Tag Archives: Anna Karenina

Ukraine: What Would Leo and Fyodor Do?

By Robin Bates | Published: June 21, 2023

Dostoevsky and Tolstoy’s novels work as indictments of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Brothers Karamazov, Child Abuse, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Hadji Murat, Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, sadism, Vladimir Putin, War and Peace | Comments closed

Crucial Support in the Face of Death

By Robin Bates | Published: May 4, 2023

In “Women of Brewster Place” a character charges into a scene of despair and refuses to let death triumph.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged death and dying, Gloria Naylor, Leo Tolstoy, Women of Brewster Place | Comments closed

Tolstoy’s Kitty and a Dying Patient

By Robin Bates | Published: May 3, 2023

My favorite episode in “Anna Karenina” is Kitty showing Levin she can handle a dying patient better than he can.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged death and dying, Leo Tolstoy, nursing | Comments closed

Tolstoy’s Vision of Establishing Dialogue

By Robin Bates | Published: May 1, 2023

Sympathetic listening is key to making society work. We see Kitty advocating for such in “Anna Karenina.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beloved Community, Carleton College, debate vs. dialogue, sympathetic listening | Comments closed

“Anna Karenina” Saves a Prisoner’s Life

By Robin Bates | Published: November 13, 2018

In an inspiring podcast, “Rough Translation” recounts how “Anna Karenina,” tapped out in morse code, saved a Somali political prisoner from madness.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged books in prison, imprisonment, Leo Tolstoy, Somalia | Comments closed

Happy Families Are All Alike?

By Robin Bates | Published: November 5, 2015

Tolstoy may seem to say that unhappy families are more interesting that happy ones in “Anna Karenina,” but the happy families that conclude “War and Peace” appear to contradict this.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged families, husbands and wifes, Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace | Comments closed

What Anna Karenina Would Say to the GOP

By Robin Bates | Published: October 25, 2013

Perfect advice from Tolstoy for the GOP.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged GOP, Leo Tolstoy, Obamacare | Comments closed

Magnificent Women in the Sick Room

By Robin Bates | Published: August 22, 2013

Tolstoy shows us deathbed vigils can spur us to a deeper engagement with life.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Do Not Go Gentle", "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", death and dying, Dylan Thomas, George Eliot, John Donne, Leo Tolstoy, Middlemarch | Comments closed

Petraeus: Karenina, Oedipus, or Antony?

By Robin Bates | Published: November 15, 2012

The David Petraeus affair–is it 19th century melodrama or high tragedy?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Antony and Cleopatra, David Petraeus, Leo Tolstoy, Macbeth, Notre Dame de Paris, Othello, Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare | Comments closed