It is difficult to find another such work of Russian literature, which from the moment of its creation to this day has had such a demand and popularity in culture. Both in Russia and abroad. Theatrical and musical performances, numerous film adaptations - all this suggests that many artists are haunted by the idea of \u200b\u200bfinding a correct reading of this great work - this is "Anna Karenina" by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy.
In February 1870, L.N. Tolstoy conceived the idea of \u200b\u200ba work about the spiritual quest and the personal life of representatives of the Russian nobility, and the impetus for the creation of Anna Karenina was inspired by Pushkin's prose.
The novel is named after the main character, whose image seems to attract attention. Anna is beautiful and educated, but Tolstoy's original design was different. In the early edition of the novel, the novel bore the daring title "Well done baba", and the central character looked different: the name of the heroine was Tatyana Stavrovich, and the character was distinguished by vulgarity and cowardice.
Work on the work began in 1873, the novel was published in parts in the journal "Russian Bulletin", and in 1878 the work was published in its entirety.
Genre and direction
The Anna Karenina genre is a novel with a very broad focus. One of the main vectors is philosophical. The heroes reflect on categories such as life, its meaning, love, faith, truth. It is noteworthy that in the novel, book wisdom interacts with folk wisdom. It is the words of the peasant that help Levin answer the exciting questions.
The definition of "social" is not alien to the work. The novel describes the fate of three families, completely different from each other. But the participants in the novel are not limited only to the circle of relatives and friends: the whole society is also the protagonist. The opinion of others, not least of all, determines this or that action of the characters.
The essence
The novel opens with the well-known words about the Oblonskys' house: a Guest is expected there - Anna Karenina, sister of Stiva Oblonsky, the head of the family. Dolly, betrayed by her husband, wants to save the family and hopes for the help of her sister-in-law. But for Anna this trip becomes fateful: on the platform she meets Vronsky, her future lover. The young count had come to propose to Kitty Shtcherbatskaya. The girl has feelings for Vronsky and prefers him to Levin, who is in love with her.
Anna, together with the Oblonskys and Shtcherbatskys, goes to the ball, where she again meets Vronsky. Kitty's dreams are shattered: she realizes that she cannot compete with Karenina's magnificence and charm.
Anna returns to Petersburg and realizes how disgusted she is with her life. The husband is disgusting, we do not love the child.
A romantic relationship is struck between Karenina and Vronsky, the deceived husband is outraged, but does not agree to divorce. Anna decides to leave her husband and son and leaves for Italy with her lover. They have a daughter, but motherhood does not bring joy to the heroine: she feels that Vronsky treats her colder. This experience pushes the young woman to a desperate act - suicide.
The main characters and their characteristics
- One of the central characters of the novel - Anna Karenina... Her image is very complex and multifaceted (we wrote about it in more detail in a short one). The heroine is good-looking, educated, she has great potential, which is not given to be realized. As a wife she could not create happy family with the insensitive Karenin, but she also had to pay a great price for her relationship with Vronsky - expulsion from secular society. Motherhood does not bring joy to the heroine either: Anna dreams of another life, envying the characters in the novels.
- Vronsky sees something extraordinary in Anna, admires her, but he himself is nothing special. This is a supporter of quiet calm happiness corresponding to the best english traditions... He is young, ardent, ardent, but the first serious trials change his character: Alexey becomes the same inattentive and indifferent person as Anna's husband, wise by experience.
- Dolly somewhat shy of Anna. Daria Alexandrovna sets off Karenina - this bright and wayward character. She is modest, submissive, life forces Dolly to endure and steadfastly endure all the trials prepared by fate: her husband's betrayal, poverty, children's diseases. And nothing can change her.
- There is an opinion that Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin" could be named after Tatiana, a similar situation has developed around "Anna Karenina", where considerable attention is paid to Levin. The prototype for this character is Leo Tolstoy himself. Many situations, such as the marriage proposal scene, are autobiographical. Konstantin Levin - a thoughtful, modest and reasonable person. He seeks to know the meaning of being and find his calling, but the truth always eludes him.
- Steve Oblonsky - loving, fickle and fussy person who has achieved good place only thanks to the successful marriage of my sister. He is good-natured, cheerful and talkative, but only in company. In the family, he does not pay due attention to his wife and children.
- Karenin - a senior official, a prim and serious person. He rarely shows feelings, is cold to his wife and son. Work is central to his life. He is very dependent on public opinion, appreciates appearance, not essence.
Topics
- Love. For L.N. the theme of love has always gone beyond romantic relationships. So in the novel "Anna Karenina" we observe how, for example, two feelings struggle in the main character: love for the child and passion for Vronsky.
- A family. The idea of \u200b\u200ba family is at the heart of the novel in question. For the author, the home is the most important human goal. The writer invites the reader's attention to the fate of three families: one broke up, the other is on the verge, the third is ideal. Such an approach cannot but refer us to folklore motives, when two negative ones set off the ideal hero.
- Philistinism. A brilliant career in Tolstoy's novel runs counter to the ability to create a strong family. Anna twice suffers from the order accepted in society: this is Karenin's inability to communicate in the family circle, as well as rejection in the highest circles of her romance with Vronsky.
- Revenge. It is the desire to take revenge on Vronsky that pushes Anna to commit suicide. For her, it was the best way to punish her lover for insufficient attention to her, misunderstanding of her. Was it really so? It's hard to say, but this is how Anna saw their relationship before the fatal step.
- Treason... This phenomenon is viewed as a crime against the most important and sacred thing in a person's life - the family. Tolstoy does not give a recipe for how to avoid it, but shows what adultery can lead to. Dolly and Karenin have different attitudes towards betrayal, but the criminals themselves do not find happiness from this.
