Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina

LITERATURE NOTES

Part 1

Charmante (French word) = charming, delightful

I

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Stepan Arkadyich’s eyes glittered merrily, and he fell to thinking with a smile. “Yes, it was nice, very nice. There were many other excellent things there, but one can’t say it in words, or even put it into waking thoughts”

II

He could not deceive himself into believing that he repented of his behaviour.

But he felt all the gravity of his situation, and pitied his wife, his children and himself.

…merely a kind mother of a family, ought in all fairness to be indulgent. It turned out to be quite the opposite.

… the broad box of his chest, went up to the window with the customary brisk step of his splayed feet

III

…feeling himself clean, fragrant, healthy, and physically cheerful

IV

Hearing her husband’s footsteps, she stopped, looked at the door and vainly tried to give her face a stern and contemptuous expression.

Impending meeting

Take revenge on

Too many cooks spoil the broth

Thrust her hands into a drawer of the chiffonier as if hunting for something

But her face, to which she had wanted to give a stern and resolute expression, showed bewilderment and suffering.

“Dolly!” he said in a soft, timid voice. He drew his head down between his shoulders, wishing to look pitiful and submissive, but all the same he radiated freshness and health.

And this repulsive kindness everyone loves and praises him for - I hate this kindness of his.

‘Dolly,’ he repeated with a tremor in his voice