Creating Anna Karenina

by Bob Blaisdell

  XVII. Gusev, Materials, 159–194.

  XVIII. Gusev, Materials, 162.

  XIX. “The entire stenographic record of the meeting was published” in No. 10 of the Moscow Dioscean Statements of 1874 (Gusev, Materials, 163). This meeting was recorded and Gusev seems to have had his hands on it. As much as I poke through the library’s Internet holdings, I can’t find the article. The Russian Government Public History Library [Государственная публичная историческая библиотека] has 1869 and 1877 but not 1874’s Полная стенограмма заседания напечатана в № 10 “Московских епархиальных ведомостей” за 1874 г. См. также т. 17настоящего издания, стр. 594и сл.

  XX. PSS 83: 214, letter of January 15, 1874.

  XXI. I couldn’t track down on the web Tikhomirov’s article, either. Gusev, Materials, 162–163. [Ref: Д. И. Тихомиров. Из воспоминаний о Л. Н. Толстом. “Педагогический листок”, 1910, 8, стр. 557.]

  XXII. PSS 90: 232–233.

  XXIII. PSS 90: 233.

  XXIV. PSS 62: 76.

  XXV. Anna Karenina, trans. Garnett, Part 4, Chapter 22, http://www.literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_123.htm.

  XXVI. PSS 62: 77.

  XXVII. Ibid.

  XXVIII. PSS 62: 66.

  XXIX. Anna Karenina, Part 3, Chapter 16, http://literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_85.htm.

  XXX. Tolstaya, My Life, 201, February 6, 1874.

  XXXI. Anna Karenina, Part 3, Chapter 10, http://literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_79.htm.

  XXXII. PSS 62: 69.

  XXXIII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 266, February 13, 1874.

  XXXIV. Translation by Leo Wiener.

  XXXV. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 266, February 13, 1874.

  XXXVI. Anthony Trollope, An Autobiography (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1916), Chapter 17.

  XXXVII. R. F. Christian’s note: “Tolstoy corrected the proofs with the help of Yury Samarin […]” Tolstoy’s Letters, 266.

  XXXVIII. Eikhenbaum, Tolstoi in the Seventies, 112, letter of February 22, 1874.

  XXXIX. Gusev, Letopis’, 418.

  XL. PSS 48: 347. R. F. Christian includes a snip of this work as a diary entry for this date: “Schopenhauer gave people to feel that there is something, which stopped him from shooting himself. What that something is is the purpose of my book. What do we live by? Religion.” Christian, Tolstoy’s Diaries, 191.

  XLI. A “sheet,” printed and cut, became sixteen pages. PSS 62: 70, letter of March 1, 1874.

  XLII. Gusev, Materials, 159.

  XLIII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 267, March 6, 1874.

  XLIV. Tolstoy was once “attracted to” Tyutchev’s daughter in 1857–1858, writes Andrew Donskov, and “there was talk of their marriage.” (Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 157.) As for Yury Fyodorovich Samarin, R. F. Christian says: “Tolstoy first met Samarin in Moscow in 1856, and was struck by his ‘cold, supple and educated mind.’ He is reported to have referred to Samarin as ‘… one of the pleasantest people I’ve known’ ” (Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 210). Samarin was nine years older than Tolstoy and died in 1876. Samarin never knew Anna Karenina in its final form or that he had been let in on a singular literary experience.

  XLV. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 267.

  XLVI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 268.

  XLVII. PSS 62: 73.

  XLVIII. PSS 90: 233, letter of March 18–19, 1874.

  XLIX. PSS 90: 235, letter of March 20–21, 1874.

  L. Leo Tolstoy, Confession, trans. Aylmer Maude (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), 10–11.

  LI. Tolstaya, My Life, 202.

  LII. PSS 62: 79, letter of April 11, 1874.

  LIII. PSS 62: 84, letter of April 1–21, 1874.

  LIV. Gusev, Letopis’, 419.

  LV. Gusev says this was the content of Tolstoy’s letter, but the letter has not survived. Letopis’, 420.

  LVI. PSS 62: 83, letter of April 18–19, 1874.

  LVII. Ibid.

  LVIII. And yet I realize that if there had been a “Tolstoyan” movement in education, if it had been taken up by disciples and channeled into a system, he would soon have been excluded from it, because he would have continually criticized it and would have wanted to modify it. He could never have been an obedient soldier even in his own army.

  LIX. PSS 62: 83, letter of April 18–19, 1874.

  LX. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 160–161, May 10, 1874.

