Lit. Match: ‘Anna Karenina’ & ‘Downton Abbey’
Exploring some fun curated matches between literature and pop culture
Anna Karenina is one of Leo Tolstoy’s most widely referenced novels for a few reasons. It’s probably his best book and it also features the uber-famous first line: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” That line should key you into one of the most enjoyable features of this great novel — it’s kinda dishy.
Tolstoy didn’t write a nine-hundred page gossip novel. That’s not what I mean. He’s not spilling tea about real people. Actually, Tolstoy is digging into some deep social, political and moral questions in Anna Karenina, but he is doing it within the bounds of a story about adultery and passion, faith and self-doubt, rigid social norms and the deep human urge to break out and follow the heart’s calling. I mean, it’s great. It’s a great book. It’s also crafted from a knowledge that people are messy and that is what makes them interesting.
To avoid diminishing this vaunted exemplar of 19th century fiction, I should say that in Anna Karenina Tolstoy is exploring some profound questions. How can the farming industry (and the continuing existence of serfdom) be squared with pre-modern ideas of self-determination and personal sovereignty? In a society of strict gender expectations (to marry, etc.), what are the emotional and psychological consequences when individuals struggle to conform — not because they don’t want to, but because they have too much integrity to compromise their personal vision of a good life just so they can fit the mold? These are big questions and Tolstoy explores them with great empathy and insight.
Which leads us to the question: What does Downton Abbey have to do with any of this?
Well, obviously, Downton Abbey is dishy. It’s a primetime soap. But it’s also a show that wants to examine some issues. The show seemingly invented the “upstairs/downstairs” social-political discourse for television, depicting the gentry in direct contrast to the servant class. In the end, that division proves to be the show’s opening gambit.
From there, it paints a picture of a world of individuals who struggle to accept the status quo and at the same time struggle to change. These are people caught up in a constant and constantly relatable tension between how things are, how things should be, and how to get from one to the other. And they fight and misunderstand each other. And they’re stubborn, and shallow, and big-hearted, and beautiful. I mean, it’s a television show that knows what it’s doing.
It’s posing some questions that parallel the ones that Tolstoy was interested in. It does it with more crying, I think, but the parallels are strong enough to make this a potentially satisfying pairing. Plus, Anna Karenina is a long enough novel that you can probably watch a couple seasons of Downton Abbey while you’re reading it. Maybe three.
If you’re interested, try out this pairing. And let me know how it works for you.
