Starting Anew (featuring 2013's Author-of-the-Year Announcement!)

"... I  am your beggar. I was the mendicant at the foot of the road from your castle. You have given me alms. But he who gives does not notice; he who receives examines and observes. When you say mendicant, you say spy. But as for me, though I am often sad, I try not to be a malicious spy. I used to hold out my hand; you only saw the hand, and you threw into it the charity I needed in the morning in order that I might not die in the evening. I have often been twenty-four hours without eating. Sometimes a penny is life. I owe you my life; I pay the debt."
- Tellmarch the Caimand (I.4.iv)

Ninety-Three Day Count: 50

Ninety-Three Page Count: 93

Hurdling Hugo Day Count: 293

Hurdling Hugo Page Count: 2296

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 You may have noticed that my posting on this site has become sporadic at best. Life has a funny way of taking up a lot of your time like that. Since my last post, I have finished Notre-Dame de Paris, begun Ninety-Three (regarded by many as Hugo’s best work), started the school year, and been cast in and performed in a community theatre production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’ve been busy.

But still… even when I do have time to post here, it often seems the last thing I want to do. Blogging seems a chore and I don’t want it to be that. I enjoy literature and discussing it with my friends and, honestly, that’s what I would like for this to be. I need to become excited again… which has told me I need to get a fresh start.

I want this not only to accurately reflect my literary journey (which I’m quickly beginning to realize will most likely take the rest of my life), but also to act as a way for others to begin their literary journeys. I have received word from several friends since I started this journey that they have become inspired by my tweeting or my blogging to begin literary journeys of their own. My grandmother has borrowed both War & Peace and Anna Karenina to read for her own enjoyment. My friend Sherri decided to devote a year to reading the works of William Shakespeare. Numerous friends have begun reading Les Miserables as a result of my commentary on it.

This has opened my eyes to the realization that people want to read good books. They want to experience these great stories in their original medium. In a world that is continually being overwrought with more and more visual media, there is something altogether timeless and enduring about the written word. Perhaps that is its power.

My desire, then, has become to broaden the scope of this blog, not simply to include my own thoughts, but those of other literary-minded people whose opinions on art and literature I greatly respect. The goal is almost to make this into a community of like-minded people with the desire to become more well-read, which, ultimately, is the goal I set out to achieve at the outset of this whole endeavor. Maybe it’s a pipe dream or a fool’s errand… I don’t know. Either way, that’s what I’m looking forward to most about this new direction – spurring others on toward literary independence and discovery.

With this change will come another new way of doing things. Gone will be the creative alliterations on the names of the authors I’m reading – Tackling Tolstoy, Hurdling Hugo, etc. – and they will be replaced by one ubiquitous title – The Classic Lit Blog. This will be the signature title of this blog as it will be associated with what I am calling The Classic Lit Project – a gradual attempt to become well-read by reading classic authors one year at a time. The mission statement, put as simply as I know how, is One Author, One Year. That’ll likely change over time, but for now, it seems a good starting point for me as I continue to figure out this new direction.

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Over the past two years, October has been my ‘announcement month’ – the month in which I put forward the author who will be the subject of the next year of reading. After much thought and deliberation, I’ve decided that I want to tackle what is largely considered one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century – Ulysses. As such, 2013 is set to become the year of James Joyce.

This will require changing a few things from the way I’ve approached literature previously. After conversations with an English teacher friend (whose comments on Joyce definitely helped to cement this decision for me), I feel like the best approach to Joyce would be to read his major works – Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses – in the order they were published. This, according to him, will accomplish two goals: (1.) It will allow me to witness firsthand the evolution of Joyce’s signature style over the course of his literary career, and (2.) it will help me to familiarize myself with characters that recur in Joyce's works in the order he established them.

My normal modus operandi, however, has typically been to start with the largest of an author’s work first and then work my way down. I did this with Tolstoy to some degree and with Hugo as well. With Joyce, however, I would be working my way up – from the smallest of his works, Dubliners, to the largest, Ulysses. My hope is that this will solve what I have come to call the “third book problem,” in which I become burned out and disinterested by the third novel. (I didn’t end up finishing the collection of short stories I’d chosen for Tolstoy last year and am currently struggling to become motivated to continue Ninety-Three.) By saving the novel I most want to read for last, my hope is that the momentum and desire to get there will carry me through to the finish.

As to Joyce’s most daunting work – Finnegan’s Wake – which is said to be the most challenging of anything he’s written… there is a part of me that does want to read it very much. A fine feather for my cap would be this seminal work of Joyce’s. However, a lot will depend on my feelings upon the completion of Ulysses, whether I feel I’m up for such a monumental read. I have heard that there is a wonderful audio edition of the book available, so I may find myself going that route (another first for me, as I typically don’t use audio books).

So, as you can see, there are some big changes coming to this concept in the next few months. For those of you still invested in Hugo, don’t bail quite yet. I’m not completely done here. There are still insights to be shared and comments to be made, so hold on. In the meantime, though, be excited about where this is all heading. I am.

