Anna Karenina part 2: I am begging you to touch grass

Levin is a turbo nerd who runs away from social awkwardness to theorise on agrarian economics or whatever. Sound like anyone you know??

Anyway he finally touches grass and gets the girl. 

Meanwhile we are falling out of love with Anna. It feels like something bad is gonna happen? The foreshadowing is very subtle, only experts in Media Literacy will be able to catch it.

On Levin's journey away from intellectualism: Is the peasant life really that appealing? Does doing good need to come from the heart, not from the mind? Rich gets mad about Tolstoy basically shitting on effective altruism; benny offers a partial defence. 

Nikolai's gruesome death: Kitty steps up and shows her worth. Is she meant to be the paragon a good Christian, or a good woman? Rich is now terrified of dying and wants to be euthanised.

Anna & Vronsky's empty self-gratification: Tolstoy literally accuses Vronsky of jerking himself off with the whole 'amateur artist in Italy' pose. Anna gives in to passion, abandoning her 8yo child in the process. Seems bad. We notice we are falling out of love with Anna.

Karenin's emotional repression cracks: First he gets big mad and is on the verge of joining the manosphere. Then he has a proper Christian moment and forgives both Anna and Vronsky; a move so powerful that Vronsky attempts to kill himself in shame. Then he backslides a little but it's progress. We are warming up this cold fish.

This discussion covers parts 3, 4, and 5 of the book. 

Tune in next week for the finale. Can't wait to see how this ends.

CHAPTERS

(00:00:00) yes I'm mad
(00:02:35) Levin's journey from cerebral dork to touching grass
(00:11:32) Leave effective altruism alone!
(00:22:45) Trouble in paradise for the newlyweds
(00:27:45) Nikolai's gruesome death as an argument for euthanasia
(00:37:18) Karenin finally gets in touch with his emotions
(00:51:48) Anna and Vronsky empty self-gratification spiral
(01:03:51) Listener mail: Dawkins on Kafka redux

 

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NEXT ON THE READING LIST:

• Anna Karenina finale: parts 6-8
• The Library of Babel - Jorge Luis Borges