Creating Anna Karenina

by Bob Blaisdell

  XI. Is this Tolstoy’s creation of Anna and Karenin’s son Seryozha?

  XII. PSS 20: 3–4.

  XIII. PSS 20: 3–4.

  XIV. PSS 20: 8–9. Plany i zametki k “Anne Kareninoy” [“Plans and Notes for ‘Anna Karenina’ ”].

  XV. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 258, March 25, 1873.

  XVI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 259, March 30, 1873.

  XVII. This is a follow-up to the actual originating event described in the Introduction, pages 4–8.

  XVIII. The Diaries of Sophia Tolstoy, 845.

  XIX. C.J.G. Turner, author of A Karenina Companion, a book that has been my companion off and on for several years, says of the Anna character in the earliest draft: “She is here condemned, which makes it difficult to make a connection between Tolstoi’s initial conception for Anna Karenina and the idea that he had mentioned to his wife in early 1870 of an unfaithful wife from the highest society who was to be ‘only pitiful and not guilty.’ ” C.J.G. Turner, A Karenina Companion (Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1993), 15.

  XX. Gusev, Letopis’, 405.

  XXI. In an early draft, however, they do have different patronymics, which means, if Tolstoy had thought it through and wasn’t confusing the names (which he sometimes did), that at this moment he thought of them as half-siblings.

  XXII. PSS 20: 81.

  XXIII. PSS 20: 83.

  XXIV. PSS 20: 83. See also Anna Karenina, Part 1, Chapter 4.

  XXV. Образуется: “Come round,” a coinage by the Oblonsky household servants, is translated many ways: “shape up” (Bartlett, also Pevear and Volokhonsky), “turn out all right” (Carmichael), “shape themselves” (Maude and Maude), and “shapify” (Schwartz).

  XXVI. PSS 20: 86.

  XXVII. And I owe it to Professor Turner’s A Karenina Companion for clarifying the details of this bewildering compilation.

  XXVIII. “Pervaya zakonchennaya redaktsiya ‘Anny Kareninoi,’ ” in L. N. Tolstoy, Anna Karenina: Roman v Bos’mi Chastyakh. [“The First Completed Draft of Anna Karenina,” in Anna Karenina: A Novel in Eight Parts, ed. V. A. Zhdanov and E. E. Zaidenshnur (Moscow: Nauka, 1970)], 701. Hereafter, this reference will be listed as Zhdanov and Zaidenshnur.

  XXIX. Zhdanov and Zaidenshnur, 704.

  XXX. Zhdanov and Zaidenshnur, 708.

  XXXI. Zhdanov and Zaidenshnur, 714.

  XXXII. Zhdanov and Zaidenshnur, 717.

  XXXIII. “Unbeautiful” (некрасивая) is the literal word; dictionaries and translators prefer to straighten out the negation into “ugly” or “plain”; I would rather stick with the language’s denial of beauty than the assertion of ugly.

  XXXIV. This is the manuscript transcriber’s question mark.

  XXXV. Zhdanov and Zaidenshnur, 721.

  XXXVI. Zhdanov and Zaidenshnur, 722.

  XXXVII. Zhdanov and Zaidenshnur, 741. “She laughed that sweet chesty laugh that was one of her primary charms.”

  XXXVIII. PSS 20: 9. This is from Variant No. 6.

  XXXIX. Gusev, Materials, 264.

  XL. PSS 62: 20, letter of April 6–7, 1873.

  XLI. PSS 62: 21, letter of April 9–10, 1873.

  XLII. PSS 62: 22.

  XLIII. The Diaries of Sophia Tolstoy, 50, April 17, 1873.

  XLIV. Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya, My Life, trans. John Woodsworth and Arkadi Klioutchanski, ed. Andrew Donskov (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2010), 188.

  XLV. Alexandra Popoff, Sophia Tolstoy: A Biography (New York: Free Press, 2010), 72.

  XLVI. Tolstaya, My Life, 188.

  XLVII. For example, see photo insert, Sofia Tolstaya with her toddlers Seryozha and Tanya in 1866, http://tolstoy.ru/media/photos/index.php?topic[]=301.

  XLVIII. Gusev, Materials, 138.

  XLIX. This sincere, difficult letter is unfortunately not included in R. F. Christian’s Tolstoy’s Letters, the only collection in English of Tolstoy’s personal correspondence to various recipients. See PSS 62: 27.

  L. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 261, May 11, 1873.

  LI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 258, March 25, 1873.

  LII. Polner, Tolstoy and His Wife, 24.

  LIII. He absentmindedly or irritatedly proofread them, but I have yet to come across a description or account of him happily reading his published novels.

  LIV. A. B. Goldenweizer, Talks with Tolstoy, trans. S. S. Koteliansky and Virginia Woolf (New York: Horizon Press, 1969), 161.

