Tolstoyan Laughter: Wit and Humor in 'Anna Karenina'

• In Event: Tolstoy’s Novels: Lived Experience in Text

Abstract

While humor is definitely not a pre-eminent feature of "Anna Karenina", this paper seeks to show that sharp sarcasm and trenchant wit pervade some episodes of the novel. Reading it in the context of Tolstoy’s biographical sources (memoirs and diaries of his family members in particular), this paper detects and deciphers hidden jokes embedded in the narrative. By focusing on these marginal aspects of the novel, I seek to complicate the prevailing critical understanding of Tolstoy’s aesthetics as characterized by monistic seriousness. Instead, this paper argues that Tolstoyan laughter makes it possible to treat his aesthetics as malleable, extensible, and inclusive.

Author

• Olga Y. Maiorova, U of Michigan