Snarknotes

Anna Karenina: Part One (Section 2 of 2)

2011-04-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Anna pays her visit to Dolly. They have some girl talk, and eventually Anna convinces Dolly to forgive Stiva by saying that if it were she, she would certainly be able to forgive her husband. Anna then summons her brother, who is just so pleased that peace is once again restored, and hell, maybe he can go back to sleeping around again.

Anna pays her visit to Dolly. Our hero Anna convinces Dolly to forgive Stiva by telling Dolly to be more like her. Stiva is happy that he can go back to sleeping around again.

Kitty comes to visit the family that night for dinner and there meets Anna for the first time. They make a favorable impression on each other. Good for them.

Kitty meets Anna and thinks she's AWESOME! Anna thinks herself awesome too, so they high five.

And so then there's a ball. Kitty and Anna and Vronsky and all the important people are there. And by that I mean Kitty and Anna and Vronsky. Who else matters? Vronsky spends his time openly fawning over Anna, much to Anna's horror. She is afraid of upsetting Kitty, yet she can't help but be selfishly flattered by Vronsky. Kitty meanwhile had been hoping for an invitation to dance from Vronsky. She turned down three guys waiting for Vronsky, and when the moment came for the dance, she had no partner at all. Vronsky had failed her. WHAT MORTIFICATION! TO BE WITHOUT A PARTNER AT A BALL! AFTER TURNING DOWN THREE GUYS!?! how pathetic do you have to be to miss out on one dance, right? And speaking of turning down guys, sounds a lot like what happened with Levin, eh? Kitty's starting to look a little silly.

Meanwhile, Vronsky finds out that Anna plans on leaving the next day for her home in St. Petersburg.

There is a ball that night. Vronsky spends his time fawning over Anna, Anna spends her time worrying over Kitty, and Kitty spends her time worrying about Vronsky not dancing with her.

WHAT MORTIFICATION! TO BE WITHOUT A PARTNER AT A BALL! AFTER TURNING DOWN THREE GUYS!?! how pathetic do you have to be to miss out on one dance, right?

Enough of them. Levin hadn't completely run off just yet. He still had some business in Moscow. He had to go visit his brother Nikolai. Nikolai seems to be suffer from constant mood swings and irritability. That and he's shacked up with a woman he took from the whorehouse. Her name is Marya Nikolaevna (Masha). Prostitutes have names too. Nikolai is in the first stages of consumption, and his brother feels much pity for him.

Levin is off tending to his melodramatic brother who may be so dramatic because he has consumption. He lives with a hooker.

Levin did go home by train after this little visit. He spends his time trying to bury his sorrows in the maintenance of his house and land. No more silly ideas of marriage for him, no sir. He had manly work to be done! Besides, he's too unworthy to be married anyway. (In case you haven't noticed, Levin suffers from depression. it comes and it goes.)

He goes home on a train despite it's ability to kill men. He is probably not in danger though, because it preys on the poor and sick.

He is manly and spends his time trying to bury his sorrows in the maintenance of his house and land.

Life for Anna is taking a turn. She sent word to her husband that she would be leaving Moscow the day following the ball, and she is determined to follow through. The situation with Vronsky is awkward at best. Unfortunately for her, Vronsky FOLLOWS HER TO ST. PETERSBURG. What the fuck? he's known her for all of a day - maybe less. Talk about creepy. She must be a fine piece of ass is all I can fathom, otherwise I don't know why army boy doesn't just chase some other tail.

Our hero Anna leaves Moscow to head home. Unfortunately for her, Vronsky FOLLOWS HER TO ST. PETERSBURG. He's known her for all of a day - maybe less. Talk about creepy. She must be a fine piece of ass is all I can fathom.

Anna is received at the station by her husband. Yes. The Husband. Vronsky views him disdainfully. The men are acquainted, and Aleksey Aleksandrovich Karenin dismisses Vronsky all together. Apparently Vronsky isn't all that interesting to him.

Anna is received at the station by her husband. The husband thinks Vronsky uninteresting, and Vronsky views the husband disdainfully. So that went off even.

When Anna arrives home, she is greeted by her son Seryozha (cutsie name for Sergey). And that's just great, isn't it? Mother and son, so full of familial love. Nothing can ever go wrong on that score, can it?

When Anna arrives home, she remembers she has a son.

Anna Karenina: Part One (Section 1 of 2)

2011-04-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky (Stiva to his friends) is cheating on his wife. This is not so unusual, but unfortunately for him, she found out. Now Darya Aleksandovna Oblonskya (Dolly) is crushed and miserable and Stiva does not know what to do. Dolly is even considering a divorce, though she worries about the children she and Stiva have had together.

Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky (Stiva) cheats on his wife. This is not so unusual, but she found out. Now Darya Aleksandovna Oblonsky (Dolly) is more miserable than usual and Stiva doesn't know what to do.

Stiva isn't in and of himself such a bad guy either. In fact, he is universally liked by everyone he meets. He's just one of those fellows with an infectious smile and a happy-go-lucky attitude. And he genuinely feels bad about the situation for his wife - not because he cheated of course, but just because he's made his wife so miserable. Happily, his sister has written to say that she is coming to Moscow to visit, and he hopes that she will reconcile himself and his wife.

Happily, his promiscuous and very beautiful sister is coming to visit, and he hopes his she will make his wife feel better about his adultery.

