You went to all the bigname authors in the worldfranzen, mailer, wallace, wolfe, chabon, lethem, king, 125 of them and got each one to cough up a top10 list of the greatest books of all time. Also, there is obviously a tactical element to annas delayed entry were reading a book called anna. Princess katerina alexandrovna shtcherbatsky kitty the eighteen year old debutante who. Why leo tolstoys anna karenina transcends the ages film.
When women marry they take their husbands surname, modified with a suffix ending in a. But there is no doubt that anna karenina, generally considered tolstoys best book, is definitely one ripping great read. Acclaimed by many as the worlds greatest novel, anna karenina pr. Anna karenina 2012 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. We meet two important characters in the first chapters, and two other important ones are mentioned. Im not willing to say that anna karenina is the greatest novel ever written, but it certainly isnt very far off.
The novel details levins difficulties managing his estate, his eventual. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer count vronsky. Tolstoy wrote from the heart about levin, the intellectual farmer who tried to. I love reading about russia, theres a great sniper book about during the battle of stalingrad. Anna karenina features one of the most memorable, tragic endings in literature, but the final section of the book mostly disregards anna to focus on levins family life and his existential. Anna karenina by leo tolstoy published by vintage books on 1877 genreslists. Dec 23, 2017 the whos who of anna karenina one of biggest hurdles for people just starting to read russian literature is the large amount of characters and their complicated russian names. More than any other book, it persuades me that there is. During the 1870s, while tolstoy was writing anna karenina, russia was undergoing a great deal of political and societal change. Anne is the latinate variant of anne, a name common in numerous european languages.
Count alexei kirillovich vronsky character analysis in anna. The anna karenina quotes below are all either spoken by count alexei kirillovich vronsky or refer to count alexei kirillovich vronsky. Despite its epic nature, anna karenina is an intricate, intimate study of one womans downward spiral into tragedy. This book is deeply moving because of its sympathy with humanity. Edmundson dares to bring anna and levin together for the first spoken words of the play. Anna karenina 1997 movie, a 1997 britishamerican production filmed in st. Alexey alexandrovitch karenin annas deceived husband. This will be the third time anna karenina has been featured as a group read. Some people say anna karenina is the single greatest novel ever written, which makes about as much sense to me as trying to determine the worlds greatest color. Anna karenina is a novel by leo tolstoy that was first published in 1873. Anna karenina is about russian high society, the scandal caused by annas affair with vronsky and annas downward spiral, likely a result of guilt and the fact she is seen as a fallen woman, scorned to an extent by the society she is part of. After speaking at length to a peasant, levin has a true change of heart.
Stivas his nickname cheating, and now shes threatening to leave him. Anna karenina, 1985 another movie version of anna karenina, this one starring jacqueline bisset as anna and christopher reeve as vronsky. For the sake of clarity, however, english translators use the characters family names wherever possible. Stivas sister, anna karenina, arrives to reconcile the couple and dissuades dolly from getting a divorce. At this point all we know is that anna or mrs karenina, to give her her proper title is visiting later in the week.
Anna karenina, leo tolstoy anna karenina is a novel by the russian writer leo tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical the russian messenger. The novel anna karenina starts with one of its most often quoted lines. Anna karenina by leo tolstoy meet your next favorite book. See a complete list of the characters in anna karenina and indepth analyses of anna karenina, konstantin levin, alexei karenin, alexei vronsky, and stiva oblonsky. Considered by some to be the greatest novel ever written, anna karenina is tolstoys classic tale of love and adultery set against the backdrop of high society in moscow and saint petersburg. Some people say anna karenina is the single greatest novel ever written. Nov 23, 2012 when i first started reading anna karenina, ten years agoim obsessed with the book, and have read it seven times since theni, too, thought of it as a love story. Levins relationship with kitty wouldnt have happened without vronsky falling in love with anna instead of kitty, and levins transition from ambivalent bachelor to lifeaffirming family man is one of the happy stories of this novel.
Anna karenina gives a wonderful insight into prerevolutionary russia. As foreshadowed in the books early pages, the affair ends tragically, for both anna and. Konstantin dmitrich levin kostya autobiographical hero of novel. Nearly everyonemale, female, young, oldis magnetically attracted to her, and at the beginning of the novel, she is the brilliant center of society. Maggie gyllenhaal is one of my favorite actresses of all time. Adapted by tom stoppard from leo tolstoys 1877 novel of the same name and a remake of the 1985 film of the same name, the film depicts the tragedy of russian aristocrat and socialite anna karenina, wife of senior statesman alexei karenin, and her affair with the affluent officer count vronsky which leads to her. Based on the classic leo tolstoy novel of the same name, it focuses on the tragic title charact. When she refuses to conduct the discreet affair that her cold, ambitious husbandand russian high societywould condone, she is doomed. When i saw that anna karenina was on sale a few weeks ago and that maggie was the narrator, i decided to give it a try. Once you settle into tolstoys world, you become very much at. Dec 23, 2012 anna karenina, the film, ostensibly follows the arc of the novel, and the screenplay by tom stoppard includes many of the main characters and main scenes.
