Thought I should follow the first great 19th century novel about adultery with the 2nd, but it is long (850 pages). Completely different from Flaubert, set amongst the Russian aristocracy not the French bourgeoisie (Russian society seemed to have no European type middle class, they are all aristocrats or peasants, the middle class professionals ( a few) are just ciphers. Tolstoy can write brilliant plots, but they seems always to be mixed with tedious theorising – about war in War and Peace and here, about agricultural theory and religion whenever Kevin gets involved. So the end of part 7 is brilliant as Anna drives around Moscow semi hallucinating before throwing herself under the train, part 8 is tedious as Levin contemplates suicide because he can’t resolve some tedious meaning of life dilemma.
Comments