A famous legend surrounding the creation of Anna Karenina tells us that Tolstoy began writing a cautionary tale about adultery and ended up falling in love with his magnificent heroine It is rare to find a reader of the book who doesn t experience the same kind of emotional upheaval Anna Karenina is filled with major and minor characters who exist in their own right and fully embody their mid nineteenth century Russian milieu but it still belongs entirely to the woman whose name it bears whose portrait is one of the truest ever made by a writer Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer Count Vronsky Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and must endure the hypocrisies of society Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth century Russia the novel s seven major characters create a dynamic imbalance playing out the contrasts of city and country life and all the variations on love and family happiness While previous versions have softened the robust and sometimes shocking quality of Tolstoy s writing Pevear and Volokhonsky have produced a translation true to his powerful voice This award winning team s authoritative edition also includes an illuminating introduction and explanatory notes Beautiful vigorous and eminently readable this Anna Karenina will be the definitive text for generations to come DoTheLocomotion Some gentleman danced with me the whole night We got a little grinding on but not too much This is formal Russian society mind you Apparently by dancing with Vronsky I pussy blocked a girl called Kitty I suppose that s ironic You d think with a name like that From Twitterature The World s Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less Considered by some to be the greatest novel ever written Anna Karenina is Tolstoy s classic tale of love and adultery set against the backdrop of high society
