Anna Karenina : Leo Tolstoy
Finally...I was able to finish this novel....took a really long time to complete and the best part was that even though I had to take long breaks in between, I never quite lost track of the story...
The following are the details taken from Wikipedia for my own reference:
Tolstoy was both a moralist and severe critic of the excesses of his aristocratic peers, and Anna Karenina is often interpreted overall as a parable on the difficulty of being honest to oneself when the rest of society accepts falseness.
Anna is the jewel of St. Petersburg society until she leaves her husband for the handsome and charming military officer, Count Vronsky. By falling in love, they go beyond society's external conditions of trivial adulterous dalliances.
A common way to interpret Anna's tragedy, then, is that she could neither be completely honest nor completely false, showing a Hamlet-like inner conflict that eventually drives her to suicide.
But the novel contains the parallel and contrasting love story of Konstantin Levin. Levin is a wealthy landowner from the provinces who could move in aristocratic circles, but who prefers to work on his estate in the country. Levin tries unsuccessfully to fit into high society when wooing the young Kitty Scherbatsky in Petersburg; he wins her only when he allows himself to be himself.
The joyous, honest and solid relationship of Levin and Kitty is continually contrasted in the novel with that of Anna and Vronsky, which is tainted by its uncertain status (marriage) resulting in constant upheaval, backbiting, and suspicion. So by the time Anna throws herself under a train at the end of the story, Tolstoy supposedly did not want readers to sympathize with her supposed mistreatment, but rather to recognize that her inability to truly commit to her own happiness or self-truth which led to her ignominious end.
The character Levin is recognized as a stand-in for Tolstoy himself, whose first name in Russian is "Lev." He incorporated other details of his life into the character, such as Levin's insistence that Kitty read his journals before they marry, something Tolstoy made his own wife do. Thus scholars usually assume that Levin's thoughts reflect Tolstoy's own.
Many of the novel's themes can be found in Tolstoy's Confession, his first-person rumination about the nature of life and faith, written just two years after the publication of Anna Karenina.
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It is believed that the character of Anna was inspired by Maria Hartung (1832–1919), the elder daughter of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
The novel begins with one of its most quoted lines, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Part 1 introduces the character Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky ("Stiva"), a civil servant who has been unfaithful to his wife Darya Alexandrovna ("Dolly"). Stiva's affair shows an amorous personality which he cannot seem to suppress. Thus, Anna Karenina, Stiva's married sister, is summoned from St.Petersburg by Stiva in order to persuade Dolly not to leave him.
Upon arriving at Moscow, a railway worker accidentally falls in front of a train and is killed—foreshadowing Anna's own demise.
Meanwhile, Stiva's childhood friend Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin arrives in Moscow to offer his hand in marriage to Dolly's younger sister Katerina Alexandrovna Shcherbatsky ("Kitty"). The young but serious aristocratic landowner lives on an estate which he manages. Kitty turns him down as she is expecting a marriage offer from army officer Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky.
Despite his fondness for Kitty, Vronsky has no intention of ever marrying her. He soon falls in love with Anna after he meets her at the Moscow train station and later dances the mazurka with her at a ball.
Anna, shaken by her response and animation to Vronsky, returns at once to St. Petersburg. Vronsky follows her on the same train. Levin returns to his estate farm, abandoning any hope of marriage, and Anna returns to her husband Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, a senior government official, and their son Seriozha in Petersburg.
In part 2, Karenin scolds Anna for talking too much with Vronsky, but after a while she returns Vronsky's affections nonetheless, and becomes pregnant with his child. Anna showed anguish when Vronsky falls from a racehorse, making her feelings obvious in society and prompting her to confess to her husband. When Kitty learns that Vronsky prefers Anna over her, she travels to a resort at a German Spring to recover from the shock. This attraction appears repeatedly in the book through the form of a "What if" question.
Part 3 examines Levin's life on his rural farming estate, a setting closely tied to Levin's spiritual thoughts and struggles. Dolly also meets Levin, and attempts to revive his feelings for Kitty. Dolly seems to be unsuccessful, but a chance sighting of Kitty makes Levin realize he still loves her. Back in Petersburg, Karenin exasperates Anna by refusing to separate with her, and threatens not to let her see their son Seriozha ever again if she leaves or misbehaves.
