The Liberation of Anna Karenina: From Criticism to Canonization

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel examines the reception of Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina" in Russian literary criticism, theater, cinema, and posters, from the 1870s to the 1960s. The panelists' papers will demonstrate how different literary circles and literary communities interpreted the novel, its characters, and its central love affair. The talks will address the mechanisms of the gradual ‘liberation’ of "Anna Karenina" from ideological, tendentious readings and its ultimate canonization in the 20th century.

Sub Unit

• Literature: 19th Century

Chair

• Andrei Zorin, U of Oxford (UK)

Papers

• The Failure of Russian Criticism: The Case of 'Anna Karenina' - Maya Kucherskaya, Henan U (China)

• Greta Garbo or the Gorky Theater: Rival Visions of 'Anna Karenina' - Tatyana Gershkovich, Carnegie Mellon U

• Anna Karenina's Adaptations through Film Posters - Anna Kovalova, U of Pittsburgh

Discussants

• Tatiana Smoliarova, U of Toronto (Canada)

• Andrei Zorin, U of Oxford (UK)