I'm quite convinced one could read Anna Karenina without prior knowledge of its critical acclaim or historical significance, and know instinctively that it is one of if not the greatest novels ever written.
Tolstoy’s ability to narrate and set a scene has perhaps been matched but likely never exceeded (see a brief excerpt after the review), and beyond his masterful writing ability, which is showcased throughout, the novel covers nearly everything that a great novel should. It includes views into the complex workings of the human mind and heart, the ever raging debate between Belief, Atheism and Agnosticism, love in all its forms, lust, poverty, wealth, social structure, economics, vices, death and much more.
The novel is long, several multiples of the word count of your average modern work of literary fiction (Is that still a genre? Was it ever?), and though one might assume that it was simply acceptable in 1800s Russia to drop a work of enormous length on a seemingly less distracted public, it was in fact released in periodical form over the course of about four years. Even before smart phones and Twitter, the human attention span had its limits. This was the release method of many great works of that time, and with that in mind I read this one slowly, bit by bit, as I imagined a reader would have at the time it was published.
If you read Anna Karenina, even if you are a speed reader, I would recommend taking the task slowly. There is far more than the overarching story and obvious sub-narratives being told on each page, and Tolstoy writes in a way that is so elegant and purposeful that it deserves to be appreciated. He is not overly wordy when simple dialogue will do and when setting a scene requires minimal visual description he does not overdo it. However, when a scene is worthy of an in-depth description, there is no writer more skilled at providing it (again, see a brief excerpt below).
The events in the book takes place in 1800s Russia, but the characters, their worries and dreams are relatable to the modern mind. With characters and settings so real, you can't help but to feel involved in their lives as you follow along with the ebbing with their seemingly endless struggles and joys. With that said, I do worry that the modern formally educated mind, so often trained to view the distant past with the dual critical lenses of modern feminism and deconstructionism, may be improperly equipped to take in the book in an unjaundiced way. To look at Anna as simply a victim of a Patriarchal structure would be to ignore the Russian sentiment at the time of Tolstoy's writing, which leaned heavily toward elevation and reverence of women rather than oppression. Despite their lack of official political standing, women in many ways controlled or at least played an equal role to men in high society.
Without ruining the story for those who have not yet read: Anna's position is less one of male-female oppression than it is one of preservation of societal order. Russia at the time of Tolstoy's writing, was an Orthodox Christian nation, and much of the societal structure was not set up to be maintained by legal mean. This is not to say that anarchy reigned, rather, the task of keeping societal order was often left to be handled by the actions and reactions of private individuals. Disavowing and avoiding adulterers, for example, was a tactic used to help maintain order, as there was limited legal action to punish those who challenged societal norms. Moral laws were often enforceable only by citizen, rather than government. action. Because of this, throughout much of the second half of the book you see a great impetus to, often regretfully, cast Anna away from polite society.
While Anna's position can and may be seen as tragic, it is undoubtedly told as a cautionary tale rather than one intended simply to garner sympathy or critique societal mores. Still, Tolstoy made sure that Anna's beauty, class, humanity and likability are consistently on display throughout, adding a layer of difficulty for the reader who may wish to agree to condemn her fully. This was clearly done intentionally. Anna, in the end is a personification of lust both in her actions and the infatuation she generates from all men who encounter her. She is, in equal parts, both a victim of lust and an object of it, and to not humanize and justify her actions would have done readers a disservice. It is easy to condemn a caricature, and far harder to condemn someone or something you can understand and relate to.
Though Anna's name is the title of the book, she is not necessarily the main character, rather her character is used to teach the reader one of the main lessons Tolstoy wrote the novel to promote. Given the character's backstory, sensibility and beliefs, and even his name, Levin is the character most like the real life Tolstoy. He is therefore the most important character throughout, or at least the most important male character. A good, decent man unable to conform to the norms of society in a far different way than Anna, he struggles throughout to win love, maintain his farm, flesh out his ideas on peasants and labor into a book, and understand the meaning of life. He is constantly wrestling internally and striving for something greater, much like anyone must who is seeking to achieve true inner peace. Levin is in many ways a personification of life, or at least of a life lived with purpose and in accordance with Judeo-Christian virtues. His ups and downs are not hidden, his thoughts are in the open throughout, and his ultimate realization of his place in the world, arrived at after enormous fight, allows him to occupy a place where many of us hope to wind up mentally. Again, I won't ruin the story with details, but this sums up his character in as succinct and "non-spoilery" a way as I can.
There are at least 5 other major characters that would be worth mentioning, but to avoid writing a review as long as the book itself, I will leave them to readers to understand. Further, more important than any character is Tolstoy himself who plays the dual roles of omniscient narrator and psychologist, both of which he excels at equally. While modern writers may believe that they are focused on creating works that delve into the human condition, most, likely due to publisher pressure and supposed market appetites, seem forced to focus largely on fad cultural topics rather than the common humanity that unites and challenges us all. Tolstoy, much like his darker contemporary, Dostoevsky, had the will and an almost unique ability to focus on bringing out into the open some of the most private, yet evergreen, topics that man has faced since creation, and he does so by weaving these discussions into a compelling and engaging storyline.
The storyline, though engaging, plays out over the course of over three hundred thousand words. You may feel intimidated by the length of the book and you may at times struggle with the depth of the psychological and emotional analysis that Tolstoy conducted via his characters, but I would compel you to find examples of characters or sub-narratives that he could have easily removed without damaging the overall story. Character development and narrative aside, the length was needed to properly allow the writer to explore and explain what life was like for the Russian aristocracy in the 1800s, both physically and culturally, which affords the modern reader a window into information about the past that is not otherwise readily available, at least in as descriptive and readable a format.
Don't let the length, time period or complexity stop you, it's well worth the read!
PS: I read an english translation in iBook format on my iPhone. You can find free copies all over the place.
Excerpt: “Was it not youth to feel as he felt now, when coming from the other side to the edge of the wood he saw in the glowing light of the slanting sunbeams the gracious figure of Varenka in her yellow gown with her basket, walking lightly by the trunk of an old birch tree, and when this impression of the sight of Varenka blended so harmoniously with the beauty of the view, of the yellow oatfield lying bathed in the slanting sunshine, and beyond it the distant ancient forest flecked with yellow and melting into the blue of the distance? His heart throbbed joyously. A softened feeling came over him. He felt that he had made up his mind. Varenka, who had just crouched down to pick a mushroom, rose with a supple movement and looked round. Flinging away the cigar, Sergey Ivanovitch advanced with resolute steps towards her.”
Excerpt From
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
https://books.apple.com/us/book/anna-karenina/id395534656
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