In the 1950s, a foreign organization conducted a worldwide survey on "Your Favorite Novel", and the result was that Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" topped the list. Half a century has passed since then, and the novel remains one of readers' favorite literary works. In addition to the vivid and touching image of Anna, there is another important reason for this, that as a literary image, Anna has a solid foundation in real life. The "Anna Phenomenon" is also visible from time to time in real life outside the novel. The legendary Madame Clydner we are talking about here is such a real-life Anna.
Married to a Karenin-style husband
Madame Klydner was born Julie Barb in 1764 in Riga, Rivonia Province, on the Baltic coast of Russia at that time, to a family with an ancient German-Russian aristocratic lineage. His father was a philosopher and Freemason, a lover of art, and a patron of literature, and his mother was a devout Lutheran.
When Julie was 18, she married Baron Klydner, a Russian diplomat who was 15 years her senior and who had been twice married and divorced. The Baron was a thoughtful, educated and noble man, quiet and enthusiastic, but a Kareninian figure who was more of a father than a lover to his wife. As Oblonsky said to his sister Anna: "You marry someone 20 years older than you, and there is no love between you and there can be no love. It was a mistake." Having studied dance with the famous Parisian ballet dancer Vistri, the main interest and activity of this lady who entered the most outstanding European high society with the diplomat in the 18th century was to perform the shawl dance in her spare time. The famous German writer Mrs. Stahl once described the image of Delphine dancing the shawl in her novel "Delphine" based on Mrs. Krydner: "Elegance and beauty have never produced a large number of people. Such a prominent influence... She began to dance briskly, wrapping an Indian shawl around herself to outline her body, and her long haired head was thrown back, making herself a very charming picture ."
A year later, the lady followed her husband, the ambassador to Venice, to the most debauched city at the time, leading a dazzling life and the object of a crush on her husband's private secretary, Alexander Stackjeff. The secretary accompanies the lover in his heart to wander around and admire the beautiful natural scenery, and confesses his love to his superior in a letter, but this Karenin, for some reason, shows the letter to his wife. . The unrequited man left, but his fiery affection awakened a strong desire to love and be loved in the heart of this beautiful young woman. She wanted to make her husband the object of her ardent love, but this Kareninian fatherly husband only wanted to restrain her ardent affections. This pushes her outside the family. She's wayward and unscrupulous flirtatious at all balls. The frequent dances and shawl dances had worn her down, her nerves had weakened and her lungs had become infected. They were in Copenhagen at the time. Her husband sent her to spend the winter of 1789 in a quiet and warm place on the southern Mediterranean coast.
Vronskys
And she hurried to Paris. In this famous cultural metropolis, she met some great writers, developed an interest in reading, and met her "Vronsky", a young officer de Fregeville. After some struggle, she complied with him, and at his persuasion, against her husband's original intentions, she spent two consecutive winters in Paris.
After Louis XVI failed to escape, Paris was no longer a safe place for Madame Clydner to live. She asked "Vronsky" to pretend to be a servant. The two escaped from Paris and came to Hamburg, where they still lived together as master and servant. Even when her husband took her back to Copenhagen from Hamburg, she refused to part with her beloved servant "Vronsky". The couple had a big fight and the husband filed for divorce. This is exactly what Tolstoy's Anna wanted and couldn't get, but this "Anna" disregarded the woman's self-esteem, and even fell at her husband's feet and asked for forgiveness. Her father-like Karenin husband, a "cultured and noble" man, forgave her. But instead of keeping her promise, she continued to roam around Europe for ten years as a debauched lady of the late 18th century.
During these 10 years, she attended ball and banquet after ball, danced the shawl in amateur performances that Mrs. Starr described, and changed her "Vronsky" frequently.
From 1800 to 1801 she lived in Berlin, where her husband served, as wife of the Russian ambassador. Her untimely and eccentric temper made her not particularly popular in the well-organized court of William III. Although her simple and unpretentious attitude had been irresistible 10 years ago, and her expressive face and graceful demeanor had always been endearing, she knew that she had never been a beauty, not to mention her countenance and complexion. Fresh as it was when I was young. Therefore, she managed to attract attention by dressing up boldly, creating a sensation by being extraordinarily coquettish, or even wearing nothing. During this time, she left her husband again for a new love.
In the autumn of 1801, she made a long visit to Mrs. Starr and had the desire to be a female writer. Soon, in Paris, she heard the news of Clydner's death. Shocked, full of grief and remorse, she stayed behind and did not welcome anyone. She had always wanted to come back to him again, to lessen the damage he had done over the years, and to repay the generosity he had always given. Such an opportunity is lost forever.
