In Casino Royale, "M" is informed at one point by a midnight call from her assistant that Bond has logged into M16's secure computer system using her name and password. "How the hell does he know these things?" she demands, rousing herself from bed and deftly summoning a computer screen from her bedside table.
I am prompted to echo Judi Dench's almost indignant though at the same time awe-struck question as I read Anna Karenina. How does Tolstoy know so much about the relationships he's describing? It's incredible. The way he describes the way the women relate to each other, as covered in the previous post, is merely the beginning.
There is another point where he makes a commentary on women's ways that I'm less sure of. He describes how successfully Karenin hides from himself the seriousness and the implications of his wife's affair with Vronsky. Karenin is forever not wanting to see something, and therefore not seeing it, or not wanting to understand something, and therefore not understanding it. There is a certain lack of agency implied by the way the Maude's put it, and I wonder if Tolstoy intended readers to understand how much intention is behind Karenin's ignorance, and how much is a subconscious attempt at self-preservation in the face of a ruinous truth. I have many questions about translation, in fact, and wish I were reading this in the household of a Russian speaker.
OK, but on with the point about women. Vronsky, during one conversation with Anna before the horse race in part II, suggests that, because she is pregnant, they run away together. Her response is rather hysterical, and he can tell she's not being honest with him or herself about her feelings.
"Vronsky could not understand how she, with her strong honest nature, could endure this state of deception and not wish to escape from it; but he did not guess that the chief cause lay in the one word 'son' which she could not bring herself to utter. When she thought about her sons and his future relations with the mother who had left his father, she was so terrified at what she had done that she did not reason, but woman-like only tried to comfort herself with false arguments and words in order that everything should remain as before and that she might forget the dreadful question of what would happen to her son."
I feel it is rather ironic that this, being the first time we've seen this tendency in Anna, is labelled as woman-like, when the arguably weaker trait of ignoring the blatant truth has been demonstrated by her husband at least half a dozen times already. Again, I wish I could read the Russian so I could sniff around for Tolstoy's irony. He seems to aware of women's ways to entertain, himself, such an attitude toward what the womanly thing to do is.
He has also captured the tendency of privileged people (like myself) to be always upset about something. Yes, this was right and everyone was laughing, and all was well, but... Kitty was still unhappy. Still, Anna could not be content. Yet, there was something that caused Levin pain. These sorts of qualifications are everywhere. We are never satisfied.
I am in Florida on a four day vacation with Dad and Sally. We are beside the ocean, and enjoying lots of rest. In this context, where I have come in order to be away from work, I am, as it turns out, happy to have MAT work to be doing. I can also see that Dad and Sally are grateful for the telecommuting they are able to do from this location. We like to keep up with work.
I thought about how many people must come to this area in order to escape work when I read the beginning of Part II of AK:
"SERGEY IVANOVITCH KOZNISHEV wanted a rest from mental work, and instead of going abroad as he usually did, he came towards the end of May to stay in the country with his brother. In his judgment the best sort of life was a country life. He had come now to enjoy such a life at his brother’s.
Konstantin Levin was very glad to have him, especially as he did not expect his brother Nikolay that summer. But in spite of his affection and respect for Sergey Ivanovitch, Konstantin Levin was uncomfortable with his brother in the country. It made him uncomfortable, and it positively annoyed him to see his brother’s attitude to the country.
To Konstantin Levin the country was the background of life, that is of pleasures, endeavours, labour. To Sergey Ivanovitch the country meant on one hand rest from work, on the other a valuable antidote to the corrupt influences of town, which he took with satisfaction and a sense of its utility. To Konstantin Levin the country was good first because it afforded a field for labour, of the usefulness of which there could be no doubt. To Sergey Ivanovitch the country was particularly good, because there it was possible and fitting to do nothing."
I'm intrigued with their different attitudes toward the country. I realize that I also want to work in the country, but only because I want the country to be part of my working life. When I finish school, I want to be able to go for a walk in nature in order to process the day. I do that frequently in Richmond by going on the gorge trail or into Earlham's back campus. I do not want to live in a city which I can escape to do nothing in the country. I want to live in the country, work in the country (well, a small city is what I mean by "country") and escape to cities where I can be diverted by all kinds of museums, cafes, people and sights.
I am prompted to echo Judi Dench's almost indignant though at the same time awe-struck question as I read Anna Karenina. How does Tolstoy know so much about the relationships he's describing? It's incredible. The way he describes the way the women relate to each other, as covered in the previous post, is merely the beginning.
 |
| Showing the two principle settings of AK: Petersburg and Moscow. |
OK, but on with the point about women. Vronsky, during one conversation with Anna before the horse race in part II, suggests that, because she is pregnant, they run away together. Her response is rather hysterical, and he can tell she's not being honest with him or herself about her feelings.
"Vronsky could not understand how she, with her strong honest nature, could endure this state of deception and not wish to escape from it; but he did not guess that the chief cause lay in the one word 'son' which she could not bring herself to utter. When she thought about her sons and his future relations with the mother who had left his father, she was so terrified at what she had done that she did not reason, but woman-like only tried to comfort herself with false arguments and words in order that everything should remain as before and that she might forget the dreadful question of what would happen to her son."
I feel it is rather ironic that this, being the first time we've seen this tendency in Anna, is labelled as woman-like, when the arguably weaker trait of ignoring the blatant truth has been demonstrated by her husband at least half a dozen times already. Again, I wish I could read the Russian so I could sniff around for Tolstoy's irony. He seems to aware of women's ways to entertain, himself, such an attitude toward what the womanly thing to do is.
 |
| The 1977 mini series which helped me keep the names straight! I've only seen episode 1. |
I am in Florida on a four day vacation with Dad and Sally. We are beside the ocean, and enjoying lots of rest. In this context, where I have come in order to be away from work, I am, as it turns out, happy to have MAT work to be doing. I can also see that Dad and Sally are grateful for the telecommuting they are able to do from this location. We like to keep up with work.
I thought about how many people must come to this area in order to escape work when I read the beginning of Part II of AK:
"SERGEY IVANOVITCH KOZNISHEV wanted a rest from mental work, and instead of going abroad as he usually did, he came towards the end of May to stay in the country with his brother. In his judgment the best sort of life was a country life. He had come now to enjoy such a life at his brother’s.
Konstantin Levin was very glad to have him, especially as he did not expect his brother Nikolay that summer. But in spite of his affection and respect for Sergey Ivanovitch, Konstantin Levin was uncomfortable with his brother in the country. It made him uncomfortable, and it positively annoyed him to see his brother’s attitude to the country.
To Konstantin Levin the country was the background of life, that is of pleasures, endeavours, labour. To Sergey Ivanovitch the country meant on one hand rest from work, on the other a valuable antidote to the corrupt influences of town, which he took with satisfaction and a sense of its utility. To Konstantin Levin the country was good first because it afforded a field for labour, of the usefulness of which there could be no doubt. To Sergey Ivanovitch the country was particularly good, because there it was possible and fitting to do nothing."
I'm intrigued with their different attitudes toward the country. I realize that I also want to work in the country, but only because I want the country to be part of my working life. When I finish school, I want to be able to go for a walk in nature in order to process the day. I do that frequently in Richmond by going on the gorge trail or into Earlham's back campus. I do not want to live in a city which I can escape to do nothing in the country. I want to live in the country, work in the country (well, a small city is what I mean by "country") and escape to cities where I can be diverted by all kinds of museums, cafes, people and sights.
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