- Indifference. Many of the characters in the novel, in interaction with each other, adhere to the rules of etiquette, without giving any will to feelings and not showing sincerity. In the office of a minister or at a secular reception, this behavior is quite appropriate, but not in a home circle. The coldness of her husband poisons Anna, and the lack of understanding of Vronsky leads to death.
- Public opinion. The problem of following public opinion staged at the beginning of the XlX century by Griboyedov in his famous comedy. Tolstoy gives more dramatic illustrations of how secular judgments affect the fate of people. Anna cannot get a divorce, and an illegal relationship closes the doors to the highest circles.
Problems
Meaning
Anna Karenina becomes a victim of her own crime. Happiness based on the destruction of a family proved impossible. She begins to be overcome by jealousy, the thought that Vronsky is growing cold towards her, becomes an obsession that drives her crazy.
Blindly following passion is not a favorable path for a person. The search for truth, meaning - this is the ideal for Tolstoy. The embodiment of such an idea is presented by Levin, who manages to avoid the most serious sin, thanks to the revealed wisdom.
Criticism
By no means the entire literary world welcomed Tolstoy's new novel. The merits of "Anna Karenina" were emphasized only by Dostoevsky. For this essay, he awarded the writer the title "god of art". Other critics, for example, Saltykov-Shchedrin, called L.N's creation a salon high-society novel. Differences arose on the basis of the ideological currents that existed at that time: the novel was much closer to the Slavophiles than to the Westerners.
There were also claims to the text. So A.V. Stankevich accused the author of incomplete composition and inconsistency with the genre of the novel.
Today Anna Karenina occupies a special place in world literature, but disputes about the structure of the work and the characters of the main characters still exist.
Interesting? Keep it on your wall!As in all other cases, Tolstoy was not given the beginning of his novel for a long time. Eleven times he began Anna Karenina, discarding one page after another that did not satisfy him. In one of the earliest sketches, Tolstoy gave the novel the title "Well done-baba" 2. Following this title, others appeared: "Two couples", "Two marriages." However, none of them was assigned to the work. In the early sketches of the novel, his heroine was a secular woman named Tatyana Stavrovich, who did not resemble Anna Karenina either in character or appearancenor behavior. When War and Peace was published, readers tried to guess the real prototypes of this or that character in the novel. The first readers of Anna Karenina tried to do the same. More than forty years ago, a remarkable study "On the reflection of life in Anna Karenina", written by Tolstoy's eldest son Sergei Lvovich, appeared in print. The author of this work identified many of the writer's contemporaries, who in one way or another served as "models" for the characters in the novel.
Memoirists also report about other women familiar to Tolstoy, whose fates are somewhat reminiscent of the fate of the heroine of his novel. One of them was the sister of DA Dyakov, Tolstoy's friend in his youth. Her name was Maria Alexandrovna. The married life of MA Dyakova-Sukhotina was very unhappy, and the Tolstoy family was very sympathetic to her. But prototypes and "models" are, according to Tolstoy's apt words, only "prototypes", on which the artist's creative work is being carried out. “Taken from real persons. - K. L.) only, so to speak, skeletons,” writes Sergei Lvovich, “the flesh and blood of this or that person in the novel were taken not only from one person, but also from other people related to him by type. Therefore, it can be argued that all of Tolstoy's characters are collective types, not portraits. " However, created by Tolstoy artistic images possess such a force of generalization that it seemed to many of the writer's contemporaries that real, well-known people were behind them.
This transitional, difficult era was reflected not only in the feelings, thoughts, moods of the characters in the novel "Anna Karenina", but also in the general tone of the work, in the motives of anxiety and confusion, which the tragically dying Lnna and the happy family man struggle with and cannot cope with. active, seeking the truth Levin, neither Vronsky who tried to commit suicide, nor the good-natured boozer Oblonsky who ruins his children, nor the dignitary Karenin, clad in an armor of false ideas about morality and morality. Talking about the novel as a "labyrinth of couplings", Tolstoy likened it to life itself, which he compared to "polyphonic music." Having understood and experienced the music of life itself, captured in the scenes of the "wide, free" novel, as Tolstoy saw "Anna Karenina", it is impossible not to catch its leitmotifs. They are associated primarily with the fate of the main characters of the novel.
Beginning Anna Karenina with the words “All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” Tolstoy, as it were, anticipates the readers that his attention in the novel will be drawn most of all to unhappy families. However, the story of Levin's "happy family" is also subjected to detailed and deep research here. Using her example, Tolstoy convinces us that an honest and thinking person, as Konstantin Levin appears before us, cannot be saved from the storms of the century by a family, even if it is based on marital happiness. Feeling "dissatisfaction with his activities and a vague hope of finding corrections to all this," he experienced "a feeling of inner anxiety and close resolution."
In the chapters of the novel, saturated with an atmosphere of anxiety, expectations of "outcomes", the storylines of Anna and Levin that develop in parallel most of all converge. To the thought of the trouble of those worlds; in which their lives pass and their destinies take shape, provides an analysis of the entire complex labyrinth of "couplings" that determine the relationship of the main characters with other characters in the novel, with their immediate environment. These relationships are dramatic, but for Anna Karenina they are tragic. Anna's marriage to Karenin was "arranged" by her aunt as a marriage of convenience. Anna became the wife of a man who "all his life ... lived and worked in the official spheres dealing with reflections of life." The decisive character trait of Karenin was that "every time he faced life itself, he moved away from it." What happened could not but happen: the life-loving Anna went to meet life, left Karenin.
