So a while back ago we
had the previliedge of sitting down and listening to the thrilling discussion
on the idea of the Modernity of Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. Scholar Rosamund
Bartlett gave the lecture as a focus on the idea of connectivity and
relationship as well as infidelity and the breakdown of family. She wove the
idea that trains symbolized these ideals as being a literal representation of
the wrongness in society as seen by Tolstoy. Even Anna's ultimate suicide by
train symbolizes Tolstoy's fear that society will suffer the same fate;
modernize itself to death and degradation. Although repulsed by trains, Tolstoy
cannot help but fascinate about them and the possibilities they bring.
I wish I would have
read the book before the lecture, but Mrs. Bartlett still did a grand job for
non-readers. I sincerely thank her and hope there will be more lectures of this
nature soon to come.
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