  LXI. PSS 62: 85.

  LXII. Gusev, Letopis’, 420–421. (Also, PSS 21: 412–424.)

  LXIII. Gusev, Materials, 159–194. (The letter to Strakhov is here: PSS 62: 88–89.)

  LXIV. PSS 62: 89.

  LXV. PSS 62: 88–89, letter of May 10, 1874.

  LXVI. PSS 62: 91.

  LXVII. Tolstaya, My Life, 204.

  LXVIII. PSS 62: 92, letter of end of May, early June, 1874.

  LXIX. Ibid.

  LXX. Born in 1792, Tat’yana Aleksandrovna Ergol’skaya was Tolstoy’s father’s second cousin.

  LXXI. PSS 62: 93–94, letter of June 20, 1874.

  LXXII. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 169, June 20, 1874; http://feb-web.ru/feb/tolstoy/texts/selectpe/ts6/ts62169-.htm.

  LXXIII. PSS 62: 94, letter of June 20, 1874.

  LXXIV. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 270, June 23, 1874.

  LXXV. PSS 62: 97, letter of end of June 1874.

  LXXVI. PSS 62: 103–104, letter of June–July 1874.

  LXXVII. PSS 62: 100.

  LXXVIII. PSS 62: 98, letter of mid-July 1874.

  LXXIX. Ibid.

  LXXX. PSS 62: 99, letter of July 12–18, 1874.

  LXXXI. PSS 62: 99.

  LXXXII. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 171–172.

  LXXXIII. Eikhenbaum, Tolstoi in the Seventies, 116.

  LXXXIV. One detail about Levin that did not survive the revision in the real Anna Karenina but that could have, without disturbing the plot while also filling in a time of Levin’s life, is that Levin at the end of his coursework at the university started working at a ministry; he was displeased with what he encountered there and after a half-year returned to his estate. We get this summation of the contents at http://feb-web.ru/feb/tolstoy/texts/selectpe/ts6/ts62174-.htm.

  LXXXV. PSS 62: 100, letter of July 27, 1874.

  LXXXVI. PSS 62: 101, letter of July 27, 1874.

  LXXXVII. Eikhenbaum, Tolstoi in the Seventies, 116, letter of July 29, 1874.

  LXXXVIII. Tolstaya, My Life, 205.

  LXXXIX. Ibid.

  XC. Gusev, Letopis’, 423.

  XCI. PSS 83: 216, letter of July 30, 1874.

  XCII. PSS 83: 216, letter of July 30, 1874.

  XCIII. PSS 83: 218, letter of August 1?, 1874.

  XCIV. Ibid.

  XCV. Seryozha’s note about the last leg of the steamer-trip was more detailed and must have upset poor Sofia: “Our steamer tonight collided with another steamer and broke our wheel, and now we sit atop a sand bank. I and Papa didn’t see or hear anything because we were sleeping… Our steamer was late because the wheel needed fixing and because in some places it was very small.” PSS 83: 219, letter of August 3, 1874.

  XCVI. Ibid.

  XCVII. Gusev, Materials, 169.

  XCVIII. Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered by His Son, 22.

  XCIX. PSS 62: 104.

  C. Anna Karenina, Part 4, Chapter 3, http://literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_104.htm.

  6 For Love or Money?: August 15–December 31, 1874

  I. Each sheet was cut into 16 pages. In 1904, for an English complete works edition of Tolstoy, the Harvard professor Leo Wiener translated almost the entire article (seventy-two pages). Wiener skipped only the four-page Notes of the Fatherland introduction, which contains Tolstoy’s contemporary justification for the article. If we roun
d up the pages to eighty, Nekrasov would have paid Tolstoy 750 rubles.

  II. Gusev, Letopis’, 169.

  III. “On Popular Education,” in Tolstoy on Education, trans. Leo Wiener (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972), 286–289.

  IV. Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered, 133. We see Tolstoy illustrate a similar scene involving Maria and her father, Prince Bolkonsky, in War and Peace (Part 1, Chapter 22), with not a trace of sympathy for the overbearing, short-tempered prince.

  V. Anna Karenina, Part 7, Chapter 10, http://www.literatureproject.com/anna-kareninaanna_199.htm.

  VI. PSS 62: 105.

  VII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 271, August 15?, 1874.

  VIII. PSS 62: 108.

  IX. PSS 62: 108.

  X. Ibid.

  XI. Gusev, Materials, 187.

  XII. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 186, November 8, 1874.

  XIII. Gusev, Materials, 174–175.

  XIV. PSS 62: 112, letter of September 12–16, 1874.

  XV. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 180, September 22, 1874.

  XVI. Footnote by Aylmer Maude: The desyatina is about 2.75 acres.

  XVII. Confession, Chapter 3, 16–17.

  XVIII. He also complained to Golokhvastov on the 25th or 26th that they still didn’t have a governess or master. See PSS 62: 114.