Forward Momentum, Albeit Not Without Trepidation

"A novel... is born, necessarily as it were, with all its chapters; a drama is born with all its scenes."

- Victor Hugo (in his introductory note to the Definitive Edition to Notre-Dame de Paris)

Day Count: 181

Page Count:  1463

As I prepare to begin what I will, for lack of a better term, call the second leg of my journey through the works of Victor Hugo, I find myself filled with the same sort of anxiety I felt a little over a year ago as I prepared to read Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

I feel like "anxiety" is the right word, because it certainly captures the equal parts of excitement and trepidation I'm experiencing with regard to reading another great classic by another renowned author. This is especially increased due to the fact that I enjoyed Les Miserables to the extent that I did; I feel as though no matter how good Notre-Dame de Paris* is, it won't be nearly as incredible as Les Mis.

I suppose I'm not without precedent on this particular issue, seeing as how I had a similar, if not equal, situation last year. Don't get me wrong - Anna Karenina was a great book and I very much enjoyed the reading of it, but... War and Peace was (and, honestly speaking, still is) one of the best reading experiences of my life and I have yet to read something that comes close to its brilliance in my mind. Compared to a novel that wonderful, Anna K - though wonderful and compelling - fell a bit flat.

There is, of course, a very apropos response to this way of thinking, which is essentially that each novel cannot be compared to another, but must be read and appreciated on its own merits. This is a very good point, and worthy of consideration, but I can't help but feel as though it is, on some level, an exercise in futility. I feel like the nature of my exercise - reading the essential works of Victor Hugo in 2012 - renders such an objective appreciation impossible.

Allow me to explain. When I set out at the beginning of last year to read the essential works of Leo Tolstoy (a task at which I feel I was marginally successful), that goal had within it an implied amount of comparison built in. I'm not reading each of these books in a vacuum, but instead within the context of other books by the same author! It stands to reason that if I'm reading the works of Hugo for no other reason than to read the works of Hugo, there will be some comparison between the books.

I feel as though this comparison was especially apt last year in my study of Tolstoy, with both War and Peace and Anna Karenina being regarded as one of the best novels ever written. I felt like my comparison was not only encouraged, but mandated - as though it were my job as a thinking literary person to come up with an answer to the eternal question of which I preferred (a question I feel I have more than adequately answered to this point).

So, I suppose the question I'm posing to you, my conspicuously-absent-and/or-silent-of-late readership, is this: is comparison the prerogative of the reader/scholar or is it his/her own hubris that he/she asserts over the text being read? (Believe it or not, this is not a rhetorical question - I actually would like feedback. Please consider commenting on this post with your own thoughts.)

That having been said, I feel as though I'm taking some steps to keep myself mentally engaged in preparation for my next classic. Part of that was reading the Hunger Games series (as discussed in my last post), but those were read relatively quickly and provided little in the way of mental stimulation (leastways in the ways that Les Miserables did).

No, to keep my mental faculties engaged, I have turned to one of the greatest authors in the English language - William Shakespeare! There are upcoming auditions with a local community theatre group for an outdoor production of Shakespeare's immortal A Midsummer Night's Dream and I have decided that I want to go out for the show! Having never performed any Shakespeare before (outside of high school English and college-level Acting classes, that is), I figured I needed to get some advice. To that end, I dug up a copy of Barry Edelstein's Thinking Shakespeare, which I picked up on a whim at a Half Price Books a couple of years back. I've found the book extraordinarily helpful for an actor, filled with very practical, and at the same time, thought-provoking advice regarding the performance of the Bard.

Then, yesterday, on something of a whim, I read A Midsummer Night's Dream for the first time in... well, maybe ever. Certainly, I had read excerpts from the play over the years, but having never needed to study it in either high school or college, I cannot think of a time when I've needed to read it... so, I never have. (Don't worry. Sometime in the next decade, I am planning to devote a year of study to Shakespeare, at which point, I would like to read all of his plays in their entirety.) It was deceptively easy to read - especially after having read the first several chapters of Thinking Shakespeare.

Auditions are still two weeks away, but I can't help but get a bit giddy about the prospects of performing Shakespeare for the first time! Here's hoping I do well!

I'm more or less finished with this post, but I want to leave you with a story that totally happened while I was writing this post. Being without Internet access at home, I often find myself seeking Wi-Fi hotspots when the need to update my blog roll around. About half the time (maybe more), I end up at the Panera Bread down the street from my apartment as the food there is always tasty and the atmosphere is conducive to reading, study, and reflection (especially when you happen to be pumping Brandi Carlile through your earbuds). At any rate, knowing I was planning to update my blog today, I brought along my copy of Notre-Dame de Paris as well as Thinking Shakespeare and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

As I sat quietly typing away at my blog, a woman approached my table (completely innocently - I'm seated by both a trashcan and the front door, which is, admittedly, not the best of seating arrangements for a 100+-degree day, but allows for many people to walk by my location) and pointed to my stack of books.

