Anna Karenina p.3

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Show Notes

This week, Matt and Cameron keep the Summer of Anna Karenina rolling with part 3 of Tolstoy’s legendary novel. After a little over 250 pages of simmering desire and clashing wills, we slow it down with a lengthy inspection of Levin’s life on the farm—a topic which may at first seem to be an overlong digression from the main plot, but may just set up some of the most important themes of the book. Or maybe we’re finding justifications for having to read many, many chapters about mowing grass. Who knows?

Major themes: M O W I N G, Levin as author avatar, Poor Dolly

20:18 - I think this is slightly misstating what the farmer says in the book--what I meant by “you have to do it” is that he’s suggesting each person working on the farm has to have a personal stake in the outcome, not just referring to the landowner himself.

20:33 - All the “right” views as defined by 19th century liberal.

24:28 - Admittedly, this is a deep cut if you don’t already study political theory: Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and YouTube.