Christopher's Reviews > Anna Karenina

I have always loved that picture of RLS and Fanny. Creepy and wonderful, and so captures the essence of Stevenson.

those look more or less like the 2012 film of annak.

Lady Agnew nails my sense of Anna. RLS seems a little skinny for the hearty Levin. The others you picked are perfect, too. I've always loved the Lady Agnew picture.

Thanks, Tory. I thought of Anna as soon as I saw Lady Agnew. Because of the eyes. Tolstoy doesn't describe her physical appearance much, but focuses on the elements of her personality that show on the outside. Lady Agnew's eyes hold a lot of passion.

I like Stevenson as Levin because that painting seems to express a lot of angst and confusion and worry. He looks like he's pacing, contemplating something in his tortured soul.

These character portrayals are just like how I imagined them to be as I was reading. Thanks, these are great!

I'm glad you liked them, David! It was fun to put together.

Like the portraits you've selected. Didn't imagine Kitty quite so unbuttoned! Agree the book would be more aptly named after Levin. Even back then they knew how to successfully market a book! Who would pick up a novel about farming and politics?

Haha, great point, Nuala! I didn't really think about it in marketing terms, but maybe that's it! "Anna Karenina" definitely sounds better than a title referencing any of its themes, even if Tolstoy pulled a Jane Austen and named it something like "Passion and Simplicity" à la "Pride and Prejudice".

I imagined Stepan otherwise, he has no charisma as much as in the book. On the contrary portrait of Dolly is beautiful, soulful, I like this representation. Thank you, beautiful paintings..

Thanks, Katka. Dolly is one of my favorites, too. I think that's such a beautiful sketch. I'm surprised you don't think the Stepan picture has charisma. I think that it's a really funny picture, the same way I imagined Stepan - goofy but lovable.

Those are great, Christopher. I especially love the one of Dolly also. And I can see the Kitty I imagine Levin falling in love with in the Renoir of Julie Manet. Vronsky is also perfect emotionally. All of them, really, are great.

Thanks, Lise! Even though Tolstoy doesn't give a ton of physical description for his characters, I think it's somehow easy to imagine what they looked like. Or at least I was really able to imagine them the whole time!

Absolutely. I felt I could see a scene really well through the eyes of particular characters. The skating scene, the ball, the horse race. These are just a few examples.

Yes, I felt Stepan in the book like a superficial, cheerful, conceited "Romeo". For first time the painting showed me a bit unhappy face, not confident. But that's just my idea. :) Have a nice day!

Just found this:

'In her 1926 essay, “Cinema,” Virginia Woolf reëmphasized the distinction between visual stimulation and the ineffable conjurings of prose. When we watch a film version of “Anna Karenina,” she wrote, “eye and brain are torn asunder ruthlessly as they try vainly to work in couples.… For the brain knows Anna almost entirely by the inside of her mind—her charm, her passion, her despair. All the emphasis is laid by the cinema on her teeth, her pearls, her velvet.”'

From: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs...

That's interesting. I think great writers and filmmakers are able to express both the inner life and the outer appearance of characters.

On an unrelated note, is it a New Yorker thing to put the two dots over a diphthong like in "reëmphasized"? That's so silly!

Thanks for putting up these brilliant images; they're perfect! The Sargent painting is one of my faves. Thanks!

Thanks a lot, Karon! I'm glad you liked them!

thanks 4 the photos they make the story clearer
regards

That's pretty much how I pictured them as well.

Aw, thanks, Jasmine!

beautiful

Thanks, Dinesh!

This is brilliant. Good job.

I liked your choices and am a big fan of JSS, a somewhat neglected American/European genius. He had the chops big time. But... Stevenson as Levin doesn't work for me as I see Levin as more robust. That Stevenson doesn't look like he could wield a scythe all day!

Haha, I love this! Well done.

Molodets! I love what you have done. I only have one reservation. Robert Louis Stevenson as Levin? Levin is a strong, vigorous man whereas Stevenson was frail and sickly. Stevenson was sociable and charming whereas Levin is awkward and solitary.

Thanks, Stephanie, Chris, Eric and Mike.

That seems to be the consensus for Levin... that I chose the wrong painting for him. I don't know much about Stevenson, so my choice was mostly based on the mood of the painting. It seems to me that he's suffering some internal conflict, much like Levin was doing for most of the book. And I never imagined Levin as a strong, robust guy. He seems more the lanky, sinewy type to me, given his ascetic tendencies and long days of backbreaking work.

I love this review. You have picked some lovely selections. I have just started reading Anna Karenina and these paintings have helped conjure up some nice mental images. :)

Thanks so much, Neko! I'm glad it's helping you in your reading. I hope you love Anna Karenina as much as I did.

Thanks so much, Neko! I'm glad it's helping you in your reading. I hope you love Anna Karenina as much as I did.

I am loving it so far! I am actually listening to it and the audiobook has a lovely narrator. It's allowing me to close my eyes and try to imagine all of Tolstoy's (via translators) beautiful words. ^_^

Thank you for getting all those pictures so right. Good job!

the paintings are wonderful

I think that Tolstoy described Anna differently, he said that she had a red hair with gray eyes . but I loved the paintings anyway.

Dolly and vronsky are wonderful! ,I imagened them exactly this way!

I guess dead black men didn't paint her, but I enjoy writing dead black men anyhow. its so subversive.

I don't know if you're trying to be funny, but I don't like it.

Thanks for making me think about this again. I think it's probably about which story will hook the reader. Who wants to read about a goody-two-shows guy when you could read a sexy, scandalous story about a cheating wife? And Anna's story is a key motivation in Levin's philosophical journey, so while Levin may get more screen time, his story doesn't happen without Anna.

Superb review!

I swear the Lady Agnew of Lochnaw by John Singer Sargent portrait was used on the cover of House of Mirth o r Age of Innocence! I swear it was.

so much work! thanks for the inspiration!

great selection of paintings!

Why no pictures by live people? Anyway, I see Levin as stocky and sorta hot, Anna as pretend-lovely, Kitty just as she is in this picture, lovable and sweet, and Vronsky as this picture, irresistible but oh so dark.

Gehad wrote: "I think that Tolstoy described Anna differently, he said that she had a red hair with gray eyes . but I loved the paintings anyway."

He said many times in the book that she had dark hair and dark eyes. I too originally pictured her with a mane of curly red hair, it took me a while to correct the mental image so it would match Tolstoy's description (similar to the painting, but I think she is too thin in the painting, I think he compared her to others in saying that she wasn't too thin? But I may be misremembering that). Maybe we both read or saw some children's adaptation that we have long forgotten that made us think she had red hair.

Maybe you all were imagining Anastasia?

100% agree with you about the name of the book and was thinking the same thing all along. I cannot see the pics but I second you on the name. Cheers!

That's how I've always imagined Stiva to look like.

Part 8 is all about one’s spiritual awakening. That is the highlight of this book. Leo Tolstoy captured our attention from Anna’s beauty to her love for her son as well as Count Vronsky. But that was just a well told story that ends with her unfortunate fate. Anything could happen to us in life and we have free will to choose our lifestyle, no matter the consequences. However, only way to live the life is the god’s way of life. I got so excited after listening to Levin’s realization.

IT IS SO AMAZING ,I NEVER READ SOME BOOKS LIKE THIS ONE BEFORE..