"Are you reading it or teaching it?" she asked.

"Uh... neither," I answered. "I'm auditioning for Midsummer next month, so I have these two," I here indicated A Midsummer Night's Dream and Thinking Shakespeare, "and I'm getting ready to read this one [Notre-Dame de Paris] for my own amusement."

"Wow," she said. "That's pretty ambitious!"

"Well, I just finished Les Miserables earlier this month," I responded.

"I could not read Hugo for my own amusement," she said as she walked out the door, "but I can read Shakespeare!"

I suppose I could comment further on this story (or you could), but I feel the need to let it speak for itself. At any rate, I feel like reading great books is the ultimate conversation starter!

Until next time...!

* For the record, I am refusing to call this novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, which is, admittedly, its more popular name. I am doing this for two reasons: (1.) Notre-Dame de Paris is the intended name for the novel, the one that Victor Hugo gave it when it was first published in 1831. In French, this translates to, literally, Notre Dame of Paris and, roughly, Our Lady of Notre Dame. The Hunchback is, of course, a reference to the book's 'protagonist,' Quasimodo. Still to call the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is, I feel, to do a great disservice to the cathedral itself, which I am told becomes something of the central figure of the novel. (2.) The edition of the text that I am using (the aforementioned Alban Krailsheimer translation) is not entitled The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, but is, in fact, called Notre-Dame de Paris (potentially for any number of the reasons I listed above).

My Tolstoyan Year in Review ...or... Lessons Learned from my Life with Leo

"She... always considered herself completely in the right before me, and I, in my own eyes, was always a saint before her."

- Pozdnyshev ('The Kruetzer Sonata' xvii)

Tolstoy Final Day Count: 365

Tolstoy Final Page Count: 2279

I got a chance last week to spend some time with two of my literary friends - two men I used to teach with, one an English teacher, the other, my literary mentor David - and, as things often do in our discussions, the topic turned to books.

"Well," I told them, more than a little chagrin in my voice, "I think I fell off the Tolstoy wagon."

"What do you mean?" my friend David asked.

"Well, I had wanted to get through The Death of Ivan Ilyich [and Other Stories] before the end of the year, and it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to make it," I said, taking a sip of my drink. "Looks like I kinda failed, huh?"

David looked at me in unbelief. "Stephen," he said, "you cannot think of yourself as a failure. You read War & Peace and Anna Karenina this year - how many other people can say they've done that? So you didn't finish as many short stories as you wanted. You've still read two of the greatest novels ever written this year. I don't care who you are - that's a success story!"

While the conversation may not have gone exactly that way (I've slept since then), it was along those lines. And, true, I've only managed to read 200 pages in the last 3 months, but when I look at the wealth of information, knowledge, and experience I've gathered over the course of the last year I've spent with Tolstoy, it's difficult to think of this year as a bust.

One year ago, I set out to read Leo Tolstoy's War & Peace in its entirety before this date (12/31/2011) and not only was I successful, but I managed to read Tolstoy's amazing follow-up, Anna Karenina, in its entirety as well. Below are some lessons I've learned from my year with Leo:

1. The Importance of Being Realistic 

"How do you eat an elephant?" my father often asks me when I am faced with a task that seems more than a little insurmountable. "One bite at a time," I reply, either with a wry grin or a shrug of surrender (or, on occasion, both). 

When I set out last year, I had one thing in mind: finish War & Peace. I know myself pretty well. I tend to get busy and/or distracted relatively easily. Sitting down to read a book is, with my schedule and attention span, a luxury I am often not afforded. So, by setting myself the realistic goal of read a 1200+ page book in the span of a year, I was setting a goal that I knew would ultimately be attainable. I was completely unprepared for how engrossing and engaging a story about an ancient war would (of even could) be. 

By setting for myself a realistic goal, not only was I able to finish, but able to take on an even more ambitious one - reading through the whole body of Tolstoy's work. This goal, as it turned out, was unrealistic. As I got busier and busier with a new job, plays, etc. and as the year began to steadily vanish into the realm of the past, I began to realize that this goal was unattainable. Had I stuck to eating the elephant that is Tolstoy's oeuvre one bite at a time, the disappointment that haunted me at that table with my friends would likely not have been so great. By setting attainable goals, I allow myself to finish them. Easily.

2. Big Books Aren't Scary. At All.

There are times, especially as a teacher, when I weep for the younger generation (as I'm sure my teachers wept for me and mine once upon a time). Reading, it seems, is a rarity anymore in our culture and, from my observations, the average American teenager seems incapable of reading anything more involved than a text message or a Tweet (butchered spelling and syntax and all) or, on a good day, a tabloid magazine. "Reading is boring," they say. "I don't like it." It is at this point that I systematically grab my chest and, with a look of forlorn and chagrin, say to them, "That hurts my heart."

And it does. People often ask me how I know certain things or how I got to be "so smart." (Their words, as I tend not to think of myself as anything more than slightly above average in the intelligence arena - mainly because I have several brilliant friends.) The answer, in short, is reading! The idea of culture and knowledge comes directly out of art and literature. If one does not immerse oneself in art, it becomes difficult to engage ones culture at a meaningful level.

