Anna Karenina in Our Time Seeing More Wisely Gary Saul Morson

In this invigorating new assessment of "Anna Karenina", Gary Saul Morson overturns traditional interpretations of the classic novel and shows why readers have misunderstood Tolstoy's characters and intentions. Morson argues that Tolstoy's ideas are far more radical than has been thought: his masterpiece challenges deeply held conceptions of romantic love, the process of social reform, modernization and the nature of good and evil. By investigating the ethical, philosophical, and social issues with which Tolstoy grappled, Morson finds in "Anna Karenina" powerful connections with the concerns of today. He proposes that Tolstoy's effort to see the world more wisely can deeply inform our own search for wisdom in the present day. The book offers brilliant analyses of Anna, Karenin, Dolly, Levin, and other characters, with a particularly subtle portrait of Anna's extremism and self-deception. Morson probes Tolstoy's important insights (evil is often the result of negligence; goodness derives from small, everyday deeds) and completes the volume with an irresistible, original list of One Hundred and Sixty-Three Tolstoyan Conclusions.

Gary Saul Morson is Frances Hooper Professor of Arts and Humanities and professor of Slavic languages, Northwestern University. The only faculty member at Northwestern to be awarded an endowed chair for teaching while also holding one for research, Morson teaches Anna Karenina in a course enrolling 500 students, the largest Slavic Language class offered in America. Among his previous books is the award-winning Narrative and Freedom: The Shadows of Time, published by Yale University Press.

"Morson has managed to produce the seemingly impossible: a work that is highly accessible and appealing to the lay reader, while at the same time contributing significantly to scholarly discourse."--Sara Kate Heukerott--Sara Kate Heukerott (09/01/2008)