有意思的是，托爾斯泰通達世俗凡塵。寫Levin同胞異母(or異父)兄弟Sergey四十多歲未婚，偶遇一個可愛女子心動時，他喜歡的除了她的青春，單潔，不世俗，還考慮到她孤身一人，結婚後不會帶七大姑八大姨的親戚來煩他。另外，書中在描述男子婚齡時，說到這樣一段話，可是會讓男人們歡心鼓舞一下。基本上就是說，“在法國，男人五十是黃金階段，四十歲的男子還是年輕小夥子。”
“There was one consideration against it--his age. But he came of a long-lived family, he had not a single gray hair, no one would have taken him for forty, and he remembered Varenka's saying that it was only in Russia that men of fifty thought themselves old, and in France, a man of fifty considers himself in the "prime time", while a man of forty is " a young man". But what did the mere reckoning of years matter when he felt as young in heart as he had been twenty years ago?"
記住喔，這可是在十九世紀啊，想來當今的醫術這麽發達，人的壽命的延長，it rings more true now.
Sifting through boxes of novels left behind by my daughter a couple of months ago, I spotted Anna Karenina buried deep in the box. Leafing through the book, I saw all the colorful stickers left between the pages. The memories of my daughter, six or seven years ago, sitting in front of her desk, reading and writing the assigned homework of an imagined story of Anna, suddenly flooded all over me. Fearful of reading small prints of a book of more than 750 pages, I hesitatingly picked it up. But it turned out to be such a worthwhile reading that in the ensuing two months, I engrossed myself in the riveting novel.
Written in the nineteenth century by a renowned Russian writer Tolstoy, this novel is a timeless masterpiece. It is basically a love story, the theme of which is explored explicitly through the tales of two couples.
Anna, a charming heroine in the novel, marries a husband she does not love. Life would have gone on if it were not for the appearance of Vrosky, a young, handsome and rich cavalry officer. They fell head over heels in love. The budding love, in defiance of conventional rules and moral, culminates but almost shatters to pieces when Anna was near her death in delivering her baby daughter, and when Vrosky shot himself. But once Anna recovers physically and spiritually, their love revives. She and Vrosky honeymooned abroad, trying to forget the earthly world. However romantic the love is, they must return to face the reality that Anna could not get a divorce from her husband. Neither is she allowed to see her own son. Torn and tormented, Anna relies on morphine to tide over her days. Meanwhile, her misunderstanding and jealousy towards Vrosky escalate that she is under the illusion Vrosky no longer loves her. Out of despair and revenge, she ends her life by flinging herself in front of a running train.
Contrasted by this tragic misfortune, the other couple, Levin and Kitty’s love is much blessed, though at the beginning, Kitty, under the influence of her mother, turns down Levin’s proposal in favor of Vrosky. But their love was rekindled after hiatus, and their marriage is just what one desires in life.
The novel Anna Karenina is no doubt a time-tested classic. One would be amazed to find that a man writer like Tolstoy could so adroitly capture women’s mind and psyche and putting them in words. His mastery skill of depicting details with great vividness and accuracy, such as a scene, a facial expression, a gesture, a movement, helps bring everything to life, putting readers in Moscow, in Petersburg, in the countryside, in the situations where heroes and heroines suffer, struggle or rejoice.
Interwoven in the novel are the discussions of life and death, the meaning of being extant, one’s insoluble fate, the philosophy, religion, political movement, all of which renders the novel the depth as well as its social meanings. As a matter of fact, I am still baffled toward the end of the novel as to why the author spent so many chapters dwelling upon the topics of religion and philosophy. But one thing is for sure, i.e., what Tolstoy reveals in his novel is more than “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” It is a novel that explores the human nature, which remains unchanged throughout history and across cultures. The significance of this revelation transcends time.
The following paragraph is copied from the book.
"The sight of his brother, and the nearness of death, revived in Levin that sense of horror in face of the insoluble enigma, together with the nearness and inevitability of death, that had come upon him that autumn evening when his brother had come to him. This feeling was now even stronger than before; even less than before did he feel capable of apprehending the meaning of death, and its inevitability rose up before him more terrible than ever. But now, thanks to his wife’s presence, that feeling did not reduce him to despair. In spite of death, he felt that the need of life and love. He felt that love saved him from despair, and that this love, under the menace of despair, had become still stronger and purer. The one mystery of death, still unsolved, had scarcely passed before his eyes, when another mystery had arisen, as insoluble, urging him to love and to life."
回複 '7grizzly' 的評論 : Thank you, my friend, for the kindness. I just started another great great book The Thorn Birds, very riveting, and I LOVE it. Thank you for your recommendation of Born to Run. Haven't got a chance to borrow or read. Have a nice week!
7grizzly 發表評論於
> 750 pages, I hesitatingly picked it up. But it turned out to be such a worthwhile reading that in the ensuing two months, I engrossed myself in the riveting novel.