That being said, one of the reasons I think people - particularly of the younger generation - are daunted or bored by reading is the length of a particular book and the amount of time it takes to complete it. It is at this point that refer them back to the elephant-eating scenario above and the importance of the realistic goal. By taking ones time to digest the book and to enjoy it for what it is (rather than, as is our habit, speeding through it and onto the next thing), one is better able to appreciate the artistry inherent within the text itself. By breaking Tolstoy down into manageable, bite-sized chunks over the course of the year, I was better able to appreciate and understand not only his individual occupations per book/story, but his larger meta-narrative.

3. Paying Forward Inspiration

I have made absolutely no secret of the fact that my Year of Tolstoy journey was prompted by the passion and reading of my literary mentor, David (whom I've mentioned a number of times in this blog and in this very post). His inspired reading of War & Peace in the fall of 2010 is what inspired me to read through the works of Tolstoy this year. Since the beginning of this year, I have made very public my progress and reading - tweeting individual quotes and impressions, talking about it in the course of general conversation, and blogging here (when I had time to do so).

One of the blessings and pleasures from having made the decision to read publicly and using social media as a platform for discussion is that I've found I've inspired the literary journeys of some others along the way.

The first thing I heard when I told my grandmother that I wanted to read War & Peace was "I want to read it when you're done!" My grandmother, who reads often, but typically popular mysteries and religious fiction, was not the type I thought I might inspire when I started out. However, not only did she voraciously devour the book (she finished in about two months!), but we managed to have some great discussions about it in the meantime. I remember calling her after she was done and talking with her on the phone for about forty-five minutes gathering her impressions and thoughts on the text as a whole. It was fantastic to get to connect with her that way!

Another one I found myself inspiring fairly early on was my friend Kyle, who resolved to read through the entirety of James Joyce's Ulysses and blog his research at Unraveling Ulysses. While the constraints of job, family, and extracurriculars eventually put a stop to the project somewhere around March, he still managed to put forward some great insights in those first few months of his project. My hope is that he will one day pick it up again and run with it 'til it's through. :)

My friend Sherri came up to me after a play a few months ago and announced, quite matter-of-factly, "You've inspired me!"

I was taken aback. "I've... what now?"

"I've decided that next year, I want to read through the works of Shakespeare!" I was mildly shocked and extremely proud of my friend and the conversation immediately started on which plays she would read and in what order. (The Year of Shakespeare is a plan I want to attempt sometime in the next few years as well!)

Somewhat more heartwarming for me is the joy in watching my students undertake their own literary pursuits. Although often at the behest of their teachers, it has been a joy recommending books to students and watching the glee in their eyes as they realize that they are reading something that I haven't and are having an enjoyable, enriching experience in it. This, for me, has been one of the greatest things about this year.

4. The Spirituality of Secular Art

As I've mentioned earlier in this blog, I lost my job earlier this year, but was blessed enough to find a new one. One of the many things that makes applying for a job at a Christian or church-run organization interesting is the volume of questions like Briefly describe your devotional life or List three books you've read recently that have helped you grow spiritually. In fact, both of those questions appeared on my last job application and, initially, it felt really weird listing War & Peace as a book that helped me grow spiritually. After all, it's a book that deals with a battle among the Russians and the French in the early 1800s. What's so spiritual about that?!

However, if you've read this blog faithfully over the course of this year (which, I realize, puts you in a very exclusive club!), you know that Tolstoy deals with topics that every human being focuses on - loss, love, loneliness, joy, betrayal, pain, and fulfillment. His dealing with these issues almost always involves faith on some level. Be it the pious Marya in War & Peace, the searching Levin in Anna Karenina, the dying Ivan Ilyich, or even the repentant Pozdnyshev in 'The Kreutzer Sonata,' faith and religion lie at the heart of each of Tolstoy's characters.

Indeed, 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich' reminded me of nothing so much as the Book of Job. Both Andrei (W&P) and Levin's (AK) respective searches for meaning ended only when the two men accepted that there was something larger than themselves and submitted themselves to it. The wretched Pozdnyshev rides the train, telling his story to anyone who will listen in the vain hope that someone will grant him absolution for his heinous crime.

Secular art that deals with human emotions - like those found in Tolstoy - can be every bit as inspirational and soul-feeding as "Christian" art, even more so in my experience. When we eliminate those "secular" works from our view in favor of something that speaks to us overtly and often of our Creator, we limit the ways in which our Creator may wish to speak to us. For my part, I have grown not only as a scholar, but as a human and a Christian from my reading of Tolstoy. May it be for you.

*          *          *          *          *

There are many other things I could write and other experience I could share, but I will spare you the additional reading. Suffice it to say, however short I may have fallen from my final goal of reading ALL of Tolstoy, this year can be considered nothing if it cannot be considered a success.

