Anna Karenina
This course was available in the past and may be presented again as part of the Open Enrollment curriculum.
An insightful study of Russian political, economic, social, and cultural history, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1875-1877) can also be seen as a precursor of the twentieth-century exploration of consciousness. The action of the novel’s main plot is condensed within three or four years, but the novel has the scope and intricate storyline of two intertwined family sagas, dominated by two couples who live and love with passion. We will study the complex relationship between Tolstoy’s moral values and his aesthetic standards as revealed in the novel.
Required Text: Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Pevear & Volokhonsky trans., Penguin Classics Deluxe edition, ISBN 9780143035008.
Notes
Online registration deadline: Thursday, Sept 22 at 5 pm CT.
No class Nov 21
For the first class meeting, please read pp. 1-104 of the novel.