Count Alexei Vronsky with his artificial “set of rules” of a secular person is also far from the interests of real life. It is not in vain that Levin feels anxiety for Anna, thinking that "Vronsky does not fully understand her." It is no accident that the first meetings of Anna and Vronsky are already illuminated by the light of imminent disaster. Returning from Betsy Tverskaya, where she saw Vronsky, “Aiya walked with her head bowed and played with the brushes of her head. Her face shone with a bright brilliance; but this brilliance was not cheerful - it resembled the terrible brilliance of a fire in the middle of a dark night. "
The artificiality of Karenin's house in St. Petersburg and Vronsky's house on his Vozdvizhennoye estate was noticed by Dolly, who is sensitive to any falsehood, the wife of Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky, whom the author of the novel calls "an impeccably moral woman."
From one artificial environment, Anna got into another. In the scene of the nighttime explanation with Dolly, Anna speaks of her abandoned son Seryozha and Vronsky: “Only these two creatures I love, and one excludes the other. I cannot connect them, but this is one thing I need. And if this is not the case, then all the same. All, all the same. And somehow it will end, and therefore I cannot, I do not like to talk about it. So do not reproach me, do not judge me for anything. You cannot understand with your purity what I suffer ... I am not worthy of contempt. I'm just unhappy. If anyone is unhappy, it’s me, ”she said and, turning away from her, began to cry.” Here, in the words of the heroine herself, Tolstoy expressed the most important reason for the tragic hopelessness of her situation. And here is also shown Tolstoy's attitude to the conflict, which the heroine of the novel wanted to resolve, but could not. The family of Anna and Vronsky is considered by the highly moral Dolly to be a "wrong family", since it arose at the cost of the destruction of the Karenin family. Not only Karenin suffered, but also little Seryozha, deprived of maternal care and affection. His unusual orphanhood cannot be forgotten by either Yip Appa or Vronsky. "This child," says Tolstoy, "with his naive view of life, was a compass, which showed them the degree of their deviation from what they hiccupped, but did not want to know."
In the final text of the novel, the image of its main character is woven from many and not only positive features. Anna is not idealized, the "blue" heroine of a family novel. She was also harsh, irritated, picky and even unfair in her assessments of people she did not like. She was an earthly, lively, passionate, addicted person. “… I'm alive, - she says about herself, it's not my fault that God made me such that I need to love and live.” Having met Anna for the only time, the shrewd and sensitive Levin was able to understand the most important thing in her: “Besides intelligence, grace, beauty, she had truthfulness. She did not want to hide from him the full gravity of her situation. "
April 17, 1877 Lev Tolstoy finished work on the novel "Anna Karenina". Real people became the prototypes of many characters - the classic “painted” part of the portraits and characters from the surrounding friends, relatives and just acquaintances, and the hero named Konstantin Levin is often called the author's alter ego. AiF.ru tells what Tolstoy's great novel is about and why "Anna Karenina" has become a "mirror" of its era.
Two marriages
“All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” this phrase opens the first volume of Anna Karenina and sets the mood for the entire novel. For eight parts, the author describes the joys and hardships of individual families: adultery, weddings and the birth of children, quarrels and experiences.
The work is based on two storylines: a) the relationship between a married Anna Karenina and a young and passionately in love with her Alexei Vronsky; b) the family life of the landowner Konstantin Levin and Kitty Shtcherbatskaya. Moreover, against the background of the first couple, experiencing passion and jealousy, the second has a real idyll. By the way, in one of the earliest versions the novel was called Two Marriages.
On someone else's misfortune
Scene of the meeting of Anna and Vronsky in the light (Part II, Chapter VI). Drawing by Elmer Boyd Smith, 1886 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The life of Anna Karenina, it would seem, can only be envied - a woman from high society, she is married to a noble official and is raising a son with him. But her whole existence is turned upside down by a chance meeting at the station. Leaving the carriage, she exchanges a glance with the young count and officer Vronsky. Soon the couple collides again - now at the ball. Even Kitty Shtcherbatskaya, who is in love with Vronsky, notices that he is attracted to Karenina, and she, in turn, is interested in the newly-minted admirer.
But Anna needs to return to her native Petersburg - to her husband and son. Persistent and stubborn Vronsky follows her - not in the least embarrassed by her status, he begins to court the lady. Throughout the year, the heroes meet at balls and social events until they become lovers. The development of their relationship is watched by the entire high society - including Alexey Karenin, Anna's husband.
Despite the fact that the heroine is expecting a child from Vronsky, her husband does not give her a divorce. During childbirth, Anna almost dies, but a month after her recovery she leaves abroad - along with Vronsky and their little daughter. She leaves her son in the care of her father.
But life with a lover does not bring her happiness. Anna begins to be jealous of Vronsky, and he, although he loves, is burdened by her and longs for her. Returning to Petersburg does not change anything, especially since former friends avoid their company. Then the heroes go first to the village, and then to Moscow - however, their relationship does not become stronger from this. After a particularly violent quarrel, Vronsky leaves to visit his mother. Karenina follows him and at the station a decision comes to her on how to resolve this situation and "untie" everyone's hands. She throws herself under the train.
Vronsky is grieving over the loss and leaves as a volunteer for the war. Alexey Karenin takes their little daughter up.
Vasily Meshkov. "L. N. Tolstoy at work in the library in Yasnaya Polyana ”. 1910 year. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Levin's second chance
In parallel, Tolstoy unfolds another storyline: he describes the story of Kitty Shtcherbatskaya and Konstantin Levin. The 34-year-old landowner was in love with 18-year-old Kitty and even decided to propose to her, but she was then carried away by Vronsky and refused. Soon the officer left for Anna, and Shtcherbatskaya was left "at a broken trough." On nervous soil the girl fell ill, and Levin drove back to the village, to manage his property and work with the peasant peasants.
