Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina--------------------------------------------------In 1872 the mistress of a neighbouring landowner threw herself undera train at a station near Tolstoy's home. This gave Tolstoy the startingpoint he needed for composing what many believe to be the greatestnovel ever written. In writing Anna Karenina he moved away from thevast historical sweep of War and Peace to tell, with extraordinaryunderstanding, the story of an aristocratic woman who brings ruin onherself. Anna's tragedy is interwoven with not only the courtshipand marriage of Kitty and Levin but also the lives of many other characters.Rich in incident, powerful in characterization, the novel also expressesTolstoy's own moral vision. 'The correct way of putting the questionis the artist's duty', Chekhov once insisted, and Anna Karenina wasthe work he chose to make his point. It solves no problem, but itis deeply satisfying because all the questions are put correctly.