This might be my favorite week of our slow read, especially Tolstoy’s thoughtful (pitch-perfect to me) descriptions of grief, the imagery of unopened doors and the return of Denisov! I love the paintings you included with this week’s summary, especially the works by Thomas Brooks and Rostislav Felitsin (Tikhon’s grieving eyes). How do you find and select the paintings you include? And how do you have time to do it?! (And with that I’m off to your tip jar.) Thank you for guiding us through this emotional roller coaster of a week, Simon.
This is a great week. Tolstoy handles Marya's journey with such subtlety. The images? I rummage around in the Internet until I find something that seems appropriate. I often run out of time and have to just run with something... I tell myself I can replace it later if I find something better. I was pleased with some of the finds this week, especially these two. Thank you! I don't know how I find time to do any of this: raising two kids and running two slow reads. I have no time for anything else right now!
Thank you for the extra effort to illustrate your summaries. I appreciate it — along with everything else you do. Hope my tip covers a large coffee to fuel your meaningful work. Hope writing about the tip encourages someone else to join me in keeping you happily caffeinated.
You posed the question whether Marya’s interaction with Nikolai was credible. The specific characters from these two families meeting is far fetched. But It is so very conceivable to me that two people of the same class and culture know just what role is expected and act accordingly. That act results in blessed emotional well being at a time when their world is being turned upside down. Confusing love with a feeling of gratitude, for restoring a semblance of normalcy during this traumatic time, seems inevitable for Marya.
I'm not doing the read along but the Hammershoi caught my eye. I love his work and also the work of his brother-in-law Peter Ilsted. Similar but mostly mezzotints.
We own this riff on a Hammershoi painting and it may be my favorite piece of art.
Exquisite. This was my first time seeing this artist this week. It took my breath away and I realised instantly that I was looking at Marya Bolkonskaya.
I just finished reading Pushkin’s The Captain’s Daughter, a longish short story about Yemelyan Pugachev. I naively thought he was a fictional character until I read Simon’s dispatch this morning.
A rowdy teenager gets sent to the military by his father to straighten him out. On the way he aids a raggedy stranger on a stormy night, and later learns the stranger is Pugachov. So Pugachov looks kindly on him as he tries to rescue the woman he loves and this works to his benefit and then his downfall after Pugachov is defeated. All is well in the end. A Robert Louis Stevenson sort of story.
Am I the only one who sees the parallel between Marya's looking uncomprehendingly at the crowd of serfs, who's motive in refusing help she cannot fathom, and nearly every member of the modern, liberal, educated elite looking uncomprehendingly over the sea of Trump supporters? What are their motivations? How could they possibly want chaos and the destruction of the established order?
Mind you I am a card carrying member of that same educated elite, me and my graduate degree. But I try to put myself in their shoes, otherwise I will learn nothing.
I understand the appeal: it's just not an appeal which appeals to me. But it might if I were caught in the ear by the butt end of, say, the Endangered Species Act.
I think that's why I contrasted it with Andrei's emotional response to the scrumping girls. We are always faced with these moments: aware of other people's worlds and wants that are incomprehensible to us. The biggest mistake we make is to think we understand, and this is also the easiest mistake. The next mistake is probably to think we cannot understand.
This might be my favorite week of our slow read, especially Tolstoy’s thoughtful (pitch-perfect to me) descriptions of grief, the imagery of unopened doors and the return of Denisov! I love the paintings you included with this week’s summary, especially the works by Thomas Brooks and Rostislav Felitsin (Tikhon’s grieving eyes). How do you find and select the paintings you include? And how do you have time to do it?! (And with that I’m off to your tip jar.) Thank you for guiding us through this emotional roller coaster of a week, Simon.
This is a great week. Tolstoy handles Marya's journey with such subtlety. The images? I rummage around in the Internet until I find something that seems appropriate. I often run out of time and have to just run with something... I tell myself I can replace it later if I find something better. I was pleased with some of the finds this week, especially these two. Thank you! I don't know how I find time to do any of this: raising two kids and running two slow reads. I have no time for anything else right now!
Thank you for the extra effort to illustrate your summaries. I appreciate it — along with everything else you do. Hope my tip covers a large coffee to fuel your meaningful work. Hope writing about the tip encourages someone else to join me in keeping you happily caffeinated.
Ah thanks Mary, there has been a little flurry of activity today so maybe I'll buy something nice to go with the coffee!
You posed the question whether Marya’s interaction with Nikolai was credible. The specific characters from these two families meeting is far fetched. But It is so very conceivable to me that two people of the same class and culture know just what role is expected and act accordingly. That act results in blessed emotional well being at a time when their world is being turned upside down. Confusing love with a feeling of gratitude, for restoring a semblance of normalcy during this traumatic time, seems inevitable for Marya.
That's pretty much my take: the coincidence of them meeting is a little far fetched (but these things do happen). The meeting itself, very convincing.
How my heart skipped to read that familiar lisp!!! 🥰
It's an epic moment!
I'm not doing the read along but the Hammershoi caught my eye. I love his work and also the work of his brother-in-law Peter Ilsted. Similar but mostly mezzotints.
We own this riff on a Hammershoi painting and it may be my favorite piece of art.
https://www.artnet.com/artists/vik-muniz/young-girl-sewing-after-vilhelm-hammershoi-TZwYP5KmdNd4YKeLp4B5bw2
Exquisite. This was my first time seeing this artist this week. It took my breath away and I realised instantly that I was looking at Marya Bolkonskaya.
I just finished reading Pushkin’s The Captain’s Daughter, a longish short story about Yemelyan Pugachev. I naively thought he was a fictional character until I read Simon’s dispatch this morning.
I'd love to know more about Pushkin's story!
A rowdy teenager gets sent to the military by his father to straighten him out. On the way he aids a raggedy stranger on a stormy night, and later learns the stranger is Pugachov. So Pugachov looks kindly on him as he tries to rescue the woman he loves and this works to his benefit and then his downfall after Pugachov is defeated. All is well in the end. A Robert Louis Stevenson sort of story.
Thanks, Simon! 💗
Am I the only one who sees the parallel between Marya's looking uncomprehendingly at the crowd of serfs, who's motive in refusing help she cannot fathom, and nearly every member of the modern, liberal, educated elite looking uncomprehendingly over the sea of Trump supporters? What are their motivations? How could they possibly want chaos and the destruction of the established order?
Mind you I am a card carrying member of that same educated elite, me and my graduate degree. But I try to put myself in their shoes, otherwise I will learn nothing.
I understand the appeal: it's just not an appeal which appeals to me. But it might if I were caught in the ear by the butt end of, say, the Endangered Species Act.
I think that's why I contrasted it with Andrei's emotional response to the scrumping girls. We are always faced with these moments: aware of other people's worlds and wants that are incomprehensible to us. The biggest mistake we make is to think we understand, and this is also the easiest mistake. The next mistake is probably to think we cannot understand.
Simon, amo muito esse clube de leitura e as suas considerações. Obrigada por tudo.