‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’. This is how Leo Tolstoy begins Anna Karenina, one of the most celebrated novels in world literature. Anna Karenina is perhaps one of the bravest women Tolstoy ever created. She rebels with her class and fights for love while searching for the meaning of her life. A woman like Anna was way ahead of her times.
Anna belongs to the highest circle of St. Petersburg. She is married to Karenin and has a son. She also possesses a great deal of passion and refuses to live her life without contradictions. This is what causes Anna’s downfall.
Anna Karenina is the story of the relationship between Anna and Count Vronsky that scandalizes the social circles of St. Petersburg. This forces the young lovers to flee to Italy in search of happiness, only to come back to Russia later. Anna’s passion drives her life, something that makes her choose Vronsky over her son. The novel also has many other famous characters including Kitty and Levin.
The novel was first published in the format of a book in 1877. It was initially released in instalments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Anna Karenina is celebrated as one of the greatest novels ever written; Tolstoy himself considers this work as his first true novel.
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