and Socratic dialogue that are integrated into its structure, may well be considered in part a carnival novel. The steeplechase scene during which Vronsky breaks Frou-Frou's back is a perfect example of carnivalism -- the tragic yet somehow slapstick and cartoon-like injuries that befall the riders is a parody of the grand battlefield that the steeplechase is supposed to symbolize and the crowds of observers present provide the necessary "public square" that Bakhtin outlines as necessary for the second key property of carnivalism, "free and familiar contact among people," at the racecourse occasioned by the terrible accidents that generate a swarm of rumors that pass between the spectators regardless, for once, of class and gender -- in the excitement of the event, Tolstoy writes, Anna's shriek of fear at the precise moment of Vronsky's upset passes the notice of those surrounding her usually so keen to find something inappropriate in Anna's relation to Vronsky. Bakhtin's theory of carnivalism, however, only goes so far in characterizing Tolstoy's prose, and even though the reliance on chance as generator of events continues, the solipsistic mode of self-analysis and interpersonal distance returns almost immediately after the race is over and as the novel continues, becomes the dominant mode of ideological presentation so key to the essence of Anna's relationship to Vronsky and to her reasons for suicide.Stephen Oblonsky, the first character we encounter in the novel, is at home in the turbulent and unstructured world that Tolstoy depicts, and lives at ease with the often meaningless turns of fate that occur to him and others. "You wish all the facts of life to be consistent, but they never are," he says to Levin in Part I. "You want the activity of each separate man to have an aim, and love and family life always to coincide -- and that doesn't happen either. All the variety, charm and beauty of life are made up of light and shade."Obl...