Society and class theme in anna karenina litcharts. Anna arkadyevna karenina high society heroine whose love affair keynotes the novel. Anna karenina characters in the life novel anna karenina. New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars. With one hundred and forty named characters and several other unnamed characters, tolstoy places his central focus in anna karenina on the characters.
Anna karenina is a novel by the russian author leo tolstoy, first published in book form in. Stimulate your thoughts and kick off your anna book conversations with questions about each part of the book. The musthave pevear and volokhonsky translation of one of the greatest russian novels ever written described by william faulkner as the best novel ever written and by fyodor dostoevsky as flawless, anna karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious anna and the dashing officer, count vronsky. Anna karenina has fast become one of my favourite books of all time. Konstantin levin, stivas friend, arrives in moscow to propose to the eighteen year old kitty shtcherbatsky. Reading length provides a calculation for the word count of this book, find out how long it will take you to read. I accidently ran into the movie anna karenina online, its in two parts and reading on the free kindle for pc im almost at the end of the first movie. Anna karenina is a novel by russian author leo tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. The other important person mentioned, but not until chapter 5, is his sister annas husband, alexey alexandrovitch karenin. In the second sentence we hear of trouble in the oblonskys household.
If you read only one novel in your life, read anna karenina. Reflecting russian morals of the time, as well as tolstoys personal feelings on infidelity, anna karenina explores themes of passion and fidelity, the impact that social norms have on personal choice, and the ramifications of. Anna karenina is a 2012 historical romantic drama film directed by joe wright. Anna karenina pevearvolokhonsky translation by leo. On the first page we get the husbands full name, prince stepan arkadyich oblonsky and his nickname, stiva.
A simple answer, i think, is that annas affair with vronsky is the driving force behind the entire book. We might already have guessed that this anna is the novels heroine, and here is confirmation. It would be helpful to have footnotes explaining the concepts to modern readers but the interwoven stories of anna and levin come through strongly. See a complete list of the characters in anna karenina and indepth analyses of anna karenina, konstantin levin, alexei karenin, alexei vronsky, and.
Anna karenina, 1948 stars vivien leigh in the title role. Anna karenina, the living library first printing, 1946. Anna karenina is also a crisis novel because it talks about hypocrisy and the judgmental society that sanctions any form of adultery as long as the marriage exists even if it is just on a piece of paper and the spouses drifted away for each other a long time ago. The narrative centres on the adulterous affair between anna, wife of aleksey karenin, and count vronsky, a young bachelor. Thats easy enough, except for the second given name, arkadyich.
Widely considered one of the best novels ever written, anna karenina is the tragic story of the aristocratic annas doomed affair with the wealthy count vronsky. A crisis develops in the oblonsky household when dolly finds out about her husbands affair. I thought that it would be handy to make a whos who of anna karenina. Madame karenina stood quite still, holding herself very erect, and her eyes were smiling. Anna karenina, 1935 this movie version stars greta garbo as anna karenina. I not only enjoyed her narrations but the story was interesting as well. Anna karenina takes place against the backdrop of liberal reforms introduced by emperor alexander ii in the 1860s. Leo tolstoy skillfully weaves the romance between the countess anna and the. Is the movie anna karenina 2012 much different from the book. Learn how to pronounce names from anna karenina and listen to andy read a short passage on. These immediately apparent features account for the length of anna karenina. Anna karenina seems to have everything beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But when i agreed to read it for audible, i had no idea how much work it would be, how intense it would be, and how deeply i would fall in love with it.
Anna is intelligent and charming and beautiful and wonderfully dressed and clearly fundamentally good. This is the book that rory and dean discuss after she lent it to him. Married to a provincial governor, the punctilious karenin, anna revolts against her life of compromise when. May 23, 2017 your can try this site 1 keira delivers anna as a damaged woman who is never happy. Your guide to understanding anna karenina war and peacethis marks one more book for the classics club, as well as a book translated from its original language for the 2012 back to the classics challenge. Aside from the offputting length, the sometimes incomprehensible russian names and titles which my copy tried hard to diffuse and the now dull and dated tangents into things like 19th century russian politics and farming techniques, i loved anna karenina. Francine prose, author of blue angel and my new american life. Anna karenina simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. One of biggest hurdles for people just starting to read russian literature is the large amount of characters and their complicated russian names. Because thats an excellent novel to start with and it would be a huge shame if you didnt finish it because of the names.
It is so well written that you cannot put it down but it demands time and concentration. The project gutenberg ebook of anna karenina, by leo tolstoy this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Ive always been afraid of picking him up because, well, the russians are just so daunting but, since im trying to read some of the books from the. It took me a while to finish the entire book but i did. Dec 23, 2016 first published between 1875 and 1877. Anna arkadyevna, the countess said in explanation to her son, has a little son eight years old, i believe, and she has never been parted from him before, and she keeps fretting over leaving him. Tolstoy clashed with editor mikhail katkov over political issues that arose in the final installment tolstoys negative views of russian. Anna karenina, 1977 a tv miniseries adaptation of tolstoys famous novel.