Thanks are owed to many who have influenced me over the course of this year. To David, thanks for starting me on this journey. To my family, thanks for humoring me and allowing me to be late to a few important family gatherings because I was engrossed in Tolstoy. To the various friends, students, and loved ones who have allowed me to attempt to put my love of Tolstoy and literature into words for them over the course of this year, the word 'thanks' hardly seems adequate to express what those myriad conversations have meant to me. To David & Kyle W, thanks for joining me in my reading of Anna K - discussing it with you helped me process it more than you can know.

So... what's next?

As I mentioned last time, 2012 will be the Year of Hugo. I will begin by reading Les Miserables, a book I've wanted to read for some time, and, if I have the time and energy to do so, I will also read Notre-Dame-de-Paris (more commonly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Starting tomorrow, the name of this blog (and the corresponding Twitter feed) will be renamed accordingly. But, should you decide to continue to follow my efforts, I will continue to post my thoughts and findings whenever I am able. Thank YOU, dear reader, for accompanying me on this first leg of my journey and for sticking around for what comes next!

I remain your literary companion, your comrade-in-books,

~ Stephen E. Foxworthy

ALL NEW! The "Tackling Tolstoy" Vlog!

"And the candle by the light of which she had been reading that book filled with anxieties, deceptions, grief and evil, flared up brighter than ever, lit up for her all that had once been in darkness, sputtered, grew dim, and went out forever."

- Leo Tolstoy (VII.xxxi)

Total Tolstoy Day Total: 245

Total Tolstoy Page Count: 2079

I discovered a webcam on my laptop (I have a better one at home - I just didn't have it when I wanted to film this video) and so I opted to record my thoughts on finishing "Anna K" and what was coming next for my "Tackling Tolstoy" project.

It was slightly less time consuming than writing out an entire blog (but only slightly as I didn't get an acceptable take until the third one). If you like it, I'll do more. If not, I'll chalk it up as a failed experiment and never try it again. So, give it a watch:

(Sorry for the lack of audio/video synchronicity. As I said earlier, I was using my laptop webcam and not my GOOD webcam, so that'll be something for next time - if there is a next time.)

Any feedback you guys have would be appreciated! Thanks for stopping by!

Where Has the Time Gone?: My Summer Alone on an Island of Perspective

"When I doubted, it was hard for me, but easier than now. When I doubted, there was hope; but now there is no hope and even so I doubt everything."

- Alexei Karenin (IV.xii)

Anna K Day Count: 43

Anna K Page Count: 405 
Total Tolstoy Day Count: 192

Total Tolstoy Page Count: 1629

(The title of this blog is dedicated with a nod and a wink to my good friend and brother-in-literacy, David Trujillo.)

Two months after finishing War and Peace. A month and some days since I started Anna Karenina. Life continues to charge steadily onward. As it turns out, there is life after War and Peace and not only is it busy, it is filled with all manner of responsibilities, demands, obligations, and diversions. I am still reading Anna Karenina, though I feel I've read far less of it at this point than I had really intended to. In honesty, I'm about halfway through the novel when, according to my lofty hopes posited at the beginning of reading, I expected to be done (or darn close to it) by this point.

Here are some things that are keeping me from that goal:

• Summer is one of the few times in my life where I get 'me-time' - that is to say, time for Stephen to do the things he desperately enjoys and wants to do. While this certainly does include reading Tolstoy (nerd that I am), it also includes being a part of theatrical productions. Before the school year had even ended, I got a chance to be a part of a great two-man show called Greater Tuna at Spotlight Players, a local community theater. The show was very well-received (read a review of it from a local community theatre goer/reviewer/actor/director here) and may be one of the best productions I've ever been a part of to date. After that show wrapped, I headed down south of Indy to Martinsville, IN to do the third part of a trilogy (I had been involved in the other two parts as well and wanted to complete my character's arc). That show will wrap after school is already started, so - needless to say - my summer has been theatre-packed.
• Summer is also a time where I try to supplement my income by picking up a part-time job. Before I taught, I worked as a head cashier at a local Barnes & Noble, and over the last couple of years, they've been kind enough to let me come back and take on the role of a bookseller during those long summer months. It's a good gig and I love the people I work with, but it is often time-consuming when you're working four-to-five days a week.
• A [now] former co-worker's interest in the new Battlestar Galactica prompted me to start rewatching the series. This just in: It is [still] pretty awesome!
• Not that this has been especially time-consuming, but many of you contacted me after my last post, so I thought it would be worth a mention - I found a new job teaching here in Indy! God has been good and I'm glad to be able to do what I feel He's called me to do.

All that being said, I've still managed to get about halfway through Anna K. I realized early on that my projected hope of getting through fifteen pages everyday was an unrealistic pipe dream, but I read when I could and noticed a few similarities and differences between War and Peace and Anna K.

