Anna Karenin
15. Anna Karenin - Leo Tolstoy (trans. Rosemary Edmonds), 1877 (first-time reading)
I really loved this. I expected it to be quite heavy and intellectual, but it was actually comparatively quick and easy to read - I think Edmonds' translation must be excellent. I just loved the amazing scope of it - so panoramic, but at the same time so intimate. Edmonds says something in her preface about Tolstoy not judging the characters but simply giving a very accurate and detailed portrayal of them so that the reader can understand and, if they want, judge for themselves, and I did get a real sense of this. I didn't really feel any need to judge them; I just wanted to know them, which I really felt that I did. The sections of characters' inner thoughts, particularly Anna's in Part Seven, are incredibly powerful. According to Wikipedia, Tolstoy's technique here prefigures twentieth-century stream-of-consciousness narration, which is interesting. Also, I'm totally going to go see the film when it comes out.
I really loved this. I expected it to be quite heavy and intellectual, but it was actually comparatively quick and easy to read - I think Edmonds' translation must be excellent. I just loved the amazing scope of it - so panoramic, but at the same time so intimate. Edmonds says something in her preface about Tolstoy not judging the characters but simply giving a very accurate and detailed portrayal of them so that the reader can understand and, if they want, judge for themselves, and I did get a real sense of this. I didn't really feel any need to judge them; I just wanted to know them, which I really felt that I did. The sections of characters' inner thoughts, particularly Anna's in Part Seven, are incredibly powerful. According to Wikipedia, Tolstoy's technique here prefigures twentieth-century stream-of-consciousness narration, which is interesting. Also, I'm totally going to go see the film when it comes out.