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SUMMARY:Tolstoy's 'About Mushrooms' - Robin Feuer Miller (Brandeis Univers
 ity/University of Oxford)
DTSTART:20131112T170000Z
DTEND:20131112T190000Z
UID:TALK47778@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mel Bach
DESCRIPTION:Two secondary characters\, Sergei Koznyshev and Varenka (whose
  last name we never learn\, and know only that she was the daughter of a h
 otel chef\, and raised\, as a kind of changeling\, by Mme Stahl)  contribu
 te in multiple and important ways to the matrix of interconnections and do
 ublings of theme in "Anna Karenina."  At the same time\, however\, their b
 rief foray to the edge of the woods to pick mushrooms reflects a sensibili
 ty on Tolstoy’s part that seems more akin to Chekhov’s aesthetic visio
 n than to what we tend typically to think of as Tolstoyan.  Chekhov’s pr
 ofound response to Tolstoy and especially to "Anna Karenina" is visible in
  a number of his stories such as "Anna on the Neck\," "The Lady with a Dog
 \," "At Home\," "About Love\," "Ariadne" and "The Nameday Party." Tolstoy
 ’s later deep admiration for Chekhov’s stories was\, likewise\, signif
 icant\, as is the dialogue that developed between them both in their frien
 dship and through subsequent stories they each wrote.  But the episode of 
 the mushroom hunt and the ensuing conversation between Koznyshev and Varen
 ka embodies an artistic departure of sorts for Tolstoy and a surprising ex
 cursion into a pre-Chekhovian realm.
LOCATION:Latimer Room\, Clare College
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