It was on a list of books that id been working my way through and, after seeing the size of. The broad strokes of the story are incredibly compelling, but its the characters, the. Characters and the life novel by examining the character list, one immediately notices the value tolstoy places on character. Anna karenina couldnt be less like a conventional modern novel. It is the tragic story of countess anna karenina, a socialite and married woman, and her doomed love affair with the wealthy count vronsky. A beautiful iconoclast eventually destroyed by her own insecurity. Yet tolstoy doesnt spare levin, the character with whom he is most in. Just wondered if someone might help me understand the way they use their names in this book. Set against the tragic love of anna and vronsky, the plight of the.
See a complete list of the characters in anna karenina and indepth analyses of. Anna karenina by leo tolstoy, a free text and ebook for easy online reading, study, and reference. Anna goes through an evolution from being near perfection to being a character marred by adultery, jealousy and spite. Anna karenina, the film, ostensibly follows the arc of the novel, and the screenplay by tom stoppard includes many of the main characters and main scenes. Its length, its cast of characters, the russian names, the distance between our own experience and more than a century of societal evolution combined with the distance between a longgone culture and modern sensibilities make it easy to assume that anna karenina will be difficult to. He has the manwoman dynamic down to eerie perfection. A novel about the meaning of life and the role happiness does or does not play in it, anna karenina is the story of a married womans adulterous affair with count vronsky. Nov 26, 2014 i had heard a lot about russian authors.
It was previously an old school classic group read extended to two months, bc of length, in aprmay 2012, and again was a group read for a revisit the shelf group read selection also extended to two months, bc of length, in janfeb 20. In this lesson, we will go over a brief summary and the main characters of. Anna karenina, by leo tolstoy, is a russian novel that follows the life of anna karenina during the late 19th century. Anna karenina, novel by leo tolstoy, published in installments between 1875 and 1877 and considered one of the pinnacles of world literature. Dont let the length, or the large cast of russian names, put you off though. Kitty shcherbatsky starts out anna karenina like the kind of high society girls that. Anna karenina is a novel that beguiles and intrigues, i have read anna karenina many times, yet i always fall in love with anna on first sight, just as vronsky and kitty fall in love with her when they first see her.
If you have the patience, the capacity, the ability to remember the names of people youve only met once, you should absolutely read this book. Im not sure what i was expecting, but whatever it was it wasnt what i got. As annas husband becomes increasingly absorbed in philosophical and political introspection, tolstoys heroine grows weary of her life as a mother and wealthy mans wife. But what ifjust for arguments sakeyou got insanely rigorous about it. The change is so dramatic that it is terrifyingwe witness the disintegration of a human psyche. Leo tolstoy is a name taken with a lot of respect in russian literature. The names given in full are sometimes a bit confusing but definitely authentic. Anna arkadyevna karenina anna is a beautiful, aristocratic, sharply intelligent, intensely charismatic woman.
Many writers consider anna karenina the greatest work of literature ever, and tolstoy himself called it his first true novel. The two main characters, anna and levin, are eventually linked. When i was young, i had read a few short stories of leo tolstoy. You just read them leisurely, chapter by chapter without worrying about the length. Leo tolstoys anna karenina by edmundson fulllength play. Anna karenina is once again adapted from the leo tolstoy book of the same name about love, life and forgivness. Your guide to understanding tolstoys anna karenina. Jun 14, 2019 for the modern reader, anna karenina and any 19thcentury russian novel can seem imposing and daunting. Sensual, rebellious anna falls deeply and passionately in love with the handsome count vronsky. Anna karenina opens with one of the most crazyfamous sentences of all time. David horovitch listening to anna karenina highlights the dazzle of tolstoys best novelasnovel. Russians call each other by the christian name and patronymic, rarely by surname.
Apr 23, 2016 anna karenina is set in nineteenthcentury russia, exploring relationships, death and controversy between tradition and freethinking. Tolstoy and dostoevsky in print and audio popmatters. Audibles best of 2016 classic anna karenina is one of my favorite books. The book opens with anna arriving on a scene of family chaos which. Aug 31, 2012 the tragic consequences of the pursuit of love for loves sake, in defiance of the rules laid down by ones peers and ones family, is an eternal story, and that story is in anna karenina, but. The protagonist of the novel anna karenina, she was the tragic russian princess who has an illfated affair with the seductive count vronsky. Petersburg, russia, by director bernard rose with sophie marceau as anna karenina. Why leo tolstoys anna karenina transcends the ages film the. Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis. Tragedy unfolds as anna rejects her passionless marriage and. These reforms included rapid growth of industry, building of railroads, introduction of local government in the form of the zemstvo, military reforms. Its length, its cast of characters, the russian names, the distance. Nov 16, 2012 anna karenina features one of the most memorable, tragic endings in literature, but the final section of the book mostly disregards anna to focus on levins family life and his existential. Anna karenina by leo tolstoy remains a vibrant novel that speaks to.
916 719 1608 444 835 1311 18 658 1391 1270 1524 601 500 820 1422 1159 1588 939 1327 213 885 745 358 1444 849 1054 312 867 327 501 164 459 35 1360 674 1408 361