Judith said
Steefen,Why would it be challenging to read when it’s simply a story about two couples?
That was a google result. Let’s see if there is more.
An extremely sexy and engrossing read, this book tells the tale of one of the most enthralling love affairs in the history of literature—it truly was the “Harlequin Romance” of its day. Penned while Tolstoy was wrestling with a religious crisis that nearly destroyed him, the book is filled with passion and soul-searching.
Yet Anna Karenina is a book that covers much more than one woman’s misguided love affair. Tolstoy ‘s broad canvas is big enough to include insight into happy marriages, adultery, sexuality, country life, politics, masculinity and femininity, individuality, conformity, altruism, love, death, longing and success. On nearly every one of its more than 800 pages is a sliver of Tolstoy’s philosophy of life. Again and again, these small philosophical interludes resound with meaning…
The intricacies of love and relatedness are explored in some of the greatest depth of any novel written before or since.
It is not a high school novel. It is a college-level novel. Of all the Russian novels written during the 19th-century, Anna Karenina is perhaps the most taught in college literature courses.
It is not a novel to read without critical guidance (Norton critical edition or college professor and college class discussion).
over the years it has grown in stature to nearly mythical proportions as one of the most challenging novels to read. To give Tolstoy credit, this is a complicated, rich story with many layers and much to digest.
Tolstoy’s prose is generous, giving its reader many ways to interpret it and a lot to consider.
DirkCampbell said
Steefen said
The luminosity of the Sun will steadily increase, resulting in a rise in the solar radiation reaching the Earth. This will result in a higher rate of weathering of silicate minerals, which will cause a decrease in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.The wikipedia article you have cut and pasted from has nothing to say about current anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Even without that, human activity is causing extinction 100 times the background level. Global warming caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions, if unchecked, will make the earth uninhabitable for most of life, including humans. And that won’t be in millions of years, it will be by the end of this century.
What is the alternative?
Bring back world wars to decrease human population and human activity?
Scare the world with pandemics to decrease human activity?
Release bio-weapon viruses to decrease human population and human activity?
De-criminalize homosexuality so those who do not really want to be breeders will not increase human population and activity?
Limit the number of children per adult to one child regardless of the number of marriages that adult has?
DirkCampbell said
Steefen said
The luminosity of the Sun will steadily increase, resulting in a rise in the solar radiation reaching the Earth. This will result in a higher rate of weathering of silicate minerals, which will cause a decrease in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.The wikipedia article you have cut and pasted from has nothing to say about current anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Even without that, human activity is causing extinction 100 times the background level. Global warming caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions, if unchecked, will make the earth uninhabitable for most of life, including humans. And that won’t be in millions of years, it will be by the end of this century.
Furthermore, my post is more than a wikipedia cut and paste, the Wikipedia article has 101 reference notes and a significant bibliography. So, we are not accepting any belittling.
DirkCampbell said
Steefen said
The luminosity of the Sun will steadily increase, resulting in a rise in the solar radiation reaching the Earth. This will result in a higher rate of weathering of silicate minerals, which will cause a decrease in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.The wikipedia article you have cut and pasted from has nothing to say about current anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Even without that, human activity is causing extinction 100 times the background level. Global warming caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions, if unchecked, will make the earth uninhabitable for most of life, including humans. And that won’t be in millions of years, it will be by the end of this century.
The article speaks of the dangers of carbon dioxide DECREASE.
You are talking about the dangers of carbon dioxide INCREASE.
Judith said
Steefen,Now that is one terrific good movie!
As for Anna Karenina, after all this time you have got to know there is nothing academic about me and yet Anna Karenina is my all-time favorite book. If I find nothing challenging about it, that should tell you something!
Most critics would probably agree that Anna Karenina “reads” better than War and Peace … War and Peace was written a bit earlier, and I think Tolstoy hit his stride and got some novelistic bugs worked out by the time he composed Anna Karenina.
– Quora
Steefen
He was a better novelist with Anna Karenina.
Obviously, we are not reading Frankenstein, 1984, Animal Farm, an Anne Rice or a John Grisham novel here.
I think I bought, more than 10 years ago the wrong edition of The Possessed/The Devils by Dostoevsky. I’m not drawn to read it. I need a step up in page size and font size or something.
In essence it portrays how a misguided ideology can wreak havoc on the persons involved. I think the ideology referred to is Nihilism. The character of Kirilov, consumed by the philosophy of Nihilism quite fascinated me. Parallels can be drawn between Bazarov from Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons and Kirilov both true Nihilists but nevertheless betray a human side.
It is a great work of fiction which I’ll read over and over again in future.
Steefen
So, you can see why I got it: “how a misguided ideology can wreak havoc” on people/society. I’m sure the book’s description on the back cover said something about atheists/atheism. I wanted to see how atheism could wreak havoc on a person/society, according to this novel and be on a watch out for signs of those troubles in today’s culture.
Steefen said
What is the alternative?
Bring back world wars to decrease human population and human activity?
Scare the world with pandemics to decrease human activity?
Release bio-weapon viruses to decrease human population and human activity?
De-criminalize homosexuality so those who do not really want to be breeders will not increase human population and activity?
Limit the number of children per adult to one child regardless of the number of marriages that adult has?
Some good suggestions there Steefen! I like the idea of encouraging homosexuality. Not that it’s criminal — or maybe it is where you are?
DirkCampbell said
Some good suggestions there Steefen! I like the idea of encouraging homosexuality. Not that it’s criminal — or maybe it is where you are?
I am currently looking/working to add women and men to my inner circle while I am also looking/working to improve my wealth to entertain beyond going out for lunch/dinner and being active on Facebook. I am some distance away from manifesting what I would call a vibrant, thriving, enriching, joyous, bisexual family. In my philosophy, I could have been a father (breeder/adoptive) from 26 to 29 years of age. I am well beyond that age range.
The Possessed/Demons by Dostoevsky
Introduction by Elizabeth Dalton, Translated by Constance Garnett
Famous for accurately predicting twentieth century totalitarianism, this novel is an emphatic howl of protest against the fervor of revolution and terrorism that gripped Russia toward the end of the nineteenth century.
Based on a true event in which a young revolutionary was murdered by his comrades,
this novel provoked a storm of controversy for its harsh depiction of a ruthless band of
Russian intellectuals, atheists, socialists, and anarchists who attempt to incite the population
of a small provincial town to revolt against the government.
This novel is often regarded as the greatest political novel ever written.
Steefen
Wow.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert