Tolstoy?!!!?

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Stillost
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Tolstoy?!!!?

Post by Stillost »

I was looking for Tolstoy already posted and didn't see it.

I was really overcome after reading war & peace, i loved it so much i had to read anna karenina next and that was just as good with characters even more perfect and clear in their creation, if possible.

I have a question though, the thing that really got me was that one of the characters seemed to share so much of my ideas and thought and personality, it made me wonder does everyone feel this way, i there a tolstoy character in us all, and if so which one? :)
thisislissa
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Post by thisislissa »

I often feel that way, though not just about Tolstoy. In the end I think it’s the job of any good author to create characters so vital that we see ourselves in them, maybe no one does this better than Tolstoy (haven’t read enough to give a strong opinion, but he’s on the short list).

I’ll take a guess that you identified with Levin (in AK, I haven’t read W&P yet). I thought he shared a lot of my ideas and characteristics, though that may be a trick of how he was represented by Tolstoy, because he was based on the author himself. Maybe because the author saw himself in the character we see ourselves in the same character?
The victor belongs to the spoils.
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Stillost
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Post by Stillost »

thisislissa wrote:I often feel that way, though not just about Tolstoy. In the end I think it’s the job of any good author to create characters so vital that we see ourselves in them, maybe no one does this better than Tolstoy (haven’t read enough to give a strong opinion, but he’s on the short list).

I’ll take a guess that you identified with Levin (in AK, I haven’t read W&P yet). I thought he shared a lot of my ideas and characteristics, though that may be a trick of how he was represented by Tolstoy, because he was based on the author himself. Maybe because the author saw himself in the character we see ourselves in the same character?
Yeah, you picked true, levin and pierre, and i read that too, that levin was the character most closely related to tolstoy, thats why i wanted to see how true the other characters are.
thisislissa
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Post by thisislissa »

Pierre was in W&P? I don’t remember him if he was in AK. Like I said above, I haven’t read W&P yet so I’ll have to confine my discussion to AK.

As to the truth of the other characters, I don’t know. Anna is incredibly vital, but I can’t think that many people would identify with her deeply, she’s so selfish. For the reader to identify with the character maybe the author has to have a certain relationship with that character too. No matter how well Tolstoy paints Anna, he still views her as Other, he still judges her while writing. While reading, one can feel that Tolstoy disapproves of Anna. Oblansky is another possibility. I liked him a great deal, I identified with him a little bit (maybe he was Tolstoy before Tolstoy discovered morality?). The remaining characters were less completely drawn (even Oblonsky was more of a sketch, but I though he was a sympathetic sketch). Maybe the reader can only say ‘this is me’ if the author also says ‘this is me’.
The victor belongs to the spoils.
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Stillost
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Post by Stillost »

thisislissa wrote:Pierre was in W&P? I don’t remember him if he was in AK. Like I said above, I haven’t read W&P yet so I’ll have to confine my discussion to AK.

As to the truth of the other characters, I don’t know. Anna is incredibly vital, but I can’t think that many people would identify with her deeply, she’s so selfish. For the reader to identify with the character maybe the author has to have a certain relationship with that character too. No matter how well Tolstoy paints Anna, he still views her as Other, he still judges her while writing. While reading, one can feel that Tolstoy disapproves of Anna. Oblansky is another possibility. I liked him a great deal, I identified with him a little bit (maybe he was Tolstoy before Tolstoy discovered morality?). The remaining characters were less completely drawn (even Oblonsky was more of a sketch, but I though he was a sympathetic sketch). Maybe the reader can only say ‘this is me’ if the author also says ‘this is me’.
Yeah pierre is in w&p, i think he is alot like levin but perhaps a bit lighter, a bit smoother maybe. I know what you mean when you say he disapproves of anna, like he know's where her action's will lead, but i can relate to some of her behavior funnily enough, there's little reason in her decisions, but it seems with oblansky she has no power over her reason as she did before.
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Post by thisislissa »

It’s interesting to contrast the Anna of the beginning with the Anna later in the novel. At the beginning she is the very voice of reason, helping to reconcile Oblansky and his wife after his infidelity. She is good with children, charming, etc. The reader likes her very much indeed and dreads what will happen. I suppose Tolstoy must believe that love is completely irrational, because it was hard to see why Anna would fall for Vronsky (also hard to understand what Levin sees in Kitty). One problem is that the reader can tell what kind of man Vronsky is, we don’t like him as we do Anna, so what does she see in him?
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Stillost
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Post by Stillost »

I think anna see's in vronsky everything she should have chosen for herself in her youth, a life wasted, another chance. I thought i was going to hate vronsky at the begining, as i normally hate that type of man, but ultimately he loved her and would do anything for her, her death ended his life too, so by the end i quite liked him.
And as for kitty, i mean no offence when i say, you must be a woman, her charm is her innocence, she's full of love, of life, not caught up with society. She put's you on the wrong foot right away by choosing vronsky, when we can see how much she means to levin, so it's hard for her to get your good opinion. But i think she grew in the story into someone worthy of levin.
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Post by skyblue123 »

I was wondering, has anyone in this forum read Tolstoy's, The Death of Ivan Ilyich? I loved W&P as well as AK however, I enjoyed TDOII more because there seemed to be more intensity and power given to this book as it wasnt spread over as many pages. If you haven't read it I suggest you do as it is extremely well written, thought- provoking, and honest. That last adjective is what I particularily love about Tolstoy; his writing has such truth in it (I know I sound pretentious there) but really, I can always recognize something definite and true about the human condition when I read Tolstoy. He was a complicated man and he always aware of the complexity and significance of seemingly simple things, people, events.
Maybe I'm not making sense here, all I'd really like to hear is other people's opinions on TDOII! :D [/i]
andr70
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Post by andr70 »

I think Tolstoy is a world great classic Author!!!! Unfortunately I've never heard of this book. So, thanks for the tip)))
sharon.gmc
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Post by sharon.gmc »

Yes, Tolstoy is a classic. The characters speak to us even if the books are written decades ago. This is because the characters are very human and this may be the reason why we can still relate to the characters.
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Post by Shani »

I found myself identifying with Anna, the thing is, she would think and say and do things that everyone knows is wrong and selfish, but secretly i knew that i would probably feel the same. These are thoughts that often pop up in people's heads, but that we choose to ignore, or our concience just shoo's them away. Especially closer to the end, where she chooses to harm herself only to spite and punish Vronsky. This is so common, espacially amongst teenagers.

I haven't read The Death of Ivan Ilyich, but I'm a med student and one of my professors said that if i like tolstoy this would really be a good book to read. It's about dying with dignity isn't it?
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Post by ebethina »

It has been a long time since I read Anna Karenina, I read it years ago when I was in HS. So I remember really enjoying it, I should read it again.
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Eko romansah
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Post by Eko romansah »

I have one of Tolstoy's books. His book had transformed in Indonesian leanguage. After reading his book, I'm exited
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Post by Lincolnshirelass »

I ORIGINALLY empathized with Natasha Rostov, but when she gave up her music, I lost some respect for her.
An Eye for an Eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

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AliceofX
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Post by AliceofX »

I've read his War and Peace and it was good, but Anna Karenina ... I really liked it in the beginning, but then it had like 60 pages about plowing and that was more than I could stomach. So I never finished the book, kind of the same like with Moby Dick.
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