Tolstoy's epic novel, "Anna Karenina," has attracted the attention and admiration of readers around the world for more than a century. Its epic sweep of 19th-century cultural and intellectual life, social mores, and philosophical ideas reveals a wealth of detail about contemporary historical issues and social concerns in Russia in the latter half of the century: the role of "enlightened reason" in Russian life; the "women's question;" the peasant in post-emancipation Russia; the impact of the railroad and industrialization in the latter half of the century; and the role of the family on the path to "human happiness." With the help of the latest translation of the novel (2001) by the award-winning translation team, the power and sweep of Tolstoy's novel is more accessible to American audiences that it has ever been in the past. Our class discussion will examine the novel from a variety of historical and literary perspectives, with a particular emphasis on the social and cultural backgrounds of Russian life in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Kevin McKenna ()

Dates: July 15 - August 9, 2013; This section has registration restrictions; Must not be enrolled in the following class: 01 (first-year); Otherwise, the instructor may agree to issue an electronic override for you to register if you contact him/her; Cross listed w/WLIT 018 Z1

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