By part 4 however, Karenin finds the situation intolerable and begins seeking divorce. Anna's brother Stiva argues against it and persuades Karenin to speak with Dolly first. Again, Dolly seems to be unsuccessful, but Karenin changes his plans after hearing that Anna is dying in childbirth. At her bedside, Karenin forgives Vronsky, who in remorse attempts suicide. However, Anna recovers, having given birth to a daughter she names Anna ("Annie"). Stiva finds himself pleading on her behalf for Karenin to divorce. Vronsky at first plans to flee to Tashkent, but changes his mind after seeing Anna, and they leave for Europe without obtaining a divorce after all. Much more straightforward is Stiva's matchmaking with Levin: a meeting he arranges between Levin and Kitty results in their reconciliation and betrothal.
In part 5, Levin and Kitty marry. A few months later, Levin learns that his brother Nikolai is dying. The couple go to him, and Kitty nurses him until he dies, while also discovering she is pregnant. In Europe, Vronsky and Anna struggle to find friends who will accept them and pursue activities that will amuse them, but they eventually return to Russia. Karenin is comforted – and influenced – by the strong-willed Countess Lidia Ivanovna, an enthusiast of religious and mystic ideas fashionable with the upper classes, who counsels him to keep Seriozha away from Anna. However, Anna manages to visit Seriozha unannounced on his birthday, but is discovered by the furious Karenin, who had told their son that his mother was dead. Shortly afterward, she and Vronsky leave for the country.
In part 6, Dolly visits Anna. At Vronsky's request, she asks Anna to resume seeking a divorce from Karenin. Yet again, Dolly seems unsuccessful; but when Vronsky leaves for several days of provincial elections, a combination of boredom and suspicion convinces Anna she must marry Vronsky. So she writes to Karenin, and leaves with Vronsky for Moscow.
In part 7, the Levins are in Moscow for Kitty's benefit as she gives birth to a son. Stiva, while seeking Karenin's commendation for a new job, again asks him to grant Anna a divorce; but Karenin's decisions are now governed by a "clairvoyant" – recommended by Lidia Ivanovna – who apparently counsels him to decline. Anna and Vronsky become increasingly bitter towards each other. They plan to return to the country, but in a jealous rage Anna leaves early, and in a parallel to part 1, commits suicide by throwing herself in the path of a train. (Tolstoy reportedly was inspired to write Anna Karenina by reading a newspaper report of such a death.)
Part 8 continues the story after Anna's death. Stiva gets the job he wanted, and Karenin takes custody of Annie. Some Russian volunteers, including Vronsky, who does not plan to come back, leave to help in the Serbian revolt that has just broken out against the Turks. And in the joys and fears of fatherhood, Levin at last develops faith in the Christian God.
The following are the details taken from Wikipedia for my own reference:
Tolstoy was both a moralist and severe critic of the excesses of his aristocratic peers, and Anna Karenina is often interpreted overall as a parable on the difficulty of being honest to oneself when the rest of society accepts falseness.
Anna is the jewel of St. Petersburg society until she leaves her husband for the handsome and charming military officer, Count Vronsky. By falling in love, they go beyond society's external conditions of trivial adulterous dalliances.
A common way to interpret Anna's tragedy, then, is that she could neither be completely honest nor completely false, showing a Hamlet-like inner conflict that eventually drives her to suicide.
But the novel contains the parallel and contrasting love story of Konstantin Levin. Levin is a wealthy landowner from the provinces who could move in aristocratic circles, but who prefers to work on his estate in the country. Levin tries unsuccessfully to fit into high society when wooing the young Kitty Scherbatsky in Petersburg; he wins her only when he allows himself to be himself.
The joyous, honest and solid relationship of Levin and Kitty is continually contrasted in the novel with that of Anna and Vronsky, which is tainted by its uncertain status (marriage) resulting in constant upheaval, backbiting, and suspicion. So by the time Anna throws herself under a train at the end of the story, Tolstoy supposedly did not want readers to sympathize with her supposed mistreatment, but rather to recognize that her inability to truly commit to her own happiness or self-truth which led to her ignominious end.
The character Levin is recognized as a stand-in for Tolstoy himself, whose first name in Russian is "Lev." He incorporated other details of his life into the character, such as Levin's insistence that Kitty read his journals before they marry, something Tolstoy made his own wife do. Thus scholars usually assume that Levin's thoughts reflect Tolstoy's own.
Many of the novel's themes can be found in Tolstoy's Confession, his first-person rumination about the nature of life and faith, written just two years after the publication of Anna Karenina.
******************************************************************************
It is believed that the character of Anna was inspired by Maria Hartung (1832–1919), the elder daughter of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
The novel begins with one of its most quoted lines, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Part 1 introduces the character Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky ("Stiva"), a civil servant who has been unfaithful to his wife Darya Alexandrovna ("Dolly"). Stiva's affair shows an amorous personality which he cannot seem to suppress. Thus, Anna Karenina, Stiva's married sister, is summoned from St.Petersburg by Stiva in order to persuade Dolly not to leave him.