  LV. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 261, May 11, 1873.

  LVI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 262, May 11, 1873.

  LVII. Rosamund Bartlett, Tolstoy: A Russian Life (London: Profile Books, 2010), 210.

  3 Summering in Samara

  I. Richard Holmes, “A Quest for the Real Coleridge,” New York Review of Books, December 18, 2014, 61.

  II. By Sofia’s account in My Life (page 192), those sixteen included “the nanny, the cook, the valet, the chambermaid and the tutors” and her brother and “the Englishwoman,” by whom Sofia must mean Hannah Tarsey, the Tolstoys’ former governess and now the governess for her sister Tatyana’s children; she wished to try the koumiss cure.

  III. Maude, The Life of Tolstoy: First Fifty Years, 337, letter of July 16–17, 1871. See PSS 61: 256.

  IV. Behrs, Recollections of Count Leo Tolstoy, 89.

  V. Paul Biryukoff [Pavel Ivanovich Biriukov], Leo Tolstoy, His Life and Work: Autobiographical Memoirs, Letters and Biographical Material (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1911), 354, letter of June 28, 1862.

  VI. Maude, The Life of Tolstoy: First Fifty Years, 300. Neither does Gusev, in the Letopis’, seem to know how long Tolstoy was there in 1864, and Tolstoy’s correspondence (see PSS 61) does not mention this trip.

  VII. Sofia Tolstaya noted in her diary on December 9, 1870: “All this time of inaction, of what I should have called intellectual repose, he has been much tormented. He has kept repeating that his conscience bothered him because of his idleness, before me, others, and people in general. Occasionally he seems to think that he is being inspired again and then he is happy. At other times it seems to him—but this always occurs when he is out of the house and away from the family—that he will go mad, and his fear of insanity becomes so intense that afterward, when he has told me about it, I too am terrified.” Quoted by Alexandra Tolstoy in Tolstoy: A Life of My Father, tran. Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1953), 191–192.

  VIII. Maude, The Life of Tolstoy: First Fifty Years, 324.

  IX. PSS 83: 176, letter of June 14, 1871.

  X. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 234–235, June 18, 1871.

  XI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 235–236, June 23, 1871.

  XII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 236, June 23, 1871.

  XIII. Maude, The Life of Tolstoy: First Fifty Years, 335.

  XIV. PSS 83: 183, letter of June 23, 1871. In Tolstoy’s Letters R. F. Christian did not translate the last forty lines of the letter.

  XV. PSS 83: 190.

  XVI. PSS 83: 189, letter of June 27, 1871.

  XVII. PSS 83: 192–193, letter of June 29, 1871.

  XVIII. “Contrary though he may have been, ornery and overly dogmatic at times, I cannot think of a single instance in his life when Tolstoy consciously schemed on his own behalf or kowtowed to others. His aristocratic integrity was phenomenal, and a main source of his appeal down to this day,” writes Donna Tussing Orwin, Simply Tolstoy (New York: Simply Charly, 2017), 99.

  XIX. Behrs, Recollections of Count Leo Tolstoy, 93–94.

  XX. Bartlett, Tolstoy, 209.

  XXI. Bartlett, Tolstoy, 208.

  XXII. PSS 83: 183, letter of June 23, 1871.

  XXIII. PSS 83: 191, letter of June 27, 1871.

  XXIV. PSS 83: 191, Letter of July 10, 1871.

  XXV. PSS 83: 203, letter of July 20, 1871.

  XXVI. Tolstoy, Tolstoy: A Life of My Father, 197.

  XXVII. Maude, The Life of Tolstoy, 337.


  XXVIII. Sergei Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered by His Son Sergei Tolstoy, trans. Moura Budberg (New York: Atheneum, New York, 1962), 17.

  XXIX. Tolstaya, My Life, 190–191. (Note: the brackets in My Life are supplied by its 21st-century editor, Andrew Donskov.)

  XXX. Anna Karenina, Part 5, Chapter 20, http://literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_144.htm.

  XXXI. Tolstaya, My Life, 188.

  XXXII. Tolstaya, My Life, 191–192.

  XXXIII. Tolstaya, My Life, 192.

  XXXIV. Tolstaya, My Life, 192. As for the Mordovians, the editor of My Life explains in a footnote (192), they belong “to the Volga-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric people, approximately one-third of whom live today [2010?] in the Mordovian Republic of the Russian Federation.”

  XXXV. Tolstaya, My Life, 192.

  XXXVI. Gusev, Letopis’, 409.

  XXXVII. Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered by His Son, 18.

  XXXVIII. Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered by His Son, 17.

  XXXIX. Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered by His Son, 18.

  XL. It’s still there: See photo insert for an image of the Shishka from Tolstoy’s time on the steppe and a contemporary view from the site-marker of Tolstoy’s farmhouse.

