Anna Karenina in Our Time: Seeing More Wisely by Gary Saul Morson

Anna Karenina in Our Time: Seeing More Wisely Reviews

• 
  Teri Pardue

  The first chapter of this book was incredibly dry and elitist-sounding. Morson is constantly name-dropping and talking about philosophical ways of thinking as though they are common knowledge (and barely mentions Karenina, which is quite confusing to the reader as to the nature of the book). Maybe he was trying to show he is a scholar with something to contribute to the conversation (to "prove" himself, so to speak). However, I felt it came off as alienating to his readers. This would be fine if it was a book written for fellow scholars (and when I read a chapter to my scholar/theologian husband, he remarked, "huh, sounds like a book I'd enjoy); however, the rest of the book reads as though it were written on a popular level for lovers of Tolstoy and Anna Karenina (no outside knowledge necessary). I just kept thinking to myself, "how sad to think of all the people who couldn't make it through the first chapter to discover all the beauty and delight of this book!"
  
  So, start at chapter 2 and you will be amazed! This book was beautiful, thought-provoking, moving. Morson's words on prosaic love as opposed to romantic love were especially insightful to me. I was also excited to find someone whom I resonated with on my feelings about Anna's narcissism and the essentialness of characters like Dolly to the crux of the story.
  
  I had so many "lightbulb" moments reading this book! It made me want to turn around and read Anna Karenina all over again (and I'm sure I will!). Some of the ideas discussed: looking as an action, foreshadowing & omens, when Tolstoy is speaking and when we're seeing the characters' perspectives, modernism v. Westernization, and many more make this a worthwhile read for anyone! It has a lot of light to shed on Russian authors as a whole and the ways in which we read different types of literature.
  I expected the second half of the book to be a bit drier than the first (since it dealt with Levin and his ideas on politic, ethics, agriculture), but I was just as excited about what I was reading. There is a lot to think about concerning modernization and wars and how we feel about human tragedy. Very applicable for us today.
  
  The one area I think I disagreed with Morson was concerning Christian love and conversion. I did not buy into his opinions about Karenina's conversion, and I think he completely misses the point of Levin's epiphany at the end of the book (which I see to be true conversion, and I think Tolstoy would agree with me). Levin speaks constantly in his epiphany of living for God of recognizing the truths he's been brought up in, as a Christian, are right. He closes his incredible thought process with the words, "Can this be faith?" he thought, afraid to believe in his happiness. "My God, I thank Thee!" he said, gulping down his sobs, and with both hands brushing away the tears that filled his eyes."
  Maybe because of our own beliefs about God and faith we have come to different conclusions, but it saddened me that Morson did not share my delight and amazement at the way Tolstoy so beautifully documents Levin's spiritual conversion and, instead, calls what Karenin experiences at Anna's bedside as the true conversion (and that, as with all Christian love, is 'utopianism' Eek!).
  
  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Anna Karenina. I don't think you'll be disappointed!
• 
  Danielle

  My Russian Lit professor was reading this book while teaching us Anna Karenina, and it has been sitting on my shelf for 10+ years now waiting for the right time to be read. I would not recommend this book to a casual reader or anyone who does not deeply love Anna Karenina. It is an uneven book—full of wonderful insights and thought-provoking arguments; also full of choppy organization, wandering points, and moments where Morson comes across as a bit grumpy and overly insistent on the rightness of his perspective. For me, the book was easily worth the read to encounter Morson’s concept of the “prosaic novel”, of which Tolstoy was a master, and the accompanying concepts of “prosaic good and evil” as personified by the characters of Dolly & Stiva. I was taken by Morson’s characterization of Anna was an “expatriate from romance placed in a work and in a world antithetical to the entire romantic vision.” Morson’s ability to explain how ill-fitting Anna is with Tolstoy’s vision of the good [prosaic] life deepened and changed the way I read this novel.
  
  Morson soundly rebuked my youthful margin notes on the “foreshadowing” of Anna’s death with his brilliant insight that Anna herself made a decision to believe in “evil omens” and to carry out her own death consistent with those omens: “It is she, not the author, who fulfills the omen. This is not a novel with foreshadowing, but one in which the character believes in the real-life counter-part to foreshadowing, omens. To read the trainman’s death as foreshadowing is to mistake the work’s point. For the author, the world of romance is false.” Morson shared several interpretations and theories regarding Tolstoy’s epigraph (Vengeance is mine; I will repay) that were thought-provoking and helpful.
  
  Also appreciated were his insights on the role of seeing in Anna Karenina (and attention as a moral act), the role of women’s handiwork throughout the novel, context around the large-scale “reforms” and Westernization happening in Russia at this time, and an excellent exploration of Levin as a thinker who embodies Tolstoy’s values in contrast to the intelligentsia. Levin is constantly wrestling through complex- sometimes existential- questions because he does not espouse a particular theory, political party, or “side”— he is willing to change his mind and thus constantly questioning and reassessing.
  
  I’m grateful to Morson for taking a book I already loved and making me love and respect it all the more. This was, in all, a challenging but very worthwhile read.
• 
  Rick

  There's a lot more to Anna Karenina than a tragic love story. Tolstoy is more deeply philosophical than most people think. That's why I liked this analysis.
• 
  Apoorva

  The boring chapters were all the same, the interesting ones were each interesting in their own way.
• 
  Eleanora

  I read this book to further my research on a book that left me wanting for more- Anna Karenina. I found this book interesting and the ideas about the novel that Professor Morson offers helped me broaden my perspective about the novel. I had similar ideas about the novel, but was not able to give them right direction. This book helped me in that. Also, I agree with the author's view about Anna herself, as I got the same impressions of her when reading the novel. Anna is the sufferer as well as the one who made herself suffer.
• 
  isabelle

  After taking Professor Morson’s Introduction to Russian Literature course this fall, I really enjoyed reading this book. Most of what is written is summarized in his (very interesting and amazing) lectures, but I found the book to be a legible, cohesive summary of all the themes we discussed throughout the quarter. I would highly recommend both Pf. Morson’s course and this book to anyone who is interested in world literature, ethics, and the meaning of life!
• 
  Jake

  Gave me a useful perspective on Tolstoy’s novel. Well researched and very thorough.
• 
  Martinxo

  This should have been pamphlet, maybe a short booklet, whatever, it only needs 20 or so pages but instead the author drones on and on. A waste of my money.
• 
  Morgan

  A thoroughly interesting read! The first chapter might be a little off-putting to some as he writes in a scholarly tone that differs from the tone of the rest of the book. I enjoyed it all, but if you are finding chapter one dry, just skip to chapter two. I found out about this book when the author was interviewed on Al Mohler’s podcast Thinking in Public. I would recommend listening to that podcast episode to see if this is a book that interests you!
• 
  Anne

  Not going to give it a rating since I am using for reference and not reading closely. Note the final section "163 Tolstoyan Conclusions" as a resource for discussion prompts.