Anna Karenina - Translation Classics Library 046

Author: Tolstoy
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The Oblonskys' household was in complete disarray. The wife learned that her husband was having an affair with his former French governess and declared that she could no longer live in the same house with him. The situation reached a stalemate by the third day, and both the couple and all the family members felt the sharp pain of this. Everyone found living together utterly boring, feeling that the relationships between people they met randomly in any inn would be better than those in the Oblonskys' house. The wife stayed out of sight, and the husband did not return for three days. The children ran wild in the house, unattended. The British governess had argued with the housekeeper and written a letter to a friend asking her to find a new job. The chef had left the day before, departing during lunchtime. The assistant cook and the coachman also demanded to resign. On the noisy third day, Stepan Arkadyich Oblonsky, Duke (who called himself Stiva in social circles), woke up at his usual time, which was 8 a.m., but not in his wife's bedroom, but on the goatskin sofa in his study. He wriggled on the spring, embracing the well-maintained, plump body, burying his face in the pillow as if he wanted to sleep longer. But suddenly, he rolled out of bed, sat up on the sofa, and opened his eyes. "Oh, oh, what did I dream about?" He remembered having a dream...