However, Tolstoy gave his heroes a second chance: at a dinner party, the couple met again. Kitty realizes that she loves Levin, and he realizes that his feelings for the girl have not faded away at all. The hero offers Shtcherbatskaya his hand and heart for the second time - and this time she agrees. Immediately after the wedding, the couple leaves for the village. Despite the fact that at first life together is not easy for them, they are happy - Kitty supports her husband when his brother died, and gives birth to Levine's child. This is exactly how, according to Tolstoy, a family should look like, and there must certainly be spiritual closeness between spouses.
Mirror of the era
Mikhail Vrubel. Anna Karenina's Meeting with her Son. 1878 year. Photo: reproduction
As he wrote Sergei Tolstoy, son of a classic, “From a realistic novel like Anna Karenina, truth is required above all; therefore, not only large, but also small facts taken from real life served as material for him. " But what could have prompted the author to such a plot?
In the 19th century, divorce was rare. Society severely condemned and despised women who dared to leave their family for another man. However, there were precedents - including in the Tolstoy family. For example, his distant relative Alexey Tolstoy married Sofya Bakhmeteva - when the couple met, Bakhmeteva was already married to another and had a daughter. To some extent, Anna Karenina is a collective image. Some features of her appearance resemble Maria Hartung - daughter Pushkin, and the character of the heroine and the situation in which she found herself, the author "weaved" from several different stories... The spectacular finale was also taken from life - the concubine of Tolstoy's neighbor in Yasnaya Polyana died under the train - Anna Pirogova... She was very jealous of her lover, but somehow quarreled with him and left for Tula. Three days later, the woman passed the letter to her roommate through the driver, and she threw herself under the wheels.
Nevertheless, critics were outraged by Tolstoy's novel. Anna Karenina was called immoral and immoral - that is, "in reality" the readers treated her in the same way as the secular characters in the book. The author's description of the scene of intimacy between his heroine and Vronsky also provoked a number of attacks. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrinspoke of Anna Karenina as a “cow romance”, where Vronsky is a “bull in love,” and Nikolay Nekrasov wrote an epigram:
“Tolstoy, you have proved with patience and talent,
That a woman should not "walk"
Neither with the chamber-junker, nor with the aide-de-camp,
Russian literature has been highly regarded for a long time. The masterpieces of writers have conquered more than one country in the world and have become real bestsellers. Excellent films have been made based on many of the works - the premieres take leading positions in the rating of the best. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is no exception - a unique Russian writer who has created many amazing novels. Among them, such as "Anna Karenina", "War and Peace", "Resurrection" and others stand out.
Nowadays, the works of Leo Tolstoy are studied in schools. This is due to the fact that they carry a deep meaning, capable of teaching the young generation the truth of life and feeling all the emotions with which a talented man wrote. Very often the question arises regarding the work "Anna Karenina": "Who wrote the divine novel?" Tolstoy spent four years working on this wonderful book. In 1878 the first edition of the sentimental novel took place.
The birth of a bestseller
One February morning, Leo Tolstoy decided to write a novel about the relationship of the nobles, privacy, but he made his dream come true three years later. A little later, having finished the book, he tried to publish it in the Russian Bulletin, and the idea was a success - the first volume went to print. Gradually, Tolstoy's novel became very popular, readers liked the manner in which Lev Nikolaevich described his heroes and their lot, the sensitivity and depth of the work.
Naturally, everyone was looking forward to the sequel to Anna Karenina, as it was known that the work consisted of three volumes. By 1878, Leo Tolstoy published his brainchild in full. The last part did not appeal to the readers so much, since it contained a description of the Serbo-Montenegrin-Turkish war, to which officer Vronsky, Anna's lover, was sent.
Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina combines the most conflicting feelings and customs of people. The writer himself noted several times that with the help of the work he wants to show how the present and future world is fragmented into two parts: good and evil, which fight against each other every day and try in vain to destroy the enemy.
The uniqueness of the novel
The work "Anna Karenina" is to the liking of many people. After all, it is about the tragic love of a married woman and a brilliant officer. At the same time, one cannot help but experience a deep feeling directly to the family life of the nobles. The story takes place in the second half of the nineteenth century in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But the writer reflects as clearly as possible all the emotions, principles and morality of his novel.
Many adored Anna Karenina, namely because most people saw themselves in this woman, they were close to the story of the writer, which penetrated into the very depths of the soul. Therefore, Tolstoy wrote contemporary literature, a book that, in his opinion, could always be popular - for all times and peoples.
Oddly enough, but Lev Nikolaevich foresaw that changes were coming, namely for the nobles. He knew and felt that the present society and customs were beginning to collapse, and people should prepare for this.
The idea of \u200b\u200bthe novel
All the people surrounding Leo Tolstoy became the idea for the birth of a completely different novel. The society of the writer could be recognized by the environment of Anna Oblonskaya-Karenina. Observing the thoughts of his friends, their feelings and concepts, Tolstoy created his first characters, which in the future would be so fond of readers.
Many who are not familiar with the work "Anna Karenina", the author of which tried to create a real masterpiece for different age groups of people, have heard about the unique novel many times. But for some reason, the majority has the impression that this is a book about a woman who committed suicide because of bright and ardent feelings for her lover, whom honor and conscience did not allow her to be with.
In fact, it is not at all what is described in the novel "Anna Karenina". The content of the book consists of dozens of interesting chapters, descriptions of the past noble life, the struggle between good and evil, the disposition and morality of people who lived in the nineteenth century.
Meet the characters
A wonderful piece "Anna Karenina". Who wrote it is known to almost every resident of the CIS countries, but it was not read by everyone. Although many have heard of the unusual novel and know the main characters of the book.
Let's start with the fact that the main character, Anna, comes to Moscow to reconcile her brother Steve, who was allegedly convicted of treason, with her wife. As soon as Karenina got off her train, she learns that a watchman is dying on the railway tracks. This is considered a dire omen. After a while, the main character will understand what this sign meant - she will be considered a "criminal woman", and she will not be able to live peacefully with it. Nevertheless, the charming, kind and gentle Anna Karenina (the author initially depicts her as a blameless, honest and ideal woman) goes to visit her brother and tries to reconcile him with his wife Dolly.
