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The characters in Anna Karenina speak French in some parts (at least in my English copy of the book). I don't know why but it clearly meant something for that c
by mcny 8y ago
The characters in Anna Karenina speak French in some parts (at least in my English copy of the book). I don't know why but it clearly meant something for that conversation to be in French. It's there something the story is trying to say when they switch between Hindi and English on that show?
- drdaeman 8y agoAs far as I know, it was just a matter of style - no deep meaning beyond the fact the speaker was being conformant to the societal norms of the day. Of course I cannot fit the background into a short comment (and I'm not good enough with history of that period), but the reason for this is that in 18-19th centuries the majority of Russian nobility was very francophilic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francophile#Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francophile#Russia Of course, switching to a different language - or different style of the same language, like switching to extremely formal speech - has a stylistic meaning, but that's it.
- Mediterraneo10 8y agoFor the Russian aristocracy in the 18th and 19th centuries, French was often their everyday language. Russian was only used to communicate with servants. The sprinkling of French phrases through Tolstoy is meant to evoke this aristocratic world, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the phrases which Tolstoy sets in French are somehow more important than the dialogue he presets in Russian.
- drdaeman 8y agoAFAIK, in 19th century, esp. after the Napoleonic invasion of Russia it wasn't as hardcore as that. Aristocracy spoke a fair amount of Russian among themselves, but still mixed in a lot of French (and IIRC some accidental Latin). I could be wrong though.