  XLI. Tolstaya, My Life, 192–193.

  XLII. Tolstaya, My Life, 194.

  XLIII. Tolstaya, My Life, 188.

  XLIV. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 263, June 22, 1873.

  XLV. Ibid.

  XLVI. PSS 62: 34, letter of June 22, 1873.

  XLVII. Gusev, Materials, 139.

  XLVIII. Gusev, Materials, 140.

  XLIX. PSS 62: 34.

  L. Gusev, Materials, 140.

  LI. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 127, after September 3–4, 1873, http://feb-web.ru/feb/tolstoy/texts/selectpe/ts6/ts62097-.htm.

  LII. PSS 62: 35.

  LIII. Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered by His Son, 19.

  LIV. Gusev, Materials, 142.

  LV. Popoff, Sophia Tolstoy: A Biography, 75.

  LVI. Translated from Хутор на Тананыке.

  LVII. PSS 62: 37.

  LVIII. Hugh McLean, Nikolai Leskov: The Man and His Art (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977), 452, letter to Nikolai Leskov, July 10, 1893.

  LIX. PSS 62: 42.

  LX. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 264, July 30, 1873.

  LXI. Ibid.

  LXII. Gusev, Materials, 144.

  LXIII. Gusev, Materials, 146–147.

  LXIV. Tolstaya, My Life, 196.

  LXV. Ibid.

  LXVI. Behrs, Recollections of Count Leo Tolstoy, 98–99.

  LXVII. Tolstaya, My Life, 194.

  LXVIII. Ibid.

  LXIX. Ibid.

  LXX. Tolstaya, My Life, 196.

  LXXI. Tolstaya, My Life, 195.

  LXXII. Tolstaya, My Life, 195.

  LXXIII. “In the summer [1873] my father organized races on the farm, like ancient Bashkir races. I won’t write about these because the races which my father organized in 1875 were much more spectacular…” Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered by His Son, 20.

  LXXIV. Tolstaya, My Life, 196.

  4 Distractions and Family Woes: August 22–December 31, 1873

  I. PSS 62: 45.

  II. PSS 62: 45.

  III. PSS 62: 46.

  IV. Gusev, Materials, 140–141.

  V. Gusev, Materials, 141.

  VI. PSS 62: 46, letter of September 3–4, 1873.

  VII. PSS 62: 46–47.

  VIII. Writing irrepressibly to his pal, Tolstoy also complained about the Azbuka’s reception: “I truly know that this is the best book by which it’s ten times easier and better to learn than by the others, and all Russian children will continue to learn by the bad ones, which makes me angry every time when I am on an empty stomach and not in good spirits.” PSS 62: 47.

  IX. Gusev, Materials, 148. Gusev’s reference for this: И. Гинцбург. Художники в гостях у Л. Н. Толстого. I. Gintsburg. [L. N. Tolstoy’s Artist-Guests], volume 11 (1916), page 192.

  X. I’ve typed the complete contents of the September 5, 1873, letter. Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoi, “Letters to P. M. Tretyakov,” in Reminiscences of Lev Tolstoi by His Contemporaries, 275–276.

  XI. Tolstaya, My Life, 197.

  XII. The portrait at the Tretyakov Gallery is 98 x 79.5 cm (https://www.wikiart.org/en/ivan-kramskoy/portrait-of-leo-tolstoy-1873). I haven’t found the dimensions of the portrait at Yasnaya Polyana.

  XIII. Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoi, “Letters to P. M. Tretyakov,” in Reminscences of Lev Tolstoi by His Contemporaries, September 15, 1873.

  XIV. Gusev states: “Sometimes during the sittings Tolstoy instead of conversations wrote Anna Karenina.” [Иногда во время сеансов Толстой вместо беседы писал “Анну Каренину.”] He doesn’t give a source for this, which is unusual for him; so it seems to me he must have been summarizing Sofia’s account. Gusev, Materials, 150.

  XV. Tolstaya, My Life, 198.

  XVI. Tolstaya, My Life, 197.

  XVII. Tolstaya, My Life, 197. The portrait on the left, better known and displayed at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, is the one she did not select.

  XVIII. Gusev discusses Kramskoy and future remarks about these portraits and the sessions in Materials, 149–152.

  XIX. Anna Karenina, Part 5, Chapter 13, http://literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_137.htm.

  XX. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 127, September 3–4, 1873, http://feb-web.ru/feb/tolstoy/texts/selectpe/ts6/ts62169-.htm.

  XXI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 265, footnote 5.

  XXII. Whether Strakhov sent him news stories or if Tolstoy learned the gory details elsewhere is not apparent. See Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 131, footnote 6. Donskov quotes from the September 22, 1873, issue of the newspaper Golos (The Voice) on the September 19 murder-suicide.

