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Hi, I'm here because I wonder what I can read after Anna Karenina. I loved the way Tolstoj approaches and describes his characters in this book, specifically their thoughts, and I loved how human and dislikeable they are. I thought about getting some of his other works but most people say this is his masterpiece so I don't know - it's the only thing I read from him.
Recommendations? Doesn't necessarily have to be classic russian literature but I do enjoy the historical aristocratic thingie - I would also appreciate something more modern/contemporary though, as long as it has human-like characters
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"War and Peace" has more of what you liked in Karenina and is definitely one of the classics that is worth reading despite it's length! From other Russian classics "The Idiot" could be something you might enjoy.
I agree about War and Peace. I only read it in the last few years after loving Anna Karenina decades ago. War and Peace might be my favorite book ever. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Frederick Davidson, and that probably made it even more enjoyable. I loved his narration.
This. Definitely read this next. These two novels are his magnum opi.
Hi! Any suggestion on whose translation to get? For AK, I really enjoyed Pevear & Volokhonsky but I’ve heard mixed reviews on them for W&P.
I'd go for the OUP edition of the Maude translation. It's the "Tolstoy approved" one, retains the French, and reads fluidly and with the flavor of the nineteenth century.
I find the Pevear and Volokhonsky one awkward and clunky, but some people like what is apparently its faith and literalism to the Russian. I've heard very good things about the old Edmonds translation for Penguin, but have not read it myself. I'd avoid the Briggs translation, though, since its attempt to modernize comes off very oddly as he puts everything into a sort-of colloquial Brit-speak that really takes you out of the Russia-ness of all of it. He also translates the French in-text which I think loses a lot of the flavor and nuance of the world, characters, and dynamics. (Then again, this is the translation my brother read and he liked it precisely because it felt more straightforward, less nineteenth-century, and he didn't have to bother about the notes for the French.)
The best thing to do is probably to read the first page or two of a couple editions and see which works for you, since you'll probably want to like what you'll be sticking with for quite awhile!
Great, thank you for the rec! I’m glad you mentioned that Brigg translates the French and makes it more straightforward. His seems to be a very popular translation but not what I’m looking for, I enjoy how 19th century reads so I don’t care much for modernizing the translation
Madame Bovary
Definitely 👍🏻
I just read it and hated it. I couldn't wait for her to die. FWIW?
Three suggestions:
Effi Briest, Theodor Fontane. The German answer to Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary, not read nearly enough in the Anglophone world, and written towards the close of the 19th century very much with the other two in mind. I think of it as a sort of full stop on the arc of the nineteenth century adultery novel. It's a much more modern read than the other two, much more happens in the silences between scenes and dialogue, and it is in many ways much more about Effi than Anna Karenina is about Anna or Madame Bovary is about Emma (Briest, tellingly, is Effi's maiden name). Character is revealed much more through dialogue than in Anna Karenina (Fontane's style has been likened to eavesdropping and reportage) and Fontane largely keeps his judgements to himself, so it does differ significantly in style and narrator. The scope and cast are much smaller than Anna Karenina's, but you'll still get that feeling of being introduced to a whole other world (late nineteenth century Prussia, both aristocratic and provincial). I recommend the Rorrison and Chambers translation.
Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann. Thomas Mann's first book, which he published at 25 (!). He was an enormous fan of Effi Briest, which he reread multiple times writing Buddenbrooks. Buddenbrooks follows multiple generations of one family and is a portrait of a dying world and way of life (it will definitely scratch the historical novel itch — it begins in the 1830s and finishes in 1870s and was published in 1901). Its scope is similar to Anna Karenina's, it also contains a study of a bad marriage, incredibly realistic, flawed characters, and is a study and portrait of day-to-day life. I recommend the Woods translation.
Middlemarch, George Eliot. Another after-the-marriage book. Eliot's narrator is absolutely brilliant, always sympathetic to her characters despite their many, many faults and flaws, and she shares with Tolstoy the breadth, depth, and complexity of characters and world. Tolstoy himself was a George Eliot fan. Eliot's scope and the band of experience she is interested in is narrower than Tolstoy's, but that doesn't affect at all the profundity and beauty of her analysis and insight. As far as I'm concerned, Middlemarch doesn't have its equal in the English language.
Effi Briest is definitely underrated as a novel using the “fallen women” archetype.
Dr Zhivago if you want Russian drama and romance
The Brothers Karamazov is spectacular. You will love it, guaranteed.
<chef's kiss> I love this book so much.
I’m so with you on this - Anna karenina is one of my favorite books of all time - I can’t think of a better opening line.
Have you read Adelaide by Genevieve wheeler? It’s a totally different style, and im honestly not sure what made my mind go to this book, but it’s one of the recent ones that I loved.
I mean, War and Peace...
Unfortunately I haven't been able to get over Anna Karenina lmao, to me it's the best novel I've ever read.
I recommend trying other books by Tolstoj: War and Peace is a must, I also think it's in part easier to read than Anna Karenina. Death of Ivan Ilic is one of the best short story ever. Resurrection is the last big novel by Tolstoj, it's definitely more political than the rest but it's a very beautiful book.
Dostoevskij is a bit of a "problem": not all Tolstoj's fan like him. He's a very different writer and I think a bit inferior to Tolstoj. However Brothers Karamazov is my favourite book ever, the Demons is masterpiece of the 19th century and White Nights is a perfect place to start.
I also love Edith Wharton.
The Brothers Karamazov
Gone with the Wind
War and peace for sure, middlemarch, madame bovary
Sorry to break the news, but nothing you read again will ever be as good as Anna Karenina.
Well, damn. Lol
Tolstoy also wrote some nice short stories; worth reading.
Kristin Lavransdatter One of the best books I’ve ever read and I love, Anna Karenina
Kirino