Stepan vs. Levin

Tolstoy sets up an interesting contrast through the characters Stepan and Levin.  Though friends, they live by opposing philosophies.  Stepan is a city man who works in an office and loves to be surrounded by people.  Levin, on the other hand, is a landowner of 8,000 acres in rural Russia who feels constrained by a city life of office buildings and close quarters.  When Levin visits Stepan at work, he shows contempt for Stepan's way of life because he sees no work being done.  Levin believes that true work involves physical labor that engages the hands.  He wants nothing to do with idleness.  Though very wealthy, Levin has had to work for everything that he has, unlike Stepan, whose wife comes from a wealthy and well-connected family and who is described as "lazy and mischievous" (Part 1, Ch. 5). 

Ultimately, these characterizations comment on Russian society.  Levin is conservative and a traditionalist that reacts negatively to the modern conventions in Russia.  He comes across as awkward, though well-intentioned, in his interaction with Kitty, who also embraces modern conventions.  He would prefer the traditional approach in lovemaking, addressing his proposal to the father, who favors Levin over Vronsky.  Nevertheless, Kitty makes her own choice, showing a preference for the latter.  By Vronsky's abandonment of Kitty, despite her choice, Tolstoy shows his own preference for the traditional methods. 

Unhappy Families

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

The above quote is the famous opening line of Anna Karenina.  Let's look at the unhappy families in the novel's first section:

*The Oblonsky household has been upset by Stepan's affair with the children's former French governess.  Stepan himself no longer finds his wife attractive, for which reason he cheated on her.  He and his wife Dolly do not speak for several days.  Anna Karenina arrives from St. Petersberg at her brother Stepan's request and helps the couple reconcile to a point.

*Konstantin Levin is a rich landowner that lives in the country who has come to Moscow to declare his love for Kitty, the sister-in-law of Stepan.  Levin proposes to Kitty but she rejects him, having set her eyes on Vronsky, a wealthy military officer, who shows a definite interest in her.  Kitty is later heart-broken when Vronsky shows his preference for the married Anna Karenina.  Levin has a brother Nikolai who is a poor, quarrelsome alcoholic whom he has not seen in three years, and a half-brother Sergei whose philosophical way of speaking confuses Levin.

*Alexei and Anna Karenin are a married couple that lives in St. Petersberg and are well-connected within that society.  Nevertheless, Anna's trip to Moscow and her meeting of Vronsky excites her passionate side and prompts her to reject her husband's cold nature.  Her only regret is the effect her affair will have on her eight year old son. 

Nabokov on Anna Karenina

In the Street (1880) by George Clausen

According to Nabokov*, Anna is "fundamentally good" but "fundamentally doomed."  Essentially she is a moral adultress, an oxymoronic characterization that allows one to distinguish her from Emma Bovary.  The latter is morally depraved and self-centered while Anna can no longer put up with her husband and refuses to live a lie.  Hers is a principled unfaithfulness to man whose main concern is the perception of their relationship within his society.  Anna and Emma meet similar fates though for different reasons that will be discussed later.






*In Lectures on Russian Literature (1981).

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born in Yasnaya Polyana, located in western Russia, to a family of Russian nobles.  His mother inherited an estate that employed 800 serfs.  Tolstoy was a Count by birth, an honor bestowed on his ancestors by Peter the Great.  Losing both parents while still young, Tolstoy received instruction from his deeply religious aunt who had a profound effect on him.  Due to a dissatisfaction with the teaching style, Tolstoy removed himself from the university and returned to the family estate.  He developed a severe gambling habit that nearly ruined him several times.  He joined Russian army in the 1850s, much like his father who had fought during the French invasion of Russia.  His participation in the Crimean War led to the work Sevastopol Sketches, which describes the horrors Tolstoy witnessed during the siege of the title city. 

After the success of this work, Tolstoy continued to write, eventually publishing his masterpiece War and Peace (1869), which provided a panoramic view of Napoleonic Russia.  Starting in the 1880s, Tolstoy began to shift from novels to philosophical and religious works, such as A Confession and What I Believe.  His What is Art details the significance of art and its influence on the actions of others.  His religious transformation, which caused him to be excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church, developed from a re-reading of the biblical Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.  From this passage, Tolstoy established a foundation of five principles of behavior that served as the basis of his transformation:  renounce anger, take no oaths, give no resistance to evil, engage in no extra-marital sex, and love one's enemies.  As a result, he adopted principles of Christian anarchism and pacificism, which caused him to influence Gandhi.

Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina after War and Peace proved high successful but still called the former his first true novel.  In the novel he investigates the human conscience in the face of temptation.  The opening line is famous, the storyline epic, and the fate of the title character tragic.

Source:  Leo Tolstoy (1986) by William Rowe

Victoria Day 2011

Victoria Day is a Canadian national holiday observed to honor the namesake 19th century British monarch.  Though her actual birthday is May 24th, the holiday occurs on the Monday that immediately precedes the 25th.  The former Queen's birthday was declared a holiday in Canada in 1845 and has been celebrated consistently since then.  The holiday is used to mark the beginning of summer for Canadians.  Below are some articles describing the holiday.

Victoria Day is of special significance to Prince Edward Island

Fireworks in Toronto to celebrate Victoria Day

British Columbia parade features over 2,000 Americans

Atlanta Thrashers move to Winnipeg on hold due to Victoria Day