Rewriting Anna Karenina

I don't like this truth. I'll have another one.

I am guilty of rewriting works of literature - at least in my own mind. If I don’t like the ending - as in Anna Karenina - there’s a better one. There’s no guilt in it. The miserable endings always happened in another place, another time. They are no longer applicable to my world.

Or not.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The book Anna Karenina prompted much-needed conversations about socially-acceptable roles for women in its time. It is not something I really relate to. That was then, this is now. And thank G-d that nonsense is dead and gone!

Feels better, huh?

I am not alone. A depressing ending to a tragic book is a drag. Reminders of past injustices are easily avoided. Slogging through such pain can seem pointless. Everybody prefers a Hollywood ending.

Then a Supreme Court memo leaks.

And just like that, we are dealing with social injustices of previous centuries. Personal rights and freedoms are threatened. Women are being arrested for having miscarriages. States are poised …