Deena Shanker - Quicklet on Leo Tolstoys Anna Karenina: Cliffsnotes-like Book Summary

I first read Leo Tolstoys Anna Karenina shortly after finishing Fyodor Dostoyevskys Crime and Punishment . The books, both set in Russia in that late 1800s, tell two very different stories, yet explore many similar themes. Anna Karenina is a tale of an adulterous upper class woman whose husband refuses to release her from the shackles of their legal marriage, even though she shares a home and a daughter with her new lover and repeatedly begs for a divorce. Crime and Punishment , on the other hand, depicts the psychological underpinnings of crime and the impact that committing those crimes has on both the criminal and the society he lives in. Both of these works of nineteenth-century Russian literature vividly portray the intense mental anguish suffered by those who society has cast out.

Anna Karenina , widely considered to be Tolstoys masterpiece, is a penetrating depiction of human existence. Through the themes of love, society, wealth, and human emotion, it delves deeply into the psyches of its characters, whose positions the reader can still empathize with more than one hundred years after the works original publication. Anyone who has experienced love in any of its forms will find a character in Anna Karenina whose thoughts, feelings, and predicaments, could be their own.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), an author, poet, and philosopher, lived a life characterized by internal struggle. Though he was born to a wealthy Russian family, his mother died when he was two, and he was moved from the countryside to Moscow at eight to receive an education. His father died the following year, and this was followed by the death of the aunt caring for him, forcing him to move yet again. At sixteen, when he began university, he also started to drink heavily and gamble. In 1847, he returned to the familys country estate without a degree. He spent the next several years fighting depression, and his problems with gambling and drinking.

In 1851 Tolstoy joined his brother Nikolay in the Caucasian army, leaving the estate to travel through southern Russia and fight in the Crimean War. It was at this point that Tolstoy first turned his life around and began to write fiction. After leaving the army in 1855, he lived the life of a successful writer and bachelor (which included indulging in his old tendencies towards alcohol and gambling).

At thirty-four, Tolstoy married his wife, Sonya, with whom he eventually had twelve children. Despite his success, Tolstoy suffered further bouts of depression. In 1879, he began writing a series of anti-church articles and books, leading to his excommunication by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In his last years, Tolstoy gave all of his possessions to charity. He was abandoned by all but one of his children. He struggled with depression until his final days, and died in an attempt to start a new life in 1910.

Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina during Russian literatures Golden Age, which also included the publication of venerated classics like the aforementioned Crime and Punishment . But it was also a rough transitional time for Russia, with its economic and industrial development lagging behind that of other Western European countries. In 1861, in a highly progressive move, Tsar Alexander II emancipated and gave land to approximately 20 million serfs, compensating their former owners with government bonds. But the serfs were unable to adequately work the land with their outdated technologies, and so struggled to produce sufficient crops and pay their government dues, forcing landowners to sell their estates to remain solvent.

The country was undergoing shifts in its political and social landscapes as well. Between 1864 and 1870, local governments and city councils were created, and the judiciary system was significantly reformed. Military reform was also attempted, but it failed and left an under-developed army.

The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia

A street in Moscow

Anna Karenina was originally published as a series between 1873 and 1879. Though initially considered by some to be a tawdry romance story, it is now universally recognized as one of the greatest novels ever written. That Tolstoy wrote it while struggling with his own questions of morality, religion, and wealth, is readily apparent. His characters engage in intense soul searching and questioning of social norms; they act with both incredible kindness and hateful vengeance; family is portrayed as both a blessing and a curse. Tolstoys own philosophies and questions are seamlessly interwoven into the story through emblematic, yet very human, characters and conflicts.

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Thus begins Anna Karenina , which opens with the temporary upheaval between Stiva Oblonsky and his wife, Dolly, when she discovers his affair with the childrens governess. Oblonsky asks his sister, Anna Karenina, to come repair the situation; she succeeds, and the two are reunited.

Next, a love triangle unfolds between Kitty (Dollys sister), Count Vronsky, and Konstantin Levin. Levin, an unrefined countryside landowner, has fallen in love with his childhood friend, Kitty, a young woman of noble heritage. But Kitty is awaiting a marriage proposal from the handsome and rich Vronsky, so refuses when Levin asks for her hand. While Kitty expects to continue the courtship with Vronsky, she is heartbroken by his new infatuation with Anna, whom he had recently met a train station. Vronskys regard for Anna is visible at a ball attended attended by all three.

Soon Anna begins an affair with Vronsky. When she becomes pregnant, she confesses her affair to her husband, statesman Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin. He instructs her to at least hide the relationship, and threatens to take their son from her if she does not obey.

As Anna continues her affair with Vronsky, Karenin consults with his lawyer about divorce. Dolly, however, manages to convince Karenin not to follow through with his plans, and after witnessing Anna endure a brutal childbirth, he decides to end divorce proceedings, forgive her, and even care for the daughter as his own. Learning of this new situation, Vronsky attempts suicide but he survives his gunshot wound. When Anna cannot bear to live with Karenin any longer, she, her daughter, and Vronsky flee to Europe.

Meanwhile, Kitty has fallen ill from the heartache, and travels abroad under doctors orders. Levin stays in the country trying to mend his broken heart. Recognizing their mutual pain, Oblonsky brings the two together, and they are finally married. When Levin learns that his brother is gravely ill, Kitty joins him in their visit to his deathbed. Levin falls even further in love with Kitty as she nurses the sick brother until his death, when he finds himself without direction or knowledge of how to proceed.

In Europe, Anna and Vronsky find that they are not as happy as they had expected. Vronsky begins to feel suffocated and look for other forms of entertainment, and Anna becomes increasingly aware of his decreasing affection for her. When they return to Russia, they discover that their social situation has drastically changed: Anna, once universally respected and admired, is no longer welcome at society events, though Vronsky may still move freely and without condemnation. Unable to fit in, they move to Vronskys country estate.