Congratulations! I think that's an achievement in itself.
我曾經讀過一本書，有關感情的，其中有一段是這麽說的，the average life span of a romantic obsession is two years. If it is a secretive love affair, it may last a little longer. Eventually, however, we all descend from the clouds and plant our feet on earth again."
有意思的是，托爾斯泰通達世俗凡塵。寫Levin同胞異母(or異父)兄弟Sergey四十多歲未婚，偶遇一個可愛女子心動時，他喜歡的除了她的青春，單潔，不世俗，還考慮到她孤身一人，結婚後不會帶七大姑八大姨的親戚來煩他。另外，書中在描述男子婚齡時，說到這樣一段話，可是會讓男人們歡心鼓舞一下。基本上就是說，“在法國，男人五十是黃金階段，四十歲的男子還是年輕小夥子。”
“There was one consideration against it--his age. But he came of a long-lived family, he had not a single gray hair, no one would have taken him for forty, and he remembered Varenka's saying that it was only in Russia that men of fifty thought themselves old, and in France, a man of fifty considers himself in the "prime time", while a man of forty is " a young man". But what did the mere reckoning of years matter when he felt as young in heart as he had been twenty years ago?"
記住喔，這可是在十九世紀啊，想來當今的醫術這麽發達，人的壽命的延長，it rings more true now.
Sifting through boxes of novels left behind by my daughter a couple of months ago, I spotted Anna Karenina buried deep in the box. Leafing through the book, I saw all the colorful stickers left between the pages. The memories of my daughter, six or seven years ago, sitting in front of her desk, reading and writing the assigned homework of an imagined story of Anna, suddenly flooded all over me. Fearful of reading small prints of a book of more than 750 pages, I hesitatingly picked it up. But it turned out to be such a worthwhile reading that in the ensuing two months, I engrossed myself in the riveting novel.
Written in the nineteenth century by a renowned Russian writer Tolstoy, this novel is a timeless masterpiece. It is basically a love story, the theme of which is explored explicitly through the tales of two couples.
Anna, a charming heroine in the novel, marries a husband she does not love. Life would have gone on if it were not for the appearance of Vrosky, a young, handsome and rich cavalry officer. They fell head over heels in love. The budding love, in defiance of conventional rules and moral, culminates but almost shatters to pieces when Anna was near her death in delivering her baby daughter, and when Vrosky shot himself. But once Anna recovers physically and spiritually, their love revives. She and Vrosky honeymooned abroad, trying to forget the earthly world. However romantic the love is, they must return to face the reality that Anna could not get a divorce from her husband. Neither is she allowed to see her own son. Torn and tormented, Anna relies on morphine to tide over her days. Meanwhile, her misunderstanding and jealousy towards Vrosky escalate that she is under the illusion Vrosky no longer loves her. Out of despair and revenge, she ends her life by flinging herself in front of a running train.
Contrasted by this tragic misfortune, the other couple, Levin and Kitty’s love is much blessed, though at the beginning, Kitty, under the influence of her mother, turns down Levin’s proposal in favor of Vrosky. But their love was rekindled after hiatus, and their marriage is just what one desires in life.
The novel Anna Karenina is no doubt a time-tested classic. One would be amazed to find that a man writer like Tolstoy could so adroitly capture women’s mind and psyche and putting them in words. His mastery skill of depicting details with great vividness and accuracy, such as a scene, a facial expression, a gesture, a movement, helps bring everything to life, putting readers in Moscow, in Petersburg, in the countryside, in the situations where heroes and heroines suffer, struggle or rejoice.
Interwoven in the novel are the discussions of life and death, the meaning of being extant, one’s insoluble fate, the philosophy, religion, political movement, all of which renders the novel the depth as well as its social meanings. As a matter of fact, I am still baffled toward the end of the novel as to why the author spent so many chapters dwelling upon the topics of religion and philosophy. But one thing is for sure, i.e., what Tolstoy reveals in his novel is more than “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” It is a novel that explores the human nature, which remains unchanged throughout history and across cultures. The significance of this revelation transcends time.
The following paragraph is copied from the book.
"The sight of his brother, and the nearness of death, revived in Levin that sense of horror in face of the insoluble enigma, together with the nearness and inevitability of death, that had come upon him that autumn evening when his brother had come to him. This feeling was now even stronger than before; even less than before did he feel capable of apprehending the meaning of death, and its inevitability rose up before him more terrible than ever. But now, thanks to his wife’s presence, that feeling did not reduce him to despair. In spite of death, he felt that the need of life and love. He felt that love saved him from despair, and that this love, under the menace of despair, had become still stronger and purer. The one mystery of death, still unsolved, had scarcely passed before his eyes, when another mystery had arisen, as insoluble, urging him to love and to life."