To start, it took me longer to engage with Anna Karenina than it did with War and Peace. W&P drops you right into the middle of a crowded party, enabling you to meet several characters at once and see how they interact within society as a whole, giving you instant insight into their various characters. With Anna K, we are dropped into the middle of some action - the impending division of the Oblonsky family due to infidelity - but we are not introduced to multiple characters all at once. Rather, we are slowly introduced to the various characters one by one: first Stephan Oblonsky, then his wife Dolly, then his friend Levin, et cetera, et cetera. In fact, nearly a hundred pages (or so it seems - it's actually just a page or two over sixty) have gone by before we are even introduced to the titular character.

And speaking of Anna's introduction - allow me to take a sidebar to say that it is, quite possibly, one of the best character introductions that I have ever read in all of literature. Tolstoy draws us into the lure of Anna Karenina through the eyes of the young Count Alexei Vronsky, who is captivated by her instantly. His captivation is ours as Tolstoy begins to describe the most alluring, enchanting woman. So enthralled are we (and Vronsky) by her that it is only after a page of description of this sort (which I absolutely devoured, by the way) that we realize that we don't even know who this woman is! Tolstoy has yet to tell us her name; in fact, so ensconced in her beauty and presence are we that it is only when Tolstoy tells us that this woman - yes, she - is the titular character we have been waiting for the entire novel thus far. That realization, I daresay, captivates us all the more. From that moment, we - like Vronsky - are flies in her web, pawns in her chess game.

One device that kept War and Peace consistently interesting and engaging was Tolstoy's constant jumping around between his various characters and plot points. One minute we would be in a salon at a society party hosted by Helene Bezukhov or Anna Pavlovna, the next we would be whisked off to some battlefield alongside Andrei Bolkonsky or Nikolai Rostov. After that, we might be taken out of the narrative altogether and treated to a dissertation by Tolstoy on his theory of history or war. Not knowing what was coming was part of the fun - we were on our toes and ready for anything.

Anna K follows a similar track in some ways as Tolstoy is constantly leaping between his characters - most notably Anna, Vronsky, Karenin, and Levin. However, unlike War and Peace, Tolstoy does not leave the narrative to wax philosophical. Rather, he places his own words, thoughts, and rather obvious attacks on the intelligentsia of his time into the words of his characters. Most of the time (if not all the time), this happens with Konstantin Levin, a character many scholars believe to be the closest character Tolstoy ever wrote to himself. (Levin does, even to the casual observer, share much in common with War and Peace's Pierre Bezukhov - a character that many scholars view as the closest character to Tolstoy in that book.) While these philosophic and politic 'breaks' are written into the narrative, it often becomes tiresome (at least, it does to this reader) in that they take away from the action of the narrative and, in many cases, can bring it to a grinding halt. While, yes, they do serve to tell us something of certain characters (most notably Levin, Oblonsky, or Karenin), they seem to do very little for the overall story.

One of the things about Anna K that struck me very early on was the similarity between many of the characters there and in War and Peace. Indeed, in his introduction, Richard Pevear takes note that many of the characters in Anna K (with the exception of Vronsky and Anna) were based on people that Tolstoy himself knew (he, of course, was Levin while his wife, Sophia, was Kitty). Still, I found some interesting connections between characters in War and Peace and in Anna K:

• Konstantin Levin (Anna K) = Pierre Bezukhov (W&P)
• Kitty Shcherbatskaya (Anna K) = Lize Bolkonskaya + Natasha Rostova (both W&P)
• Prince Alexander Shcherbatsky (Anna K) = Count Ilya Rostov (W&P)
• Alexei Karenin (Anna K) = Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky (W&P)
• Alexei Vronsky (Anna K) = Anatole Karagin + Nikolai Rostov + Boris Drubretskoy (all W&P)
• Stepan Oblonsky (Anna K) = Vassily Denisov (W&P)
• Dolly Oblonsky + Varenka (both Anna K) = Marya Bolkonskaya (W&P)
• Betsy Tverskaya (Anna K) = Helene Bezukhov (W&P)
• Yashvin (Anna K) = Fyodor Dolokhov (W&P)
• Nikolai Levin (Anna K) = Platon Karataev (W&P)

It stands to reason that a writer writes what he knows. It makes sense that if Tolstoy were looking for interesting characters, he wouldn't look much further than the ones right around him. And it makes sense that if his base characters are the same, there are bound to be similarities. I'm not saying that these characters are by any means identical. Far from it. But there are certain similarities of habit and character that I find too glaring (at least in my mind) to overlook.

Of course, these are only my observations from having read the first half of the book. There is certainly more coming that may do much to change my perceptions of these characters and they may end up being very different people by the end. Who's to say? (At this point, not me.) I just thought the similarities between these characters were interesting.

That being said, the Anna K reading group (which has withered down to only a few of the mighty group who started out) is planning to meet within the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know how it goes (I hope).

Until next time, true believers...

Looks Like We Made It...! ...or.... Reminiscings Upon the Completion of "War and Peace"

"There was always a provocative side to Tolstoy's genius, and it was most often what spurred him to write."

