Progress Report

“Anna Arkadiévna lisait et comprenait sa lecture, mais elle était lasse de s’interesser à la vie des autres; elle brûlait de vivre elle-même”

-Anna Karenine (Leon Tolstoï 1877:137)

Moi aussi, bon sang!

"Anna Arkadyevna read and understood, but it was distasteful to her to read, that is, to follow the reflection of other people’s lives. She had too great a desire to live herself."

-Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy 1877:137)

Only nine days before I leave! I can't believe it. I've hardly done anything to prepare myself. Well, that's not entirely true. I have found a place to stay in Perugia: an apartment I will be sharing with four other girls. I have also gotten many appointments out of the way, and I am about 2/3 of the way through Anna Karenina. As for the 10lb, I realize that two weeks was a little over-optimistic. However, I have made some progress, and I expect to have even better luck in Italy (doesn't every traveler gain weight in Italy... I know I did last time!)

So, looking at the goals I set for myself in my first post, I am not doing so badly. Besides, like Anna Karenina, I am burning to live my own adventures, no longer content with the ones I live through the pages of books. I am restless of my home, of my routines; I am ready for a change.

New on Top of my Book Pile

The french translation of Anna Karenina that I ordered arrived the other day! I decided to temporarily set aside the Tale of Genji, in order to dive right in. I don't mind treating the Japanese novel in the same manner as Genji himself seems to treat the women in his life: as disposable entertainment. I will therefore pick up the threads of his amorous entanglements another time. Reading L'élégance du hérisson (The Elegance of the Hedgehog) last year had peaked my curiosity for the Russian classic (the characters allude to the famous quotation that precipitates the novel: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Or in French: "Toutes les familles heureuses se ressemblent. Chaque famille malheureuse, au contraire, l'est à sa façon." Their cats are also named after Tolstoy's characters). Seeing the movie adaptation of Muriel Barbery's novel recently inspired me to finally order a copy of Anna Karenina for myself.

By the way, I loved the movie (called Hérisson in French) just as much as I loved the book. They are different, as to be expected, but both good, and I thought the characters were well portrayed in the movie. They all, Renée especially, fit the image that I had of them in my mind.