Meanwhile, a young and charming Count Alexei Vronsky comes to visit Steve. Do not forget to visit his beloved princess Kitty Shcherbitskaya and Konstantin Levin, who with all his heart wants to marry a sweet girl. But, in his opinion, this is impossible, since he is a simple landowner, and his main rival is the brilliant St. Petersburg representative Vronsky. In fact, Count Alexei did not even intend to propose to Kitty, since all his thoughts were occupied by a guest who had just arrived from Petersburg.
The work written by Lev Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, clearly and deeply describes the feelings and emotions that the protagonist experiences. She is unusually in love with Count Vronsky, but offers him only friendship, since a loving husband and child are waiting for her at home. Anna's main dream, which cannot come true, was to be with two of her most beloved people on earth - Alexei and her son Serezha.
Love Karenina
As already noted, Anna Karenina arrived from St. Petersburg with an already darkened mood. On the train, she met a sweet woman who kept telling her about her beloved son, Alexei. At that time, Karenina did not attach the slightest importance to this, but a little later it became clear to her that the adored child of her fellow traveler was her unattainable Count Vronsky.
After meeting with her lover, she firmly decided to leave back to Petersburg, as she knew that trouble awaited her in Vronsky's lovely and deep eyes, which could swallow a woman's soul entirely. But young Alexei follows right behind her: he longs for a meeting, not paying attention to extraneous contemptuous looks, the presence of a husband and a child with his beloved. Noticing the count who is spinning around Karenina, society begins to suspect their connection. Anna, whose heart is breaking inside, could not restrain herself and nevertheless gave herself up to love with her sweet, gentle and sensual Alexei. Everyone in the area soon learned about this, including the legal husband of the main character.
A little later it became known that Karenina was expecting a child from Vronsky. Having learned the news, Alexey asked her to leave her husband and leave with him. At the same time, until recently, Vronsky's friendly and kind mother is no longer so kind to Anna. On the contrary, she is outraged by what is happening and does not wish her son such a fate. Karenina, an exhausted woman, would be glad to give up everything and leave with the count, but she loves Alexei as much as she loves her son Seryozha. Anna falls into despair, she is tormented by the most contradictory feelings. Karenina doesn't know what to do ...
During childbirth, the main character fell seriously ill and miraculously survived. Seeing her condition, the legitimate husband shows compassion and pity for his wife, after which he allows her to live in his house. Karenin forgives Anna and her act and even agrees to keep everything a secret so as not to disgrace the honest name of their family. Karenina, on the other hand, cannot stand her husband's generosity and fled with Vronsky to Europe. Soon, two people who once loved each other realize that they are perfect and they have nothing in common. It is at this moment that Anna realizes what mistake she made and how much she betrayed and dishonored her husband. In St. Petersburg, nothing good awaits her, there she is now an outcast. Plucking up the courage, Karenina still returns.
The problems with Vronsky are becoming more and more serious, and it is simply impossible to live on. If the count got away with everything, then everyone in society despises Anna. She does not sleep well, suffers for her son, realizing that she will never see him again.
The fate of Anna Karenina
After the kiss with Vronsky, Karenina's state changed: she became happy, rejuvenated, inspired, but this could not continue! Attempts to keep a son and divorce an oppressive and strict husband did not end in success. Poor Anna, not knowing herself from grief, became completely lifeless. She rushes between two fires: her angry husband who hates her for treason and young, gentle and charming Alexei, who promises to give her the whole world. But the mother would never leave her son, so Karenina believed that she would not be able to surrender to carefree love and leave with Vronsky far from her husband.
But fate turned so that, on the one hand, Anna got what she wanted - love, Vronsky, happiness, and on the other, she lost the most important thing - her son Seryozha. The oppressive atmosphere, unsuccessful relationships, the hatred of society for her person push the woman to a desperate act - suicide.
Often people do not want to read the entire novel "Anna Karenina". The description is a few pages from a huge work, which concisely and superficially tell about the heroes and the events taking place. But in order to feel all the emotions with which Tolstoy wrote, to change his worldview and become a little better, it is recommended to read the novel from cover to cover. This is not difficult to do, since it absorbs completely, and time flies unnoticed.
Assessment of the novel "Anna Karenina"
Many critics did not like Anna Karenina and her fate. Some considered her a symbol of dishonor and shame, others did not like the image of Vronsky. There were also those who considered the novel scandalous, empty and not representing anything. Of course, it is the critics' job to find inaccuracies, to be dissatisfied, and to write reviews of works. But, fortunately, there were those who believed that the novel that Leo Tolstoy brought to life, Anna Karenina, was the best hope of Russian literature. Critics supported the writer and made fun of the main character. Then they said that such feelings that were in Anna's soul should overwhelm every woman who dared to cheat on her husband, having a child and a family respected in society.
Among the critics admiring Tolstoy's work was Nikolai Nekrasov. He discerned in the writer a real talent, a man with an inexplicable gift, who could change the lives of other people with his works. Nekrasov predicted everything correctly, since today few are wondering who Anna Karenina is, who wrote the novel. This is because most of the population read a book or watched brilliant plays, films that influenced the worldview of people and, perhaps, even changed their lives. Leo Tolstoy's novels have always had an extraordinary effect on their fans. You won't find such creations that the talented thinker wrote anywhere else.
Theatrical performances and film adaptations of the novel
The creativity of L. Tolstoy was noticed already in 1910. A few years later, people could attend the first performances of Anna Karenina. As time went on, various directors improved plays, changed actors and experimented with productions. Original performances, dramatic musicals were created by such professionals as R. Viktyuk, O. Shikshin, M. Roshchin and others.
