Russian Lit Anyone?
Book Fort #?
Once upon a time, I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal West Africa, and as it turns out a bunch of us youngsters had a lot of time on our hands. You can only sit in an African bar, accosted by prostitutes, for so many days, so we turned to — you guessed it — Russian novels!
I don’t remember how the trend started or where the books came from, but they were hot items. When I got my hands on one of those thick wilting paperbacks, I was filled with a delicious sense of anticipation, and a kind of peace. I was headed to 19th century Russia for long, long time.
As my friend the poet Faith Shearin says, “I don’t read books, I drink them.” Same. I have only faint recall of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, but I vividly remember the intense pleasure of reading it. I remember, years later, reading a Turgenev story in which a dog’s thoughts were included so skillfully that I didn’t blink but only wondered, why don’t more writers let the dogs in on the action?
Recently, I again fell headlong in into Russian Literature. On a cross-country drive, I began listening to an audio of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I say “began” because you’d need to drive across several countries to listen to the entire book in the car. Why so such long books, Russians? I’m not complaining though because one of the things I’m realizing as I dive back into Russian literature is that contemporary novels are generally too short. Also, many of them are written on a fifth grade reading level — short sentences, short paragraphs, and no, not like Hemingway.
Reading a novel is not something you do while putting dinner in the microwave. Reading a novel is an experience, like a love affair or a camping trip. Reading long novels may be one way we can fight back against the digital monster that tries to reduce our attention span to that of the midget fly.
What is Anna Karenina about? On these revisits — I’m currently reading the text translated by Aylmer and Maude — I’ve realized that I made a huge and rather ubiquitous mistake thinking that Anna Karenina is about a woman who throws herself under a train because she loses custody of her child. No, no, no!
It’s true that Tolstoy was inspired by that incident to begin the novel, but the finished work neither begins nor ends with Anna Karenina’s suicide. In fact, the more I study the novel, the less important this scene seems. The story of Anna’s extramarital affair with the dashing Vronksy runs parallel to the love story of Kitty and Levin. The character of Levin, by the way, is heavily based on the life of Leo (Lev) Tolstoy himself.
The novel Anna Karenina is about many things, but the underlying theme is the search for meaning in life.
I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about Tolstoy’s greatness. I made the mistake I always make when I love a book, of reading about the author’s life. In real life, writers tend to be assholes, or at best, children. I’ll include myself here. Happily, my Russian lit deep dive (did I just use that trendy phrase that I’m so sick of?!) has led me back to Dostoyevsky, that emo sage, and the clean, crisp writing of Turgenev. I’ll keep going.
In the meantime, here’s a gift for you. Kholstomer: The Story of a Horse., by Leo Tolstoy.
Hag Alert! This story is told from the point of view of an aging stallion.
If you prefer audio, try this:
The Russians remain among the countries that read the most books. When I was in St. Petersburg, there were small stands by the subway entrances where you could buy a novel. Reading Dostoevsky and such, you understand why; it seems like they have a particular gift for the art. (I’m sure it’s only a combination of lingual happenstance and nationalist self-aggrandizement to note that I’ve only ever heard anyone refer to “the Great American Novel” and “the Great Russian Novel” but sometimes I feeling there’s something to it.)
Anyway I’ve read Tolstoy’s smaller works but never any of his big books (I do intend to remedy that). I’ve read Dostoevsky’s big novels and seen his house. Your class at Shorter introduced me to THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, if I recall, and I thank you for it!
It's an ancient and difficult challenge to separate the often unpleasant behavior of the artist from their work.
As you describe, it's entertaining to realize how your viewpoint on things can radically shift when you go back and look at them years after the first encounter.
Sort of a two for one or a buy one get one free.
Accumulated wisdom in the bargain basement of life.