  XXIII. PSS 62: 48.

  XXIV. Ibid.

  XXV. “Various Notes for Future Reference,” The Diaries of Sophia Tolstoy, 848.

  XXVI. It is not noted, however, at least on that date, in The Diaries of Sophia Tolstoy.

  XXVII. Tolstaya, My Life, 198.

  XXVIII. PSS 62: 51–52.

  XXIX. Gusev, Letopis’, 413.

  XXX. Cathy Porter’s wording of the last phrase would alarm most 21st-century parents. Tolstaya, My Life, 198.

  XXXI. Gusev, Letopis’, 413.

  XXXII. Gusev, Materials, 160.

  XXXIII. Tolstaya, My Life, 198–199.

  XXXIV. PSS 62: 51.

  XXXV. In the novel, Tolstoy does not explain how, why, or when the governess with whom Stiva has been carrying on the affair stopped working for the Oblonsky family. In an early draft she seems not to have left her job.

  XXXVI. Tolstaya, My Life, 199.

  XXXVII. Ibid.

  XXXVIII. The translator Cathy Porter’s ellipsis may reflect Sofia’s text, but there does not seem to be anything missing from Tolstoy’s actual letter.

  XXXIX. PSS 62: 56. The italics represent Porter’s translation.

  XL. Ibid.

  XLI. Tolstaya, My Life, 199–200.

  XLII. PSS 62: 52, letter of November 10, 1873.

  XLIII. Mayo Clinic, “Croup,” http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/croup/basics/definition/con-20014673, accessed March 17, 2015.

  XLIV. PSS 62: 52, letter of November 10, 1873.

  XLV. Gusev, Letopis’, 414.

  XLVI. See Tolstoy’s November 18, 1873, letter to Fet [PSS 62: 55], which confirms that Tolstoy left the D’yakovs there with Sofia, to stay with her and console her, while he went off on business.

  XLVII. Tolstaya, My Life, 200.

  XLVIII. Tolstaya, My Life, 83–84. Touchingly, after devoting a couple of thousand words on her decades of work as his copyist and transcriber, Sofia shakes herself and announces: “While describing my participation in Lev Nikolaevich’s works, I got distracted from the description of our lives,
and so I shall now return to the first year of our marriage, 1862–63” (Tolstaya, My Life, 85).

  XLIX. PSS 62: 53, letter of November 17, 1873.

  L. Ibid.

  LI. PSS 62: 54.

  LII. PSS 62: 61.

  LIII. PSS 62: 61, letter of December 12–13, 1873.

  LIV. PSS 62: 61–62, letter of December 16–17, 1873.

  LV. PSS 17: 135–136.

  LVI. Gusev, Letopis’, 416.

  5 Anna Karenina’s False Start: January 1–August 14, 1874

  I. Anna Karenina, Part 5, Chapter 10, http://www.literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_134.htm.

  II. Gusev, Letopis’, 416. Gusev cites Sofia’s January 9, 1874, letter to her sister Tatyana.

  III. Tolstaya, My Life, 202.

  IV. Top illustration from http://cultureru.com/category/visual-arts/pictorial-souvenirs-of-russian-writers/l-tolstoy-1828-1910/. Accessed July 7, 2017. The text from Chapter 25 reads: “Si Fix, par devouement, n’eut recu le coup a sa place.” [As translated by Charles F. Horne: “If Fix, throwing himself in the way, had not received the blow in his place.”] Bottom illustration from Josh Jones, “The Art of Leo Tolstoy: See His Drawings in the War & Peace Manuscript & Other Literary Texts,” Open Culture, November 14, 2014, http://www.openculture.com/2014/11/the-art-of-leo-tolstoy.html. Accessed July 7, 2017. The text reads “Ce soir meme a huit heures quarante. p. 23” [This very night at eight-forty.] Stuart and Fogg are discussing the train from Douvres that leaves at 8:45, which Fogg says he’s going to take.

  V. The fancy brackets { } indicate words or phrases supplied by the editor of My Life, Andrew Donskov.

  VI. Tolstaya, My Life, 201.

  VII. Gusev, Materials, 159.

  VIII. Gusev, Materials, 160.

  IX. Gusev, Letopis’, 416.

  X. Gusev, Materials, 160–161.

  XI. Gusev, Materials, 161.

  XII. Chesterton (1874–1936) was one of the few literary Englishmen of the early 20th century who was not besmitten by Tolstoy.

  XIII. G. K. Chesterton, “Authority the Unavoidable,” in What’s Wrong with the World (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1910).

  XIV. Gusev, Materials, 161.

  XV. Ernest Simmons, Leo Tolstoy, Volume 1 (New York: Vintage, 1960), 348.

  XVI. Gusev, Materials, 161–162.