Thursdays 9:30 – 11:30 PM
January 13 through February 17, 2005
D.O.C. House
When Tolstoy finished writing War and Peace at the end of the 1860's, he was overcome by a major depression, triggered by the completion of his all-absorbing task, the death of three children, and the growing discontent of his wife. He attempted to fill this void by throwing himself into the study of Greek and by preparing textbooks for the peasant children on the estate
One night a society woman at the neighboring estate threw herself under a train. This tragedy set Tolstoy to thinking about such a woman and about the circumstances that could have led to such a horrifying act. The result? A portrait that has no equal in world literature.
We will attempt to situate the book in Tolstoy's life and society, but the emphasis will be on the architectonics of the novel. How does Tolstoy achieve his effects? What makes his characters so unforgettable? What does he do with figurative language, with parallelism?
Anna Karenina consists of 800 pages, divided into eight parts. This course has eight sessions, so we will discuss one part (about 100 pages) during each session. Participants should read Part One in preparation for the first session.
Class is limited to 20 members.
RICHARD SHELDON is Professor Emeritus of Russian language and literature. He received his BA degree from the University of Kansas, his JD and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan. He chaired the Russian Department at Dartmouth for twenty years.