- Richard Pevear, from his Introduction to Anna Karenina

Day Count: 147

Page Count: 12--

Last week, on Monday, May 16, 2010, at about 6:00am - 136 days after I started my journey through War and Peace - I read the final sentences of Tolstoy's epic and joined the ranks of the people I consider to be among the "literary elite." I feel very accomplished - like I can (and very likely will) read anything and everything I set my mind to. No book is 'off-limits' or 'too difficult'... because I have waded into the sparkling waters of Tolstoy's Russia and emerged glistening from the other side.

In the weeks preceding my finishing of the book, my pace began to slow considerably as the stresses on my life became more and more demanding. Since my last post on April 17 (and even in the days preceding that), a lot has happened that kept me away both from this blog and War and Peace. In the last month, I've lost my job, started looking for a new one, attempted to finalize my end-of-the-school year things, auditioned for a play, gotten cast in said play, and begun attending three-a-week rehearsals.

While some of this has been great (play stuff) and some has been most unnerving (job/school situation), I felt myself drifting from Tolstoy with only a scant 120 pages to go. Determined, I rallied my resolve and managed to plow through over a hundred pages in a single weekend (besting even my most impressive early reading schedule of 100 pages in a week) and finished that morning while waking up to get ready for my last two weeks of school.

Some reflections on my time spent in War and Peace:

• Tolstoy's prose is absolutely captivating. He inspires your imagination and pulls you into his confidences as he invites you into his world. In many ways, you are his guest - a fellow traveler on the road of life who he welcomes into his home and, as he feeds you with a peasant meal of hearty kasha and strong vodka, regales you with a story that is at once timeless and universal, while still very much a product of its own time and place. When you finish, he sends you on your way, sated, fulfilled, and ready for the journey ahead.
  
• To call Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova, and Andrei and Marya Bolkonsky some of my favorite literary characters seems like a disservice both to them and to Tolstoy. They have, over the course of these last few months, become closer than that to me.
  
  Pierre has become a good friend and stalwart companion, in many ways a mirror in which I see myself, and an inspiration and hope for my own future. In Natasha, I see a feminine ideal - joyful, encouraging, so full of life and energy that it is contagious and all who encounter her, from the most virtuous to the most vile and debased, love her instantly. Andrei is a close friend and something of a hero, but a tragic hero whose longing for something more fills me at once with sadness for his plight and guilt for my knowing that I have often felt the same. Marya is a rock, a woman whose piety and grace have led her to become so much stronger than she might have been without her faith. Because she is moored in the steadfastness of Christ's love, she remains an anchor for her father, for Andrei, and for Nikolai.
  
  To call Tolstoy's characters 'characters' demeans them. They are people. They age and grow and mature and gain wisdom and understanding and break right in front of you. You see them at their best and at their worst. Even the best of Tolstoy's characters is deeply flawed. Even the worst of Tolstoy's characters is made to have redemption, even if in some small way. By the end of the book, they are no longer vague, fledgling caricatures, such as those that emerge from most novels I've read, but fully-formed people with thoughts and hearts and lives all their own.
  
  And you relate to them! When they mourn, you find yourself in tears. When they are jubilant, you cannot help but grin from ear to ear. When they are heroic, you heart begins to pound in your chest as you begin to read of their exploits, swelling with every action they take. When they are peaceful and content, you suddenly forget that the world around you is falling to pieces and rest in their serenity.
  
• Even after spending four-and-a-half months inside the world of War and Peace, I'd be hard-pressed to tell you exactly what the book is about. I know that some would answer briefly with "the Napoleonic Wars" or "life in Russia in the early 1800s" or (perhaps more ironically and with a healthy dose of sarcasm) "war and peace," but I don't think those answers are adequate enough. While, on some level, this book is certainly about both of those things, it is so much bigger than just those minute descriptions.
  
  War and Peace is an epic - perhaps one of the greatest epics ever written. It is certainly about war, but it is also about heroism, violence, depravity, redemption, loss, consequences, and coping. It is absolutely about peace, but it is also about life, brokenness, love, longing, growing up, forgiveness, joy, and mistakes. And it is about so much more than just that! This book speaks to the subject of life, touching on every aspect of the human experience and expressing it in the most genuine and honest terms. Tolstoy very rarely tells; he shows! And it is that fact that separates War and Peace from other books - his ability and willingness to show you just how human you are by showing you just how human he is by showing you just how human they [his characters] are.

It has been a difficult transition to make after stepping out of the world of War and Peace. Life just seems a bit less adventurous, a bit paler, and a bit more dull without the joyous smile of Natasha, the brilliance of Marya's glance, or the resolute objectivity of Andrei. To attempt to recapture some of that, I have read one of the short stories in The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories, 'The Prisoner of Caucasus,' which was written in the period of time between his writing of War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

Written as a part of a children's reader for a group of students Tolstoy had been teaching, 'The Prisoner of Caucasus' tells the (semi-autobiographical) story of a young hussar officer taken prisoner by the Tartars during the Crimean Wars. While in captivity, he plots his escape as he befriends a young girl and attempts to gain the trust and acceptance of his captors.

