caa a22 4500 606172602 CHVBK 20210128100729.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20151201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11059-014-0279-0 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11059-014-0279-0 Foster Jr. John George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA aut Vengeance and mercy in Anna Karenina [Elektronische Daten] From biblical epigraph to novelistic text [John Foster Jr.] Tolstoy's famous novel begins with an epigraph, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” which leaves out the purported speaker of these words in Romans 12:19 ("sayeth the Lord”). As a result, these opening words allow for major ambiguities in understanding the motives of the novel's characters. The Lord's power to avenge wrongdoing, which asks that human beings strive to be merciful, can become the prerogative of any first-person subject. As is seen in Vronsky's mother's harsh condemnation of Anna near the novel's end, such language allow for pitiless self-righteousness to overwhelm the true goal of humble forgiveness. This paper considers the implications of this ambiguity by examining the dialectic of vengeance and mercy that runs through Tolstoy's novel. Emphasis falls on Anna and her husband Karenin, but the discussion also includes telling episodes involving Dolly Oblonsky (Anna's sister-in-law) and Konstantin Lyovin, Anna's counterpart in the novel's second plot. The issues explored range from the power of compassionate forbearance and the problematic impact of authoritative words on people's behavior to social ostracism, the transience of peak experiences, and the anguish of losing one's capacity to forgive, not just other people, but—tragically—one's very self. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary, 2014 Revenge nationallicence Mercy nationallicence "Vileness” nationallicence Forgiveness nationallicence Novelistic Discourse nationallicence Variability of "Mine” and "I” nationallicence Schopenhauer nationallicence Neohelicon Springer Netherlands 42/2(2015-12-01), 403-413 0324-4652 42:2<403 2015 42 11059 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-014-0279-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-014-0279-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Foster Jr John George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Neohelicon Springer Netherlands 42/2(2015-12-01), 403-413 0324-4652 42:2<403 2015 42 11059