Anna Karenina - Before Reading

about the novel and the author

Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina, his first ever novel, between the years 1873 and 1877. It first was published in monthly installments in a Russian publications. You may now think, „but wait Anna Karenina wasn‘t Tolstoy‘s first book“. That is correct, but Tolstoy himself did not classify all his writing before that as novels, not even War and Peace. To use the authors words: „War and Peace is not a novel, still less a poem, and even less a historical chronicle. War and Peace is what the author wished and was able to express in the form in which it is expressed.“

Tolstoy was born in a huge estate in Yasnaya Polyana, which would be his home on and off again throughout his life. Born in the upper class of Moscow‘s society Tolstoy first handly could observe and bring everything that was going on in that world to paper.

historical context

The book was written in a time where serfdom was just abolished, more precisely in 1861 under the ruling of tsar Alexander II. It was mainly abolished because Russia‘s economy at this time was enormously lacking behind compared to the western economy that at this point was already shaped by the industrial revolution. Experts thought that that was caused by the feudal system and serfdom that the were the centre of Russian economy. So in 1861 Alexander II declared it‘s official abolishment.

Despite its official abolishment in real life farmers or peasants if you will were still dependant on the landlords, because the land on wich the peasants were living on still belonged to the wealthy landlords and had to be bought free. This led to a lot of riots because the peasants felt betrayed by this pseudo-freedom they just received. Not only did the abolishment of serfdom cause the country to be restless but in general societal structure and traditions were being questioned and were often a traget of critique. Nevertheless, the Russian aristocracy was more traditional and rigid than ever before. A clear gulf emergedn between the moral and political views of rural and urban areas. In the process, the upper class was increasingly seen as immoral and fragmented, only caring for its own intrigues and on-goings.

literary context 

Before I start, what do I mean with the literary context? Just as in history in general or for example in art history there are different epochs that describe and characterize a certain period of time. Tolstoy‘s Anna Karenina was written during Russian Realism and is therefore categorized as a realistic novel. Russian realism was all about telling profound stories and the avoidance of any embellishment. If you are from a german speaking country this is most similar to Naturalism, which was all about reflecting nature. In addition to the abnormal and evil, the social question also comes into focus. You could say Russian realism and German naturalism were siblings, but don‘t confuse it with German realism which is a bit different (here writers tried to copy nature and real life through a beautifying lense). I don‘t want to focus on the differences between the epochs, because at the end of the day it is really difficult to say which one ended when and what piece of writing belongs where. With that being said back to Russian realism. The general characteristics of Russian realism were the urge to explore the human condition in a serious enquiry, but without neglecting humor nor satire. While reading Anna Karenina you will stumble upon parts and parts that are quite filled with humour and satire, even in the most tragic scenes. Writers also tried to cultivate a very straightforward style but not ditching many factual details. It is very accessible but it is still full of information. As you can think Russian realist writers‘s emphasis mostly lay on character and atmosphere rather than on plot and action. Tolstoy describes scenery in a very atmospheric and from a character‘s point of view way. You are seeing, hearing and perceive through the eyes of a character. Because of that fact the author explores human behaviour in a very tolerant way. You will not come across a part where Tolstoy judges human weakness and wickedness, in some parts he doesn‘t even aknowledge it. He leaves it to the reader to decide whether a behaviour or actions is supposed to be a weakness or a wickedness. You will of course come across characters judging each other since Tosltoy uses a omnipresent narrative. You always know what is going on in the character‘s mind (he even lets us explore the thoughts of a dog, I liked those parts quite a bit not only for their innovativness but also because the bloody dog is very shady and funny). 

Russian realism if compared with the ongoing movement in Great Britain of Aestheticism and Decadence is quite the opposite. Tolstoy‘s English writer buddies explored the idea that art is not created to fulfil ethical or moral roles, intead, art was primarily about the elevation of taste and pure pursuit of beauty. This movement applied those qualities as guiding principle of life. In other word art was for art‘s sake only. As you can imagine Tolstoy couldn‘t have disagreed more. He even wrote a book about what is art, where he tries to analyse what art is and what isn‘t. Spoiler alert, the snob he was, didn‘t consider much as art. 

topics in Anna Karenina to keep in mind while reading

- marriage in society and as a societal construct

- social status and as a reaction to happening

- morality and spirituality

- free will and fate

- the contrast between rural and urban areas

- industrial progress

- the differences between lust and love

- family

- social norms between women and men

Just to n ame a few. You can bet I have forgotten some, but I think those are the most important ones.

In my next blogpost at the end of March, we will discuss and analyse Part I of Anna Karenina. It will contain spoilers, so if you haven‘t read it and don‘t want to get spoiled, I wouldn‘t advice you to read my discussion.