  XIX. PSS 62: 115, letter of September 26, 1874.

  XX. Eikhenbaum, Tolstoi in the Seventies, 117–118, letter of October 22, 1874.

  XXI. PSS 62: 118, letter of October 29, 1874.

  XXII. Tolstaya, My Life, 206.

  XXIII. Gusev, Letopis’, 428.

  XXIV. PSS 62: 119–120, letter of November 1–2, 1874.

  XXV. Eikhenbaum, Tolstoi in the Seventies, 117–118.

  XXVI. PSS 62: 121, letter of November 3, 1874.

  XXVII. Tolstaya, My Life, 206.

  XXVIII. PSS 62: 112, letter of November 8, 1874.

  XXIX. Gusev, Materials, 190, letter of November 8, 1874.

  XXX. He had now for the first time realistically estimated (though still short) the size of the novel—about 640 pages.

  XXXI. Eikhenbaum, Tolstoi in the Seventies, 118, letter of November 8, 1874.

  XXXII. Gusev, Letopis’, 430.

  XXXIII. Eikhenbaum, Tolstoi in the Seventies, 118, letter of November 8, 1874.

  XXXIV. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov; web.ru/feb/tolstoy/texts/selectpe/ts6/ts62185-.htm.

  XXXV. PSS 62: 125.

  XXXVI. Gusev, Materials, 190, letter of November 20, 1874.

  XXXVII. PSS 20: 615, letter of December 10, 1874.

  XXXVIII. Popoff, Sofia Tolstoy: A Biography, 80.

  XXXIX. Gusev, Letopis’, 431.

  XL. PSS 62: 128, letter of December 21, 1874.

  XLI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 273, December 23?, 1874.

  XLII. Ibid.

  XLIII. Anna Karenina, Part 7, Chapter 10, http://literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_199.htm.

  XLIV. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 273. Meanwhile, Gusev shows us that Tolstoy liked this argument about the would-be “Pushkins”: “This very view about the goal of the school Tolstoy expressed in a letter to S. A. Rachinskiy on April 5, 1877: ‘These children have to be taught in order to give them a plank of salvation out of that ocean of ignorance in which they’re floating and no salvation—they, maybe, swim better than we—but such equipment as a means of which they reach to our shore, if they want. I could not and cannot enter a school in relation to the little ones and not experience straight away a physical disturbance, as if I had seen Lomonosov, Pushkin, Glinka, Ostrogradskiy and not recognized what they need.’ ” Materials, 192.

  XLV. I’m unhappy with R. F. Christian’s translation of “verbally” (Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 272); I would rephrase that as “I gave Katkov (on my word) the novel.” Cf. PSS 62: 128: “Я отдал (на словах) роман Каткову.”

  XLVI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 272, December 23, 1874.

  XLVII. Tolstaya, My Life, 207.

  XLVIII. Bartlett, Tolstoy: A Russian Life, 203, 206.

  XLIX. PSS 61: 350–351, letter of December 22, 1872.

  L. PSS 62: 129, letter of December 28, 1874.

  7 Anna Karenina: The Serial: January–June 1875

  I. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 324, April 4–5, 1877.

  II. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 190, January 1, 1875. Or http://feb-web.ru/feb/tolstoy/texts/selectpe/ts6/ts62189-.htm.

  III. Anna Karenina, Part 1, Chapter 1, http://literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_1.htm.

  IV. PSS 62: 132.

  V. Gusev, Letopis’, 432.

  VI. PSS 62: 135.

  VII. “In his writing, Tolstoy was in some ways following a trend as it was just at this time that the incidence of suicide in Russia reached what has been described as epidemic proportions.” Bartlett, Tolstoy: A Russian Life, 230.

  VIII. The caption by the State Museum of L. N. Tolstoy reads: “The journal Russian Herald with the first publication of Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina.” http://tolstoymuseum.ru/museums/funds/scarce_book.php.

  IX. Anna Karenina, Part 1, Chapter 1, http://literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_1.htm.

  X. Gusev, Letopis’, 433, letter of January 30, 1875.

  XI. The editors of PSS (see 62: 139) say in a footnote that Tolstoy is referring to Chapter 11 of Part 2, “wherein is depicted the convergence of Anna with Vronsky” (“где изображено сближение Анны с Вронским”).

  XII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 274, middle of February 1875.

  XIII. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 193, February 13, 1875; http://feb-web.ru/feb/tolstoy/texts/selectpe/ts6/ts62193-.htm.

  XIV. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 274, February 16, 1875.

  XV. Gusev, Letopis’, 435.

  XVI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 274, February 16, 1875.

