What Book is Anna Karenina Reading on the Train? (Patreon)

Let's do some literary detective work together.

I recently received this question, which I cannot get out of my mind:

Is it possible, from the brief clues given, to identify the English novel Anna is reading on the train returning to Petersburg?

I love this sort of thing. I love reading the books that characters in novels are reading. It's a hack to becoming more well-read quickly, and understanding the character's psychology and the preoccupations of the world.

Some people take these sorts of questions very seriously. You might recall a few years back a documentary called 'The King in the Car Park', which saw a group of intrepid Richard III lovers seek to clear the deceased king's name from beyond the grave.

In Anna Karenina, we know what characters are reading at various points in the novel. Tolstoy either makes direct references to real books, such as Levin reading Reflexes of the Brain and Plato's Symposium, or he makes obvious allusions, such as Alexei reading a volume of Poesie des Enfers, which alludes to Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil. 

If I had to guess, I would say Anna is reading a Jane Austen novel - domestic drama about unhappy families anybody? 

Jane Austen's Persuasion, a slim masterpiece, is on the Book Club reading schedule after Crime and Punishment. But something tells me Anna is more likely to be reading Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, or Northanger Abbey.

I feel compelled to say Northanger Abbey particularly because this novel, published posthumously in 1817, has a lot of overt/meta comments upon the nature of protagonists, heroines, narratives, and story. The main character of this book, Catharine Morland, is a fan of immersing herself in literature, and is especially fond of gothic novels like Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho (1794).

Perhaps Anna is reading something by Radcliffe? She was a huge bestseller, easily the most popular author of her day and, though she did start off using a nom de plume, her being a woman remarkably didn't hinder her success.

Anna could also be reading the long epistolary dramatic fiction of Samuel Richardson:

• Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded
• Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady

Both books captivated the reading public at the time (1740-50) and for many years to come, and would have been published in enthralling serialised instalments. 

Each book is written as a series of personal letters between characters. As letter-writing takes up a central importance in Anna's life, perhaps we can see some influence here?

Or perhaps Anna is reading something by Anthony Trollope. Tolstoy was a fan. He read Trollope's Barsetshire novels whilst writing Anna Karenina and had bookshelves stuffed with his works. He also spoke highly of Trollope, saying: "He kills me."

As Tolstoy identified with Anna (as Flaubert identified with Emma Bovary - "c'est moi"), it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that Anna might read the books Tolstoy enjoyed.

We might also be able to narrow down the authors Anna was unlikely to be reading from this line of reasoning. Tolstoy did not rate Dickens, George Eliot, or Thackeray (although he mentions a few passable volumes here and there). But, as we know from reading What Is Art?, Tolstoy didn't really rate anybody. He disliked Shakespeare and Cervantes, Beethoven and Wagner, and all the great painters. So, don't worry, we will still be reading some Dickens, Eliot, and Thackeray as part of the Book Club! 

Personally, I picture Anna clasping a paperback of something by Jane Austen.

Anna Karenina was Tolstoy's first attempt at a novel (in his own words). But not just any novel. An English novel. The Russians came rather late to the novel form and found themselves learning from the English. And the template for the archetypical English novel is right there in Jane Austen.

What book do you think Anna is reading on the train?