karenina, anna (fictitious character)

Provides a collection of critical essays on Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, presenting a detailed portrait of various kinds of life in Russia in the nineteenth century while exploring such broad themes as love, lust, class, family, marriage, adultery, and the relevance of religion to social and personal life.

In Tolstoy's masterpiece, the gorgeous Anna Karenina is married to a significant government minister but falls in love with a prosperous army officer named Count Vronsky. Frantic for truth and significance in life, Anna recklessly defies the norms of Russian society, often smoking opium with her lover as she abandons her son and husband. Damned and detested by her peers, Anna finds herself increasingly jealous and unfulfilled.

In nineteenth-century Russia, the wife of an important government official loses her family and social status when she chooses the love of Count Vronsky over a passionless marriage.

In nineteenth-century Russia, the wife of an important government official loses her family and social status when she chooses the love of Count Vronsky over a passionless marriage.