try to put an end to the affair and continue the appearances that their marriage is fine. Coming at this from the 21st century, it seems a really sick thing to do, but then Karenin is portrayed as a fairly evil man. He proceeds to ruin Anna's reputation and cut her off from the man she loves, and we all know how that ends up...Anna under the train.
The third family Tolstoy portrays is the Levins, and while we see them plow through many troubles and doubts, they appear to be the happiest of the bunch. Their beginning was founded on mutual respect though, and a sincere fondness for one another (even though at first Kitty refuses his marriage proposal because she think she would be better off marrying an officer like Vronski, instead of a country dweller such as Levin) which may not have been passionate, or love at first sight, but like a true friendship it would not only endure the troubles that life brought to them, but grow richer from them. In the end Kitty and Levin both realize it is much better to be true to themselves instead of what society expects them to be, and find happiness in their life together.
I have always loved this story. Not only for the vast scope of Russian society and life during that time, or the strong expression of how land effects the soul of not only a society, but a person, but for the underlying message of what damage can be done when appearances and societal expectations become more important than an individual's well-being. Far too often in those times people suffered and were held hostage in a life that could only but endure and usually to a doomed ending for all involved.
Well, here is the gear shift. Over the past hour my computer has crashed three times, causing me to lose entire paragraphs and more at a time. My thought pattern on this one has now vanished. I had this lovely little coming together of all these meandering paragraphs, and now...gone. It's becoming too frustrating to work on something only to have it disappear, even though I am consistently saving my files.
So, until fortune smiles upon me (read: until I save enough pennies) to buy a new computer, the only writing I will be doing is on a sheet of paper either by pencil or typewriter. Unfortunately, blogs don't work that way. And obviously computers are not like those loved ones that stand by you as lifelong friends. But a typewriter might be. That will be a post for when and if I'm back to writing on virtual paper.
Sayonara until then.