But she couldn't live that kind of reclusive life for long. She began to write novels and, using a very ingenious publicity strategy, her novel Valerie, published in late 1803, was a huge success.
Conversion to religion
In 1805, due to the revelation of several accidental events and some inherent tendency, Madame Clydner suddenly converted to religion and became a zealous Christian. Her entire past life seemed wrong to her, now full of religious zeal. From this time on she poured into worship and good deeds the ardor she had shown in love in her youth. She became the poster child for the various virtues of humility in Christianity. To help the afflicted, she climbed to the dirtiest attic. One day, she saw a maid crying in the street because her master told her to come out and sweep the floor. The noble lady took the broom and swept the sidewalk herself. One religious leader, after taking a close look at her, wrote: "She has shown the deepest, purest, most positive, most selfless, most self-sacrificing sympathy for the suffering and needs of all people. "
She even had to exert influence on the tsar. On the evening of June 4, 1815, despite the adjutant's obstruction, she forcibly came before Tsar Alexander without notice. The two of them stayed in a small room for three hours. When she left, Alexander's eyes filled with tears and his heart was very emotional. Soon he was completely under her influence. The two often locked themselves in the house, praying, reading the Bible, and discussing theology for hours on end. On June 18, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, and Alexander immediately set off for Paris, and made an appointment with Madame Clydner to follow. In early September, a parade of 150,000 Russian troops was held at the Virtue Camp in Champagne. Early in the morning, the tsar sent his chariot to pick her up, and let her take part in the review like a messenger sent from heaven to lead his army to victory. Regarding the situation at that time, the famous French literary and art critic Saint-Beuve recorded the following according to the description of the eyewitnesses: "She was bald, or wore her little straw hat that often hung on her arms; her still beautiful hair Braided over her shoulders, with a lock of curly hair draped over her forehead, she wears a modest black robe (the style of which and her physique give a sense of elegance), with a simple strap around her waist. She dressed like this, came to the Virtue Camp at dawn, and stood in front of the amazed army in prayer."
A few days later, Madame Clydner revised the draft agreement of the kings of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, drawn up by Tsar Alexander, And gave this agreement a name: the Holy Alliance.
Regrettably, this is a reactionary alliance.
go to the bottom
In the last years of her life, her religious beliefs became more sincere and fanatical, and she worked hard to turn that belief into action. The only desire in her heart and the sole purpose of her life is to help the poor and the sick. She preached to the poor, founded churches, and announced that the kingdom of heaven was coming. But she didn't expect that the princes, nobles, authorities and all the big figures who treated her as a court lady in the past would instinctively regard her as an enemy when they saw her going to the bottom and facing the masses. Once she walked from one part of Switzerland to another, preaching and preaching, in an almost frenzied religious victory parade; then when she re-entered the country, she was expelled from city to city. When there was a famine in Baden, she was generous in her charitable relief activities, and the gendarmerie surrounded her house and dispersed those who asked her for help. She managed to enter France through Alsace, was escorted by the police to the Russian border, where she was handed over by the police in Wittenberg to the police in Bavaria, and by the police in Bavaria to the police in Saxony, where she was finally handed over to her national authorities. From then on she lost the favor of the Tsar forever. Because Christianity as she understands it can only arouse the disgust of the ruling authorities. In the religious magazines and pamphlets she distributed, she spoke of the bad things in society, the untold suffering of the poor and the unjust oppression of them by the rulers, all considered socialist and communist doctrines , while she herself was seen as a revolutionary. She even expressed ardent sympathy for the Greek War of Independence, declaring that it was the duty of Emperor Alexander, the founder of the Holy League, to stand at the forefront against the Turkish jihad. On this issue, although she can't compare with Byron, considering her personal experience, she can be said to be courageous.
Abandoned by the Tsar, Madame Clydner left Petersburg to live the self-punishing penance of a sincere missionary. She has gone through all kinds of hardships and tried everything possible to ease the pain of others. In 1824, when she traveled as far as the Crimea to preach, she left those poor people forever.
Madame Clydner once said of the ladies of Geneva: "They are neither charming in virtue, nor charming in sin." This latter statement applies to herself. Appropriate: The lustful radiance that radiated from her in those years of debauchery, of frequent lover changes, was undoubtedly sinful. Anna in Tolstoy is the spiritual watcher of love. With her life and passion, with her sincere and unshakable faith in love, she seeks the sanctity and purity of love in real life. She is an angel of love. But Madame Clydner can only be said to be Satan of love. However, when she suffered to rescue the poor in her later years, was expelled everywhere by the rulers, and died because of it, we also saw a flash of morality in her. In any case, she is sincere at this time, and she is worth remembering.
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