Upon arriving at Moscow, a railway worker accidentally falls in front of a train and is killed—foreshadowing Anna's own demise.
Meanwhile, Stiva's childhood friend Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin arrives in Moscow to offer his hand in marriage to Dolly's younger sister Katerina Alexandrovna Shcherbatsky ("Kitty"). The young but serious aristocratic landowner lives on an estate which he manages. Kitty turns him down as she is expecting a marriage offer from army officer Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky.
Despite his fondness for Kitty, Vronsky has no intention of ever marrying her. He soon falls in love with Anna after he meets her at the Moscow train station and later dances the mazurka with her at a ball.
Anna, shaken by her response and animation to Vronsky, returns at once to St. Petersburg. Vronsky follows her on the same train. Levin returns to his estate farm, abandoning any hope of marriage, and Anna returns to her husband Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, a senior government official, and their son Seriozha in Petersburg.
In part 2, Karenin scolds Anna for talking too much with Vronsky, but after a while she returns Vronsky's affections nonetheless, and becomes pregnant with his child. Anna showed anguish when Vronsky falls from a racehorse, making her feelings obvious in society and prompting her to confess to her husband. When Kitty learns that Vronsky prefers Anna over her, she travels to a resort at a German Spring to recover from the shock. This attraction appears repeatedly in the book through the form of a "What if" question.
Part 3 examines Levin's life on his rural farming estate, a setting closely tied to Levin's spiritual thoughts and struggles. Dolly also meets Levin, and attempts to revive his feelings for Kitty. Dolly seems to be unsuccessful, but a chance sighting of Kitty makes Levin realize he still loves her. Back in Petersburg, Karenin exasperates Anna by refusing to separate with her, and threatens not to let her see their son Seriozha ever again if she leaves or misbehaves.
By part 4 however, Karenin finds the situation intolerable and begins seeking divorce. Anna's brother Stiva argues against it and persuades Karenin to speak with Dolly first. Again, Dolly seems to be unsuccessful, but Karenin changes his plans after hearing that Anna is dying in childbirth. At her bedside, Karenin forgives Vronsky, who in remorse attempts suicide. However, Anna recovers, having given birth to a daughter she names Anna ("Annie"). Stiva finds himself pleading on her behalf for Karenin to divorce. Vronsky at first plans to flee to Tashkent, but changes his mind after seeing Anna, and they leave for Europe without obtaining a divorce after all. Much more straightforward is Stiva's matchmaking with Levin: a meeting he arranges between Levin and Kitty results in their reconciliation and betrothal.
In part 5, Levin and Kitty marry. A few months later, Levin learns that his brother Nikolai is dying. The couple go to him, and Kitty nurses him until he dies, while also discovering she is pregnant. In Europe, Vronsky and Anna struggle to find friends who will accept them and pursue activities that will amuse them, but they eventually return to Russia. Karenin is comforted – and influenced – by the strong-willed Countess Lidia Ivanovna, an enthusiast of religious and mystic ideas fashionable with the upper classes, who counsels him to keep Seriozha away from Anna. However, Anna manages to visit Seriozha unannounced on his birthday, but is discovered by the furious Karenin, who had told their son that his mother was dead. Shortly afterward, she and Vronsky leave for the country.
In part 6, Dolly visits Anna. At Vronsky's request, she asks Anna to resume seeking a divorce from Karenin. Yet again, Dolly seems unsuccessful; but when Vronsky leaves for several days of provincial elections, a combination of boredom and suspicion convinces Anna she must marry Vronsky. So she writes to Karenin, and leaves with Vronsky for Moscow.
In part 7, the Levins are in Moscow for Kitty's benefit as she gives birth to a son. Stiva, while seeking Karenin's commendation for a new job, again asks him to grant Anna a divorce; but Karenin's decisions are now governed by a "clairvoyant" – recommended by Lidia Ivanovna – who apparently counsels him to decline. Anna and Vronsky become increasingly bitter towards each other. They plan to return to the country, but in a jealous rage Anna leaves early, and in a parallel to part 1, commits suicide by throwing herself in the path of a train. (Tolstoy reportedly was inspired to write Anna Karenina by reading a newspaper report of such a death.)
Part 8 continues the story after Anna's death. Stiva gets the job he wanted, and Karenin takes custody of Annie. Some Russian volunteers, including Vronsky, who does not plan to come back, leave to help in the Serbian revolt that has just broken out against the Turks. And in the joys and fears of fatherhood, Levin at last develops faith in the Christian God.
posted by Abhinav at 1:12 AM
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