La obra de Tolstoi reflejo toda una epoca de la vida de Rusia: para el "la novela tiene como finalidad la descripcion global de la vida humana"; y los sucesos que se desarrollan en "Anna Karenina" revelan una observacion atenta y directa de un ambiente del que el propio autor fue participe. Aunque desde su aparicion fue acogida como una reaccion contra el movimiento naturalista frances, sigue en esta obra los modelos del naturalismo hasta superarlos.

En 1887, ocho anos despues de la publicacion de "Guerra y paz" (BA 0891 y BA 0892), Leon Tolstoi (1828-1910) pone punto final a su novela Anna Karenina, uno de los mas grandes monumentos de la historia de la literatura. Basado en unos cuantos incidentes reales y marcado por las preocupaciones eticas generadas por la crisis espiritual que atravesaba el autor, el relato se centra en el adulterio de la protagonista, una de las tres historias conyugales que se entrelazan en la obra. Tolstoi -observa Juan Lopez-Morillas en el prologo a la novela- supo dotar a sus criaturas de ficcion como pocos escritores lo han hecho de una "intensa sensacion de presencia inmediata, de humanidad palpitante, en una palabra, de verdad".

"Todas las familias felices se asemejan; cada familia infeliz es infeliz a su modo." Esta frase con la que da comienzo " Anna Karenina " (1877) se ha convertido en una de las mas celebres y citadas de la literatura y nos introduce ya de forma inigualable en el clima que sobrevuela esta magnifica novela. Inspirada en algunos hechos reales, la historia tiene como eje el adulterio de la protagonista; sin embargo, este es solo parte de una de las tres historias conyugales que se entrelazan en la obra con sus pasiones, sus sufrimientos y sus alegrias, y en todas las cuales late, enorme, esa pulsion de vida que pocos autores como Tolstoi han sabido imprimir a los personajes de sus novelas.

Entre los grandes escritores del siglo XIX, Liev Nicolaievich Tolstoi (1828-1910) ha sido calificado como genio unico, sin equivalente en ningun otro pais. Hijo de un acaudalado terrateniente que le dejo una fortuna inmensa, se lanzo por la via de la disipacion hasta que su participacion como oficial durante la guerra de Crimea le hizo volverse hacia unos valores humanistas y continuar una vocacion literaria en la que ya se habia iniciado antes de la guerra. El cambio afecto a sus convicciones espirituales mas intimas y desembocaria, al final de su vida, en una crisis moral y religiosa que derivo hacia un cristianismo evangelico radical. Al comienzo de esta etapa escribe Ana Karenina, en la que Tolstoi refleja su vision de la sociedad urbana, simbolo de los vicios y el pecado, en oposicion a la vida sana de la naturaleza y del campo. De ese mundo necio y patologico de la ciudad es victima Ana Karenina, que se ha convertido en una figura clave de la literatura universal.

Anna Karenina tells the tragic love story between married Anna Karenina and sparkish officer Vronsky is eager to marry Anna, but she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms and the moral laws of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Anna Karenina tells the tragic love story between married Anna Karenina and sparkish officer Vronsky is eager to marry Anna, but she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms and the moral laws of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Tolstoy is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. In his own lifetime Tolstoy was declared a head of Russian literature. He is best known for the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction. Anna Karenina tells the tragic love story between married Anna Karenina and sparkish officer Vronsky. Vronsky is eager to marry Anna, but she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms and the moral laws of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky. "Anna Karenina" is a masterpiece, it explores and illuminates the deepest questions about how to live a fulfilled life. "Anna Karenina" is a book about life, written by a man who is profoundly in love with life.

Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky. "Anna Karenina" is a masterpiece, it explores and illuminates the deepest questions about how to live a fulfilled life. "Anna Karenina" is a book about life, written by a man who is profoundly in love with life.

Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky. "Anna Karenina" is a masterpiece, it explores and illuminates the deepest questions about how to live a fulfilled life. "Anna Karenina" is a book about life, written by a man who is profoundly in love with life.

Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky. "Anna Karenina" is a masterpiece, it explores and illuminates the deepest questions about how to live a fulfilled life. "Anna Karenina" is a book about life, written by a man who is profoundly in love with life.

Anna n'est pas qu'une femme, qu'un splendide specimen du sexe feminin, c'est une femme dotee d'un sens moral entier, tout d'un bloc, predominant : tout ce qui fait partie de sa personne est important, a une intensite dramatique, et cela s'applique aussi bien a son amour. Elle n'est pas, comme Emma Bovary, une reveuse de province, une femme desenchantee qui court en rasant des murs croulants vers les lits d'amants interchangeables. Anna donne a Vronski toute sa vie. Elle part vivre avec lui d'abord en Italie, puis dans les terres de la Russie centrale, bien que cette liaison « notoire » la stigmatise, aux yeux du monde immoral dans lequel elle evolue, comme une femme immorale. Anna scandalise la societe hypocrite moins par sa liaison amoureuse que par son mepris affiche des conventions sociales. Avec Anna Karenine, Tolstoi atteint le comble de la perfection creative. Vladimir Nabokov.

"Chaque fois que Vronski lui adressait la parole, un eclair passait dans les yeux d'Anna, un sourire entrouvrait ses levres ; et, si desireuse qu'elle parut de la refouler, son allegresse eclatait en signes manifestes. "Et lui ?" pensa Kitty. Elle le regarda et fut epouvantee, car le visage de Vronski refletait comme un miroir l'exaltation qu'elle venait de lire sur celui d'Anna."

Leo Tolstoy's most personal novel, Anna Karenina scrutinizes fundamental ethical and theological questions through the tragic story of its eponymous heroine. Anna is desperately pursuing a good, "moral" life, standing for honesty and sincerity. Passion drives her to adultery, and this flies in the face of the corrupt Russian bourgeoisie. Meanwhile, the aristocrat Konstantin Levin is struggling to reconcile reason with passion, espousing a Christian anarchism that Tolstoy himself believed in. Acclaimed by critics and readers alike, Anna Karenina presents a poignant blend of realism and lyricism that makes it one of the most perfect, enduring novels of all time.

Trapped in a stifling marriage, Anna Karenina is swept off her feet by dashing Count Vronsky. Rejected by society, the two lovers flee to Italy, where Anna finds herself isolated from all except the man she loves, and who loves her. But can they live by love alone? In this novel of astonishing scope and grandeur, Leo Tolstoy, the great master of Russian literature, charts the course of the human heart. A masterpiece of realism and illuminated by irresistible characters, Anna Karenina is among the best-loved of all novels, penetrating to the heart of the ruling class in Tsarist Russia. This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Anna Karenina is translated by Aylmer & Louise Maude, and features an afterword by Ned Halley. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Upon it’s publication, Anna Karenina startled the world with its powerful portrayal of the human need for love and happiness weighed against the rigid demands of society. Its heroine, the sensual, rebellious Anna, renounces a respectable yet stifling marriage for an extramarital affair that offers a taste of passion even as it ensnares her in a trap for destruction. Her story contrasts with that of Levin, a young, self-doubting agnostic who takes a different path to fulfillment and finds faith and happiness in an age of repression. Anna Karenina has been called Tolstoy’s spiritual autobiography. Anna and Levin personify his lifelong struggle to reconcile his physical desires and intellectual ideals in order to lead a more meaningful existence.