At more settled moments in her life, Anna, each time some powerful emotion or torment came crashing down, would compare her situation, which was essentially very happy, to that of people who had had to endure some terrible misfortune foisted on them from without. And she would feel ashamed for being so extravagantly affected by little setbacks and misunderstandings, fallings-out. At moments like these she would have been capable of remarking that women given to falling passionately in love are often idle, with nothing much to do with their time and seldom any care for the morrow. Could anyone imagine Phèdre with a job? It’s a spiritual luxury, being in a position to enjoy these overwhelming emotions, which can certainly kill you or drive you insane, but at the same time are the mark of some deep-seated transformation. And yet it’s so wonderful to have the leisure to be transformed, to give yourself up to this perilous play, when so many people are compelled to think, first and foremost, of simply hanging on.