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Anna Karenina - Your Opinion?

Discussion in 'Book Lovers' started by Rakhii, Nov 24, 2018.

  1. Rakhii

    Rakhii Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    I have just finished reading Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy). Trust me when i say, in the last 2 decades I have tried 3-5 times to read it but invariably get distracted as its a loooooong story.

    For those of you who read, what do you think of the ending? I couldn't comprehend why the late 18th century authors (at least the very well known books) are bent upon killing their main-ladies.
    I was so disappointed to read that Anna kills herself. All these years, I held her in my mind at such a pedestal that it was ...heartbreaking.
    Same thing with Madame Bovary.
     
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  2. VidhyaVi

    VidhyaVi Bronze IL'ite

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    It was a shock to me that anna kills herself.
    Have you seen the movie adaptations of the novel?

    This video impressed me very much.


    Vidhya
     
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  3. Rakhii

    Rakhii Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    I havent see the movie @VidhyaVi . I will check it out!
    I guess I just had some pre-existing notions about Anna. I loved how she broke through all the hurdles for she believe in her love in Vronsky. If only she had at least one good consistent girl friend....I believe this tragedy could have been prevented. I still dont understand how she ended up getting what she was in Part 1 to what she was at part 8. She had no lack of finances either. Vronsky did offer her enough and more money if she wanted out along with her daughter....
     
  4. Needtobestrong

    Needtobestrong Platinum IL'ite

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    I have read the book some years ago...I think it was a set of two books..but I too didn't like the ending..it seems to centre around infidelity and the conservative society treating such women who opted for second marriage etc as outcastes..
    Yes it was lack of emotional stability and security in her relationship, along with the behaviour of society that made Anna to commit suicide at the end..money doesn't give everything in life, sometimes even beauty and money aren't enough to survive in life if self confidence and courage are lacking..
     
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  5. Rakhii

    Rakhii Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    Yes, i agree, money and beauty alone dint suffice in the end. But she wasnt a wife to Vroksy (no second marriage here). She begged for a divorce, yes, but it wasn't granted (for various reasons from Alexy, her husband). Not only then, even now there this taboo about people walking out of a marriage (without divorce) and living with a different person. I think these days its a lot easier to get a divorce compared to back then. From what I understood, even in Russian aristocracy, they only looked down upon people having a physical relationship outside a lawful wedding. Her own friends abandoned her and that is really sad. I honestly think it would have saved her life if she had at least one good friend.

    On a side note, the hypocrisy of those times didnt lose on me. Anna ended up being an outcast but Vrosnky had full access to wherever and whatever circles he wanted to be a part of.
     
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  6. Blinky

    Blinky Bronze IL'ite

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    Anna Karenina, Bovary, Briest depict the human story of a fallen woman. Till Emile Zola's similarly-themed Thérèse Raquin, in which the woman is depicted to have been fallen from circumstantial slap more than solitary will, portrayed in his touted form of writing called naturalism to promote deterministic eventuality as inescapable in the natural progression of human character over autonomous whim, the woman were all portrayed as defiantly fallen.

    Raquin has fallen not from her caprice but from the deterministic constraints over which she navigated in her life. She was naturally doomed to sin for she could not have escaped the trajectory of her misfortune.

    In the said books, the woman is fallen! Falling out of love is considered a moral failing rather than a cooperative aberration even today. She is terribly flawed in her moral fiber to not have sustained love with her partner. And like all moral failings, the comeuppance is meted out in literary stronghold to uphold the moral values of their times. It is just a notion in society and a trope in literature —moral flaw leads to retribution.

    Re: your idea whether a friend would have saved her?

    Perhaps.

    Why so - because we don't live in a universal society with stock rules as much as we want to believe of the looming scythe of orthodoxy imposed on us. We live in abstract pockets of society within relational distance. We are unaffected by the collective and illusory notion of society. We are free to choose our affinity with any pocket of society. However, we can still reasonably infer the aggregate conventions of these pockets of societies. No matter how much the prevailing (aggregate) etiquette is censorious or condoning of our behavior, what affects us ultimately is our near interaction and the prominent etiquette in the interactive pocket of society we occupy.

    In progressive pockets of society, fallibility is superseded by autonomy.
    In recessive pockets of society, rigidity and conformity are desired.

    Having a friend uncritical of Anna's deviation would not have made Anna stood out in her vagary. She would not have been made to feel oddly transgressed. Your offbeat advice on cultivating steadfast friends to escape harrowing scrutiny of our conduct would have saved Anna in her liaised pocket of society for her aspiration would have been discounted in favor of her other endearing traits.

    Are friends worthwhile in shaping our fate? Undoubtedly! So, we are allowed to be as fussy in choosing our friends and forging our pockets of solidarity. Now, am I allowed to say that I like you very much for such stimulating inquiry.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2018
  7. Amulet

    Amulet IL Hall of Fame

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    I had once thought that there was a littul voice in the back (for both Flaubert and Tolstoy) telling them "enough already", as the book was getting fatter and fatter. And eventually killing off the characters who cause the fattening of the tome would serve the twin purposes: (1) punish the ones who had "fallen" -- hence give the reading public what they want. (2) sell books and make money.

    If you compared these two novels with Middlemarch, the story of a small town with that title name, written by a woman with the pseudonym George Eliot, we see something completely different. Women in bad marriages put up with the misery, and never do themselves in. Men have grand moral failings as well. And eventually, no clear closure of any sort: (alleged/insinuated) baddies don't come to the end they deserve. Pretty much all male critiques of the day (early 19th century) hated the book, but Virginia Woolf had pointed out that the book was meant for grownups.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2018
  8. Sweetee

    Sweetee Senior IL'ite

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    Movie was really helpful !!
     
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  9. VidhyaVi

    VidhyaVi Bronze IL'ite

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    Yes , you are right about her friendless life. Still is a tragedy about a woman written by a man . I guess I wil always have an opinion different from the others.

    Vidhya


     
  10. Rakhii

    Rakhii Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    You know, I have been meaning to read Therese Raquin for the longest time now. Thank you! Now I have come to the conclusion of reading this book vs watching Fantastic Beasts. There is something about the beasts of any kind I tell ya, something endearing about them. But that must wait...

    Last night, I was returning home and a thought struck me as I watched the gently falling snow. Do you think Anna would have still committed suicide if she didn’t leave with Vronsky? She was in an unhappy marriage; how long a society could have helped her overcome the shortcomings of her own life?

    I think, friend or no friend, she would not have survived the tragedy if she stayed with her husband (just like she didn’t, when she left him). Yes, falling in love with another man while still married is considered moral failing even today. But then, can you control when you fall in love? I mean, when you fall for lust (I don’t believe in love at first sight)? You do not have to act on it, now that would be a moral failing. Between the both, which is the biggest moral failing? Falling in love outside the wedlock or staying in a failed relationship and faking love? It seems, even Anna was doomed or headed towards doom the moment she set her eyes on Vronsky.

    This was the thought that struck me while watching the snow gently fall….the only other person with whom I can passionately share this would be a friend (sort of my Ram...ha!) but given that I am not giving into moral failings, I have to wait till today to share this with you.

    So, in the grand scheme of things, were 18th century women doomed to fail? I will, read Therese Raquin and will attempt to answer that.

    And undoubtedly, we all need our Meredith Gray! Dont ask...
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2018

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