Many readers and viewers liked Anna Karenina, whose quotes were even recorded and pronounced at parties and meetings. As for the film adaptation popular novelthen a film about tragic love was first filmed in Germany in 1910. Then the representatives of such countries as Russia, Hungary, Italy, USA, Great Britain, India and others tried to depict the picture. In total, over three dozen films about Karenina were shot. The last one was presented by the directors of Great Britain. The main role was played by Keira Knightley, who played Anna in an unusually subtle and sensual way. Also today you can find serials about Karenina.
One cannot but say that there are performances of the ballet Anna Karenina. In 2010, the premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theater. Nevertheless, the best performance is considered to be the work that won the Best Performance in Ballet award in 2005.
In our time, the novels of L.N. Tolstoy is very popular, and various musicals, plays, and films are made based on them. But Anna Karenina broke all kinds of records and became a real masterpiece in Russian literature and art in general.
It is believed that Pushkin's daughter (Maria Alexandrovna Hartung) is the main character of the novel - Anna Karenina. LN Tolstoy was inspired by the girl's appearance and decided to transfer her image to paper.
It is also interesting to know that in 1916 an attempt was made to film a continuation of the sentimental story about tragic love called "The Daughter of Anna Karenina" In addition, science often uses the principle of the novel, which is based on the aphorism that opens the work: “All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Everything was confused in the Oblonskys' house.
In 2013, a sequel to the novel titled Anna Karenina-2 was published. The author was Alexander Zolotko, who told the readers the story of the daughter of the main character, whose name was the same as her own mother. For some critics, this caused a lot of emotions and indignation, because it is completely unknown what happened to the girl, who was born from an association with Count Vronsky. And Leo Tolstoy did not mention the name of the newborn. However, these are just some of the opinions of critics, the author himself has the right to change the details of the plot. There are those who believe that Anna Karenina-2 is worth reading.
Yet the second part of the book is simply incomparable with the first, since this is a completely different story and a different heroine, albeit with the same name - Anna Karenina. Few know who wrote it, since the publication of Alexander Zolotko is rather small, and he himself did not try to create a masterpiece that could overshadow the work of Leo Tolstoy.
The role of Tolstoy's novel in the life of each of us
Leo Tolstoy's novel was written in the genre of realism. He clearly conveyed the character traits and designs of the people of the second half of the nineteenth century. In the character Levine, he saw himself, which he repeatedly mentioned. The hero himself was endowed with the best character traits, which made him an example to follow. This is what the writer wanted to tell his fans - that no matter what place a person occupies in society, he must always remain a person: worthy, honest, fair and kind.
Anna Karenina is a novel of all times that has won thousands, millions of hearts all over the world. For the first time, a writer so accurately conveyed the relationship between people, which is familiar to almost everyone. Already 137 years have passed since the publication of the work, but not for a single day has it been forgotten by the readers. You want to read and reread it, watch it on the screen and on stage, admire the heroine's courage and sincerely condole with her. The simple language, inimitable style of writing and the depth of the characters' characters are truly masterpieces. No wonder the novel belongs to the classics of world literature.
Year of writing:
1877
Reading time:
Description of the work:
One of the most famous works Leo Tolstoy is a novel by Anna Karenin, which Tolstoy wrote in 1877. To put it very briefly, Anna Karenina's novel tells about the sad love of Anna Karenina and officer Vronsky against the background of the happy relationship between Konstantin Lyovin and Kitty Shtcherbatskaya.
The work is filled with philosophical reflections and conclusions, and also abounds in descriptions of the life of ordinary peasants.
We bring to your attention a summary of the novel by Anna Karenina.
In the Moscow house of the Oblonskys, where "everything was mixed up" at the end of the winter of 1873, the owner's sister, Anna Arkadyevna Karenina, is expected. The reason for the family discord was that Prince Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky was caught by his wife in treason with the governess. Thirty-four-year-old Steve Oblonsky sincerely regrets his wife Dolly, but, being a truthful man, he does not assure himself that he is repenting for what he had done. Life-loving, kind and careless Steve has long been no longer in love with his wife, the mother of five living and two dead children, and has long been unfaithful to her.
Steve is completely indifferent to the business he is engaged in, serving as a boss in one of the Moscow presences, and this allows him to never get carried away, not make mistakes and perfectly fulfill his duties. Friendly, condescending to human shortcomings, charming Steve enjoys the location of people of his circle, subordinates, bosses and in general everyone with whom life brings him. Debts and family troubles upset him, but they cannot ruin the mood enough to force him to refuse lunch in a good restaurant. He dines with Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin, who has come from the village, his peer and friend of youth.
Levin came to make an offer to the eighteen-year-old princess Kitty Shtcherbatskaya, Oblonsky's sister-in-law, with whom he had long been in love. Levin is convinced that a girl like Kitty, who is above everything earthly, cannot love him, an ordinary landowner, without, as he believes, special gifts. In addition, Oblonsky informs him that, most likely, he has a rival - a brilliant representative of the St. Petersburg "golden youth", Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky.
Kitty knows about Levin's love and feels at ease with him; with Vronsky she feels an incomprehensible awkwardness. But it is difficult for her to understand her own feelings, she does not know whom to give preference to. Kitty is unaware that Vronsky has no intention of marrying her, and dreams of a happy future with him compel her to refuse Levin. Meeting his mother who had arrived from St. Petersburg, Vronsky sees Anna Arkadyevna Karenina at the station. He immediately notices the special expressiveness of Anna's whole appearance: "It was as if an excess of something overwhelmed her being so that, by her will, it was expressed in a glint of a look, then in a smile." The meeting is overshadowed by a sad circumstance: the death of the station guard under the wheels of a train, which Anna considers a bad omen.