What interested me most about the piece is Tolstoy's treatment of the relationship between Zhilin (the titular 'Prisoner') and Dina (the thirteen-year-old girl he befriends). Despite the fact that Zhilin is imprisoned by the Tartars, never once does his relationship with Dina seem disingenuous or false. Never once during the course of the story does Tolstoy suggest that Zhilin is using Dina to gain the upper-hand over his captors, to use the girl as leverage, or - perhaps most horrifyingly of all - beginning some sort of romantic relationship with her. The audience can feasibly see any of these outcomes if he is reading the story with honesty and earnest.

However, Tolstoy not only never even breaches the possibility of these outcomes, he makes the relationship between the two - a relationship of good nature and good humor, in which Zhilin makes the girl laugh by fashioning dolls for her out of old rags and Dina providing the prisoner with extra food whenever possible - seem like the only plausible relationship these two can have. Herein lies the magic of Tolstoy - he does not go in the direction you would expect, but instead takes you in one that is better just for the way he tells it.

This weekend, I'll be beginning my reading of Anna Karenina and am looking forward to it immensely. I read Richard Pevear's introduction last night before bed and it managed to fill me with the same level of profound excitement I experienced before reading War and Peace! This time, I am thrilled to be joined on my Tolstoy adventure by two of my colleagues - my department head whose reading of War and Peace inspired me to begin my literary journey and the first place, and a new friend and fellow-teacher who has been meaning to read Anna K for a while now. I am excited to share this literary journey with the two of them (and, of course, with you, gentle reader)!

Keep checking my Twitter feed (@TweetingTolstoy), as I will be updating it as I begin reading through Anna K with great quotes and my own brand of insight! ;)

"So... What's Next?" ...or... Inching Toward the Finish Line

"He had to remain in Moscow, concealing his name, meet Napoleon, and kill him, so as either to perish, or to put an end to the misfortunes of all Europe, which proceeded, in Pierre's opinion, solely from Napoleon."

- Leo Tolstoy (III.3.xvii)

Day Count: 107

Page Count: 901

Yes, I am still reading War and Peace! No, I have not finished it yet (though I am getting closer every day)! No, I have not given up blogging (even though my posts have been non-existent for the better part of this month)!

Reading War and Peace has been like a marathon, pacing myself so as not to try to do too much too quickly. I'm certain that I could have tried to sprint right through it, but there is so much going on - so many amazing characters, so much history recounted through such floral prose - that to take it any faster would mean to miss so much more than I'm sure I'm missing now on my first read. (In my experience, most nuance can't really be sussed out until later readings.)

Still, my initial goal of reading War and Peace in a year should be met relatively easily. In fact, it's my hope that I'll have the book finished by the end of next month... which brings to mind the question of what I'll do next. After all, did I not say in my very first post that I was devoting all of 2011 to the reading of War and Peace? (I went back and checked just to make sure - I did say that.) What am I going to do when I close the book - literally - on War and Peace and am left with nothing to read (particularly at the beginning of the busy "summer reading" season)?!

Fret not, faithful readers (all few of you)! The end of War and Peace will not be the end of my readings in Tolstoy! In fact, I've decided to keep this blog going for a while longer and devote it not just to War and Peace, but to the writings of Tolstoy in general. I will be "Tackling Tolstoy" on a much larger scale than originally planned.

After War and Peace, I'm planning on picking up the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of Anna Karenina (which I do own: a gift from my department head):

Again, I've chosen the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation (which won the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Award and, perhaps less impressively, was chosen as an official Oprah's Book Club selection) because of the level of enjoyment I've gotten out of reading their translation of War and Peace. Now, Anna K has far fewer pages than War and Peace (which is a 1215 page book, while Anna K sports only 864 pages), which means I'm not anticipating another 5 month ordeal for reading that one. Maybe four. So, what then? Those are the two most important of Tolstoy's works!

While researching that, I noticed that there was a recent translation (by the Dynamic Duo of Russian Lit themselves) of Tolstoy's short story collection The Death of Ivan Ilyich:

Again, shorter than the previous two books, my hope is to have the three major works of Tolstoy read before the end of 2011, truly making this the Year of Tolstoy! (Plus, if I have some time at the end of the year - a week or two free, perhaps - I'd love to check out some of Tolstoy's religious essays like "The Kingdom of God is Within You" or Isaiah Berlin's essay on Tolstoy's view of history, "The Hedgehog and the Fox" as a way of rounding out my year.)

To that end (that is, the end of finishing War and Peace), it is my hope that by this time tomorrow, I will be over three-quarters of the way through Tolstoy's epic - another colossal milestone! - which is, at present count, a scant ten pages away (though math was never a strong suit of mine). I feel confident that my projection goals of finishing by May are both attainable and reasonable and I look forward to sharing my thoughts as I begin the last quarter of this adventure!

Coming soon (though, in reality, who can say when?): Part Three of the War and Peace and Religion series - featuring the Rostovs and the Bezukhovs!