By chance I happen to have read War and Peace, Anna Karenina and Mme.Bovary during the last two months (mostly on my crosstrainer). I would not agree that Tolstoi in Anna Karenina describes
"ordinary" people: To me the overwhelming impression was the description of a leisure class so useless and parasitic that one has to ask why the revolution had not come much earlier.
The (very intelligent) wife of Tolstoi disagreed with the reception of some of Tolstois female characters (especially in the Kreutzer-Sonata, where the public suspected that he spoke of his own marriage). She wrote an own book "A question of guilt", only published about hundred years later , which is worthwhile to read if one is interested in Tolstois female characters.
Flauberts characters in Madame Bovary seemed to me much more ordinary and also lively, his description of the political event, of the failed operation and its sequelae and last but not least his pharmacist are unforgettable, of the very best I ever read in literature.
Yes....with "ordinary", I meant people who have no evident purpose in life -- not a shred of heroism, or of lofty goals. But that's true for most of us, isn't it?
I have read "War & Peace" and many of Tolstoy's novellas, but I now think I can take "Anna Karenina" off my list - many thanks. (I would highly recommend the similar titled and equally monumental "Life and Fate" and "Stalingrad" by Vassily Grossman - two linked novels about the horrific siege of Stalingrad, and told in a series of of Chekkhov-like vignettes - don't miss it).
Speaking of large 19th Century novels, do you have an opinion of "Les Miserables" by Victor
Hugo?
Keep up the great work on all your many sites - I have been a lurking follower for many years, and your contribution as a serious blogger is much much greater than lecturing students in chemistry (others can do that).
By chance I happen to have read War and Peace, Anna Karenina and Mme.Bovary during the last two months (mostly on my crosstrainer). I would not agree that Tolstoi in Anna Karenina describes
"ordinary" people: To me the overwhelming impression was the description of a leisure class so useless and parasitic that one has to ask why the revolution had not come much earlier.
The (very intelligent) wife of Tolstoi disagreed with the reception of some of Tolstois female characters (especially in the Kreutzer-Sonata, where the public suspected that he spoke of his own marriage). She wrote an own book "A question of guilt", only published about hundred years later , which is worthwhile to read if one is interested in Tolstois female characters.
Flauberts characters in Madame Bovary seemed to me much more ordinary and also lively, his description of the political event, of the failed operation and its sequelae and last but not least his pharmacist are unforgettable, of the very best I ever read in literature.
Yes....with "ordinary", I meant people who have no evident purpose in life -- not a shred of heroism, or of lofty goals. But that's true for most of us, isn't it?
Dear Ugo:
I have read "War & Peace" and many of Tolstoy's novellas, but I now think I can take "Anna Karenina" off my list - many thanks. (I would highly recommend the similar titled and equally monumental "Life and Fate" and "Stalingrad" by Vassily Grossman - two linked novels about the horrific siege of Stalingrad, and told in a series of of Chekkhov-like vignettes - don't miss it).
Speaking of large 19th Century novels, do you have an opinion of "Les Miserables" by Victor
Hugo?
Keep up the great work on all your many sites - I have been a lurking follower for many years, and your contribution as a serious blogger is much much greater than lecturing students in chemistry (others can do that).
All the best,
Daniel
"Anna kills herself, but it is Tolstoy who decides that; it is a literary homicide. "
Powerful prose in the novel, and the critique!
Great read Ugo. Disney's Clinton... ouch!
My reading is not recent -Tolstoy looking for answers. Tolstoy and trains, no escape...
Recently a little Turgenev... old Europe (agrarian, sometimes legendary), his mother's Estate, education serving up the 19thC...
Perhaps we turn to Pasternak? Disappearance as history closed over...
Women the anchor in hard times; non-fiction I was told back in the recent 90s.
We are heading toward interesting times. Have faith, and prepare for a rough ride.
What must happen, will happen.