Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina is a novel by Leo Tolstoy, first published in installments in the 1870s and widely regarded as one of the major works of world literature.

Anna Karenina is a novel by Leo Tolstoy, first published in installments in the 1870s and widely regarded as one of the major works of world literature. It follows the tragic affair between Anna Karenina and Count Alexei Vronsky, alongside a parallel storyline about Konstantin Levin, marriage, faith, and social life in imperial Russia.

Plot

The novel follows Anna Karenina, who enters a relationship with Count Vronsky while married to Alexei Karenin. Their affair leads to family conflict, social scandal, and Anna’s eventual suicide, while Levin’s separate storyline explores love, work, faith, and domestic life.

Characters

Anna is the title character and central tragic figure, Vronsky is her lover, Karenin is her husband, and Levin is the novel’s other major protagonist. Supporting characters include Kitty Shcherbatskaya and members of the Oblonsky family.

Themes

Tolstoy examines adultery, marriage, family duty, religion, morality, class expectations, and the tension between urban and rural life. The novel is also known for contrasting passionate desire with domestic and spiritual fulfillment.

Publication and reception

Anna Karenina was published in installments between 1875 and 1877 and later became one of Tolstoy’s best-known novels. It is widely treated as a canonical work of 19th-century literature.