Anna manages to persuade Dolly to forgive her husband; a fragile peace is established in the Oblonskys' house, and Anna goes to the ball with the Oblonskys and Shtcherbatskys. At the ball Kitty admires Anna's naturalness and grace, admires that special, poetic inner peacethat is in her every move. Kitty expects a lot from this ball: she is sure that during the mazurka Vronsky will explain himself to her. Suddenly she notices how Vronsky is talking with Anna: an irresistible attraction to each other is felt in each of their glances, each word decides their fate. Kitty leaves in despair. Anna Karenina returns home to Petersburg; Vronsky follows her.
Blaming himself alone for the failure of the matchmaking, Levin returns to the village. Before leaving, he meets with his older brother Nikolai, who lives in cheap rooms with a woman whom he took from a brothel. Levin loves his brother, despite his irrepressible character, which causes a lot of trouble for himself and those around him. Seriously ill, lonely, drinking, Nikolai Levin is carried away by the communist idea and the organization of some kind of locksmith's artel; this saves him from contempt for himself. A date with his brother aggravates the shame and dissatisfaction with himself that Konstantin Dmitrievich experiences after the matchmaking. He calms down only in his ancestral estate, Pokrovskoye, deciding to work even harder and not allow himself luxury - which, however, had never been in his life before.
The habitual life in Petersburg, to which Anna returns, is disappointing to her. She had never been in love with her husband, who was much older than her, and had only respect for him. Now, his company is becoming painful for her, she notices his slightest shortcomings: too big ears, the habit of popping fingers. Love for her eight-year-old son Seryozha does not save her either. Anna tries to regain her peace of mind, but she does not succeed - mainly because Alexei Vronsky is in every possible way seeking her location. Vronsky is in love with Anna, and his love is intensified because an affair with a lady of the great world makes his position even more brilliant. Despite the fact that his whole inner life is filled with a passion for Anna, outwardly Vronsky leads the usual, cheerful and pleasant life of a guard officer: with the Opera, French theater, balls, horse racing and other pleasures. But their relationship with Anna is too different in the eyes of others from the easy secular flirting; strong passion causes universal condemnation. Aleksey Aleksandrovich Karenin notices the attitude of the world to his wife's romance with Count Vronsky and expresses his displeasure to Anna. As a high-ranking official, “Aleksey Aleksandrovich has lived and worked all his life in official spheres dealing with reflections of life. And every time he faced life itself, he pulled himself away from it. " Now he feels himself in the position of a man standing above the abyss.
Karenin's attempts to stop his wife's uncontrollable striving for Vronsky, Anna's attempts to restrain herself are unsuccessful. A year after the first meeting, she becomes Vronsky's mistress - realizing that now they are bound forever, like criminals. Vronsky is burdened by the uncertainty of the relationship, persuades Anna to leave her husband and join her life with him. But Anna cannot decide to break with Karenin, and even the fact that she is expecting a child from Vronsky does not give her determination.
During the races, which are attended by all elite, Vronsky falls from his horse Frou-Frou. Not knowing how serious the fall is, Anna so openly expresses her despair that Karenin is forced to immediately take her away. She announces to her husband about her infidelity, about her disgust for him. This news gives Alexei Alexandrovich the impression of a pulled out aching tooth: he finally gets rid of the sufferings of jealousy and leaves for Petersburg, leaving his wife at the dacha awaiting his decision. But after going over all possible options for the future - a duel with Vronsky, a divorce - Karenin decides to leave everything unchanged, punishing and humiliating Anna with the requirement to observe the false appearance of family life under the threat of separation from her son. Having made this decision, Alexey Alexandrovich finds enough calmness to reflect on the affairs of the service with his characteristic stubborn ambition. Anna's husband's decision causes an explosion of hatred towards him. She considers him a soulless machine, not thinking about the fact that she has a soul and a need for love. Anna realizes that she is cornered because she is unable to exchange her current position for that of a mistress who has abandoned her husband and son and deserves universal contempt.
The lingering uncertainty of relations is agonizing for Vronsky, who in the depths of his soul loves order and has an unshakable set of rules of behavior. For the first time in his life, he does not know how to behave further, how to bring his love for Anna into accord with the rules of life. In case of joining her, he will be forced to resign, and this is also not easy for him: Vronsky loves regimental life, enjoys the respect of his comrades; besides, he is ambitious.
The lives of three people are entangled in a web of lies. Anna's pity for her husband alternates with disgust; she cannot but meet with Vronsky, as Aleksey Alexandrovich demands. Finally, birth comes, during which Anna almost dies. Lying in childbirth fever, she asks for forgiveness from Alexey Alexandrovich, and at her bedside he feels pity for his wife, tender compassion and spiritual joy. Vronsky, whom Anna rejects in unconsciousness, experiences burning shame and humiliation. He tries to shoot himself, but is rescued.
Anna does not die, and when the mental softening caused by the nearness of death passes, she again begins to be weighed down by her husband. Neither his decency and generosity, nor touching concern for a newborn girl do not relieve her of irritation; she hates Karenin even for his virtues. A month after her recovery, Anna leaves the country with the retired Vronsky and her daughter.
Living in the village, Levin takes care of the estate, reads, writes a book about agriculture and undertakes various economic transformations that do not find approval from the peasants. For Levin, the village is "a place of life, that is, joy, suffering, work." The peasants respect him, for forty miles they go to him for advice - and they strive to deceive him for their own benefit. There is no deliberation in Levin's attitude to the people: he considers himself a part of the people, all his interests are connected with the peasants. He admires the strength, meekness, justice of the peasants and is irritated by their carelessness, slovenliness, drunkenness, and lies. In disputes with his half-brother, Sergei Ivanovich Koznyshev, who came to visit, Levin argues that the zemstvo activity does not benefit the peasants, because it is not based either on knowledge of their true needs, or on the personal interests of the landowners.
