Anna Karenina (Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay)

Book excerpt: Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is the story of a woman, Anna, wife of Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin. She is an apparently happily married matron of the Russian upper class. The novel begins with her attempt to smooth the troubled waters of her brother’s adulterous affair. Due to circumstances surrounding this situation she ends up in an adulterous affair of her own with a wealthy army officer, Count Vronsky. The novel is about the choices people make and the consequences of their actions in a society of strict social rules, hypocrisies and prejudices. Tolstoy weaves a story of great intricacy with a myriad of characters that move the action forward. Anna’s actions as a married woman involved in an extramarital affair eventually lead her to be outcast from her own society. She goes into an emotional decline and in time, commits suicide. The novel has a subplot about a young woman named Kitty who is courted by both Count Vronsky and a landowner, Konstantin Dmitrich Levin. She prefers Vronsky, but when she finds out about his affair with Anna, she is devastated and turns to Levin for comfort, and marries him. Their situation is a positive note in the novel - they enjoy a contented marriage. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.