  XVII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 275, February 16, 1875.

  XVIII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 275. The Jubilee edition editors say Tolstoy was mistaken about the year of his friend’s visit: it was two years before, not three. (PSS 62: 142.)

  XIX. PSS 62: 143, letter of February 10–19, 1875.

  XX. PSS 62: 143.

  XXI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 276, February 1875.

  XXII. But, my 21st-century reader, what of that notion of absolute intelligibility and clarity? I believe it. I want to believe it even though the exceptions I think of, advertisements, political sloganeering, flummox me.

  XXIII. PSS 62: 145.

  XXIV. Gusev, Letopis’, 436.

  XXV. See Part 8, Chapter 5 of Anna Karenina, or Chapter 13 of this book for a discussion of this scene.

  XXVI. PSS 62: 141, letter of the middle of February.

  XXVII. Tolstaya, My Life, 208.

  XXVIII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 277, February 22, 1875.

  XXIX. Regarding the “new project,” see Tolstoy’s letter of March 16–20, 1875, to the Archimandrite Leonid in Christian’s Tolstoy’s Letters, 278–279; PSS 62: 149.

  XXX. PSS 62: 149.

  XXXI. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 277.

  XXXII. PSS 62: 149.

  XXXIII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 277, February 23–24, 1875.

  XXXIV. Tolstaya, My Life, 210.

  XXXV. Popoff, Sophia Tolstoy: A Biography, 82.

  XXXVI. PSS 62: 164, letter of March 30–31, 1875.

  XXXVII. Anna Karenina, Part 2, Chapter 11, http://literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_45.htm. The remainder of the chapter contains an account of one of Anna’s dreams, about which there has been much appreciative commentary.

  XXXVIII. Mudrick quotes Louise and Aylmer Maude’s translation.

  XXXIX. Marvin Mudrick, Books Are Not Life But Then What Is? (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 99–100.

  XL. Tolstaya, My Life, 59.

  XLI. Popoff, Sophia Tolstoy: A Bi
ography, 30–31.

  XLII. PSS 62: 159, letter of March 16, 1875. Information about Sofia’s note to her brother and Varya’s giving birth to a daughter are in the footnotes on this page.

  XLIII. PSS 62: 159–160, letter of March 1–20?, 1875.

  XLIV. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 202–203, March 21, 1875.

  XLV. Gusev, Letopis’, 440.

  XLVI. Anna Karenina, Part 2, Chapter 25, http://www.literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_59.htm.

  XLVII. PSS 62: 162–163, letter of March 29?, 1875.

  XLVIII. PSS 62: 164, letter of March 30–31, 1875.

  XLIX. See above, in this chapter, p. 164.

  L. PSS 62: 164.

  LI. As impressive an accomplishment as the New Azbuka is, I have given it too little attention in this book.

  LII. Gusev, Letopis’, 441.

  LIII. PSS 62, 170–171, letter of April 2, 1875.

  LIV. PSS 62: 177, letter of April 21–25?, 1875.

  LV. PSS 62: 178–180, letter of April 1875.

  LVI. PSS 62: 180.

  LVII. Anna Karenina, Part 3, Chapter 4, http://www.literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_59.htm.

  LVIII. Anna Karenina, Part 3, Chapter 5, http://www.literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_59.htm.

  LIX. PSS 62: 181, letter of May 5, 1875.

  LX. PSS 62: 181–182, letter of May 5, 1875.

  LXI. PSS 21: xxxvii.

  LXII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 279, May 5, 1875.

  LXIII. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 279, May 5, 1875.

  LXIV. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, 280, May 5, 1875.

  LXV. Ibid.

  LXVI. Donskov, L. N. Tolstoy – N. N. Strakhov, 207–209, April 22 and May 5, 1875; http://feb-web.ru/feb/tolstoy/texts/selectpe/ts6/ts62207-.htm?cmd=2.

  LXVII. Anna Karenina, Part 3, Chapter 26, http://www.literatureproject.com/anna-karenina/anna_95.htm.

  LXVIII. PSS 62: 178, editorial note 3.

  LXIX. PSS 62: 186, letter of May 17, 1875.

  LXX. PSS 62: 186, footnote 4.

  LXXI. PSS 62: 189, letter of May 27–28, 1875.

  LXXII. Tolstaya, My Life, 209.

  LXXIII. In the Zhdanov and Zaydenshnur edition of the novel, p. 535, there are 38 periods in this ellipsis. Preceding Anna and Vronsky’s lovemaking-as-murder chapter, p. 129, there are 84. What the significance could be of the number of dots, I don’t know. These are the only two extended ellipses in the novel. Zhdanov and Zaidenshnur, 129 and 535.