Levin feels his merging with nature; he even hears the growth of spring grass. In the summer, he mows with the peasants, feeling the joy of simple labor. Despite all this, he considers his life to be idle and dreams of changing it to a working, clean and common life. Subtle changes are constantly taking place in his soul, and Levin listens to them. At one time it seems to him that he found peace and forgot his dreams of family happiness. But this illusion crumbles to dust when he learns about Kitty's serious illness, and then sees her herself, traveling to her sister in the village. A feeling that seemed to be dead again takes possession of his heart, and only in love he sees an opportunity to solve the great riddle of life.
In Moscow, at a dinner at the Oblonskys', Levin meets Kitty and realizes that she loves him. In a state of the highest mental elation, he proposes to Kitty and receives consent. Immediately after the wedding, the young leave for the village.
Vronsky and Anna travel to Italy. At first, Anna feels happy and full of joy in life. Even the knowledge that she was separated from her son, lost her honest name and became the cause of her husband's unhappiness does not darken her happiness. Vronsky is lovingly respectful with her, he does everything so that she does not feel burdened by her position. But he himself, despite his love for Anna, feels melancholy and clings to everything that can give his life significance. He begins to paint, but, having enough taste, he knows his mediocrity and soon becomes disillusioned with this occupation.
Upon returning to St. Petersburg, Anna clearly feels her rejection: they do not want to accept her, acquaintances avoid meeting her. Insults to the world also poison Vronsky's life, but, busy with her experiences, Anna does not want to notice this. On Seryozha's birthday, she secretly goes to him and, seeing at last her son, feeling his love for herself, she realizes that she cannot be happy in separation from him. In despair, in irritation, she reproaches Vronsky for having stopped loving her; it costs him great efforts to calm her down, after which they leave for the village.
The first time of married life turns out to be difficult for Kitty and Levin: they hardly get used to each other, charms give way to disappointments, quarrels give way to reconciliation. Family life seems to Levin like a boat: gliding on water is pleasant to look at, but very difficult to rule. Suddenly Levin receives news that his brother Nikolai is dying in the provincial town. He is going to see him immediately; despite his protests, Kitty decides to go with him. Seeing his brother, experiencing excruciating pity for him, Levin still cannot get rid of the fear and disgust that the nearness of death causes in him. He is shocked that Kitty is not at all afraid of the dying man and knows how to behave with him. Levin feels that only the love of his wife saves him from horror these days.
During Kitty's pregnancy, whom Levin learns about on the day of his brother's death, the family continues to live in Pokrovskoye, where relatives and friends come for the summer. Levin values \u200b\u200bthe spiritual closeness that has been established between him and his wife, and is tormented by jealousy, fearing to lose this closeness.
Dolly Oblonskaya, visiting her sister, decides to visit Anna Karenina, who lives with Vronsky on his estate, not far from Pokrovsky. Dolly is amazed at the changes that have taken place in Karenina, she feels the falsity of her current way of life, especially noticeable in comparison with the previous liveliness and naturalness. Anna entertains guests, tries to engage her daughter, reading, and setting up a village hospital. But her main concern is to replace Vronsky with everything that he left for her. Their relationship is becoming more and more tense, Anna is jealous of everything that he is fond of, even of the zemstvo activities, which Vronsky is mainly engaged in in order not to lose his independence. In the fall, they move to Moscow, awaiting Karenin's decision to divorce. But, insulted in his best feelings, rejected by his wife, and found himself alone, Alexei Alexandrovich falls under the influence of the famous spirituality, Princess Myagkaya, who persuades him, for religious reasons, not to divorce the criminal wife.
In the relationship between Vronsky and Anna, there is neither complete discord nor agreement. Anna blames Vronsky for all the hardships of her position; attacks of desperate jealousy are instantly replaced by tenderness; quarrels break out every now and then. In Anna's dreams, the same nightmare is repeated: some peasant bends over her, pronounces meaningless French words and does something terrible to her. After a particularly difficult quarrel, Vronsky, against Anna's wishes, goes to visit his mother. In utter confusion, Anna sees her relationship with him, as if in bright light. She understands that her love is becoming more and more passionate and selfish, and Vronsky, without losing his love for her, is still burdened by her and tries not to be dishonorable towards her. Trying to get him to repent, she follows him to the station, there she suddenly remembers the man crushed by the train on the day of their first meeting - and immediately realizes what she needs to do. Anna throws herself under the train; her last vision is a muttering peasant. After that, "the candle, in which she read a book full of anxiety, deception, grief and evil, flashed brighter than ever before, illuminated everything that was previously in the darkness for her, crackled, began to fade and went out forever."
Life becomes hateful for Vronsky; he is tormented by unnecessary but indelible remorse. He volunteered for the war with the Turks in Serbia; Karenin takes his daughter to her.
After Kitty's birth, which became a deep spiritual shock for Levin, the family returns to the village. Levin is in a painful discord with himself - because after the death of his brother and the birth of his son, he cannot resolve the most important questions for himself: the meaning of life, the meaning of death. He feels that he is close to committing suicide and is afraid to walk with a gun so as not to shoot himself. But at the same time, Levin notes: when he does not ask himself what he is living for, he feels in his soul the presence of an infallible judge, and his life becomes firm and definite. Finally, he understands that the knowledge of the laws of good, given personally to him, Levin, in the Gospel Revelation, cannot be grasped by reason and expressed in words. Now he feels able to put an undeniable sense of goodness into every minute of his life.
You have read the summary of the novel by Anna Karenina. We invite you to visit the Summaries section for other expositions of popular writers.