Name: Anna Karenina
Author: Leo Tolstoy
ISBN: 9780191662249

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

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Author Description

Love... it means too much to me, far more than you can understand. At its simplest, Anna Karenina is a love story. It is a portrait of a beautiful and intelligent woman whose passionate love for a handsome officer sweeps aside all other ties - to her marriage and to the network of relationships and moral values that bind the society around her. The love affair of Anna and Vronsky is played out alongside the developing romance of Kitty and Levin, and in the character of Levin, closely based on Tolstoy himself, the search for happiness takes on a deeper philosophical significance. One of the greatest novels ever written, Anna Karenina combines penetrating psychological insight with an encyclopedic depiction of Russian life in the 1870s. The novel takes us from high society St Petersburg to the threshing fields on Levin's estate, with unforgettable scenes at a Moscow ballroom, the skating rink, a race course, a railway station. It creates an intricate labyrinth of connections that is profoundly satisfying, and deeply moving. Rosamund Bartlett's translation conveys Tolstoy's precision of meaning and emotional accuracy in an English version that is highly readable and stylistically faithful. Like her acclaimed biography of Tolstoy, it is vivid, nuanced, and compelling.

Menrva's Summary

THE PULSE

The illicit affair between Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky threatens to dismantle the rigid social structures of 1870s Russian aristocracy. Anna, a woman of high standing, risks her reputation and family stability by pursuing a passionate relationship that defies the moral expectations of her peers. Her objective is to find personal fulfillment outside of a loveless marriage, while the opposing forces of societal judgment and internal guilt create a tightening trap. The narrative employs a third-person omniscient perspective to weave together the lives of multiple characters, contrasting Anna's tragic trajectory with the domestic and spiritual growth of Konstantin Levin. The world is defined by the stark divide between the opulent urban centers of St. Petersburg and Moscow and the agrarian realities of the Russian countryside.

INSIDE THE PAGES

Parallel narrative structure contrasting the lives of Anna and Levin
Extensive exploration of 19th-century Russian social hierarchy
Detailed psychological character studies
Philosophical inquiries into faith, labor, and family
Vivid depictions of high-society rituals and rural agricultural life
Use of symbolic settings such as railway stations and ballrooms
Examination of the conflict between individual desire and social duty
Integration of autobiographical elements reflecting the author's own search for meaning

THE COLLECTIVE ECHO

Discussion often centers on the intricate balance Tolstoy maintains between the personal drama of the central romance and the broader critique of the Russian social order. Readers frequently highlight the depth of the character development, particularly the contrast between the destructive path of Anna and the constructive, introspective search for purpose undertaken by Levin. Critics often note the precision of the prose, which captures both the minute details of daily life and the expansive philosophical questions of the era. The novel is widely regarded for its ability to render complex human motivations with clarity and psychological accuracy. Many readers find the pacing deliberate, allowing for a thorough immersion into the social and political climate of the 1870s.

Page Count:
896

Publication Date:
2014-01-01

Publisher:
OUP Oxford

ISBN-10:
0191662240

ISBN-13:
9780191662249

History

Romance

Social Commentary

19th Century

Married People

Historical

FICTION Historical