Meanwhile, Stiva has another visitor, just in from the country, who has stopped in to visit him at work. This would be Konstantin Dimitrievich Levin, an old friend of Stiva's and half-brother of Sergey Ivonovich Koznyshev (for some reason a very important man in society.) Levin has always been uncomfortable in Moscow. Though a member of the upper-class, he prefers his country life of labor, where he oversees many acres of cropland, animal husbandry, and the peasants who work it. Levin has come to Moscow for the explicit purpose of proposing marriage to Katerina Shcherbatskya (aka Kitty and later Katya). Kitty is one of Dolly's two sisters, so Stiva is by no means unacquainted with the girl, and he is well aware of his friends intentions. He cheers him on.

Levin had earlier that day been to visit his brother Sergey Ivonovich, with whom he would be staying. From him Levin receives word of their other brother, Nikolai Dimitrievich Levin. Poor Nikolai has fallen on rough times, but he only begs to be left alone. Levin is distraught by the news, and he determines to find his brother and see how he fares, which of course spits in the face of Nikolai's request. Funny how good intentions work like that. But first Levin has to go get himself a wife.

Levin comes to visit Stiva: they are old friends. Levin prefers a country life of labor. He came to town to get a wife. Stiva cheers him on!

Levin meets Kitty at the Zoological Gardens, which she often frequents. For some reason it also has a lake for ice-skating, which I guess is just a matter of course in Russia where everything is winter. After showing off some of his own fancy footwork (no kidding. people actually walked up to him and were like "are you going to skate today? You should, because you're such a pro), Levin begins skating with Kitty. He makes some comments that warn Kitty of his intentions, which both flatters and completely terrifies her, and they part ways after Levin agrees to meet the Shcherbatskys for dinner that night.

Levin meets Kitty and impresses her when he is solicited to show off his mad ice skating moves. She is so impressed she is terrified.

Kitty is terrified because she has a little flirtation going on with Count Aleksey Kirillovich Vronsky, and she's kind of hoping for his proposal. For that reason, she turns down Levin when he proposes before dinner that evening at her house. Levin is horribly disappointed, of course, but he had been thinking for a long time that he was unworthy of Kitty or any marriage at all. He sticks around to form an opinion on Vronsky, and determines that he is indeed and handsome and impressive man with easy manners. Sucks for Levin. He leaves unhappily and as far as I can remember he flees once again for the country.

She is mostly terrified because his mad ice skating skills told her he wanted to marry her. She has this fling with a guy named Vronsky and she really wants his proposal. Ice skating is kind of girly.

Levin's proposal is shot down by Kitty. He goes back to the farm to wallow in his unworthiness.

Kitty's father is PISSED that Kitty turned down Levin. He really liked Levin, and considered him the best match for Kitty. Vronsky he put no stock in at all, and he blames his wife for filling Kitty's head with ideas about him.

Kitty's father is PISSED.

And he was right about Vronsky, who never had a thought of marriage in his head in his life. Vronsky drives the next day to the train station to meet his mother. He finds her in a cart (coach?) with a young and very beautiful woman who completely bewitches Vronsky from the first he sets eyes on her, though he doesn't perceive it yet. That's just her affect on people.

The woman in question is - you guessed it - Anna Karenina, sister of Stiva and wife of Aleksey Karenin (important politician). While all at the station together, a horrible accident occurs in which a man falls to his death on the train tracks (OMG FORESHADOWING?!). Anna is very upset by the news, as she is worried about the man's family and how they will fare without him. Hearing her concern, Vronsky runs off and leaves some money for the wretched wife of the dead man. What a romantic gesture.

Vronsky never had a thought of marriage in his life. He goes to see his mom at the train but is bewitched by our hero, Anna. A guy gets hit by a train and Vronsky gives him money because Anna is upset about his poorness.

Anna Karenina: Character Summaries

2011-04-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

Anna Karenina: Heroine. She is married to Aleksey Karenin, though the love of her life is really Aleksey Vronsky. Her principle characteristics include selfishness and self-pity.

Count Vronksy: Anna’s lover. He is willing to sacrifice his ambition for Anna’s love, though he’s a bit flaky. He’s slowly going bald.

Aleksey (Husband) Karenin: Aforementioned husband of Anna. Has the best intentions, but difficulty expressing his emotions. He may possibly be lacking a soul. He’s also a politician.

Stepan Oblonsky (Stiva): Brother of Anna, husband of Dolly, and friend of Levin. Friendly, good-natured, and general all-around nice guy.

Darya Oblonskya (Dolly): Wife of Stiva and sister of Kitty. Miserable mother of six.

Katerina Shcherbatskya (Kitty): Sister of Dolly. She is Levin’s love interest. She is also an immature girl with many passing fancies. Still, she’s a nice person at heart.

Konstantin Levin: Nice guy. Likes to farm.

Less Important Characters:
Seryozha: Anna’s son by Karenin
Countess Lydia Ivanova: Friend of Karenin. Terrible influence.
Betsy Tverskya: Friend of Anna. Worse Influence.
Sergey Ivonovich Kozneyshev: Levin’s half brother. A very important man.
Nikolai Levin: Levin’s other brother. He is dying. He’s also kind of a jerk.
Masha: Prostitute shacked up with Nikolai. She takes care of him. A patient woman.
Varenka: Friend of Kitty. A living saint. A patient woman.

Coming Soon!

2011-04-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

Coming soon: Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina"!
Stay tuned!