Anna Karenina: Russian Literature Social Critique 19th-Century Society Themes of Passion, Marriage, and Betrayal Insightful Examination of Societal Norms Tragic Romance - Tapa blanda

There are as many kinds of love, as there are hearts. In the nineteenth century Russian high society, the ravishing, aristocratic Anna Karenina is married to Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin, a senior statesman, twenty years her senior. But as her passionate and restless spirit compels her, she falls in love with Count Vronskya young and wealthy military officer. And now, Anna wants to break away from her cold marriage. As Karenin refuses to separate, Anna is doomed. Caught between the rigorous societal norms, laws, and the Orthodox Church, she is consumed by guilt and isolation. What becomes of Anna as she is left tormented? With intricately crafted characters chafed between their passions and Russian mores, Anna Karenina explores the feudal Russia of that period. Admired to date, Tolstoy regarded it as his first true novel. It has been adapted into films, operas, ballet, and television and radio dramas and continues to ensnare its audience.

Born in Russia on September 9, 1828, Leo Tolstoy grew up to become a novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright and philosopher. Known for his paradoxical persona and extreme moralistic and ascetic views, he became a social reformer and a moral thinker in the 1870s. In his short autobiographical story, A Confession (1882), Tolstoy reflects on his mid-life existential crisis. In his later works, he concentrated on Christian themes. The Russian society in which he lived is depicted realistically in his fictions. Apart from drawing from his own life experiences, Tolstoy was very imaginative. Characters such as Pierre Bezukhov and Prince Andrei in War and Peace, Levin in Anna Karenina and Price Nekhlyudov in Resurrection are memorable literary characters. He died of pneumonia at a train station in 1910, at the age of 82.