Anna Karenina Study Notes
Anna Karenina
Context
Lev (Leo) Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born into a large and wealthy Russian landowning family in 1828, on the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy’s mother died when he was only two years old, and he idealized her memory throughout his life. Some critics speculate that the early loss of his mother colors Tolstoy’s portrayal of the young Seryozha in Anna Karenina. When Tolstoy was nine, the family moved to Moscow. Shortly afterward his father died, murdered while traveling. Being orphaned before the age of ten, albeit without financial worries, left Tolstoy with an acute awareness of the power of death—an idea central to all his great works and especially evident in the strong association of the character of Anna Karenina with mortality.
Though an intelligent child, Tolstoy had little interest in -academics. His aunt had to work hard to persuade him to go to university, and he failed his entrance exam on his first attempt. Eventually matriculating at Kazan University at the age of sixteen, Tolstoy studied law and Oriental languages. He showed interest in the grand heroic cultures of Persia, Turkey, and the Caucasus—an interest that persisted throughout his life. He was not popular at the university, and was self-conscious about his large nose and thick eyebrows. Ultimately, Tolstoy was dissatisfied with his education, and he left in 1847 without a degree. The social awkwardness of Konstantin Levin at the beginning of Anna Kareninareflects Tolstoy’s own discomfort in fancy social surroudings at this time in his life.
In 1851, Tolstoy visited his brother in the Russian army and then decided to enlist shortly afterward. He served in the Crimean War (1854–1856) and recorded his experience in his Sevastopol Stories(1855). Tolstoy was able to write during his time in the army, producing a well-received autobiographical novel, Childhood (1852), followed by two others, Boyhood (1854) and Youth (1857). He ultimately evolved antimilitaristic
Context
Lev (Leo) Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born into a large and wealthy Russian landowning family in 1828, on the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy’s mother died when he was only two years old, and he idealized her memory throughout his life. Some critics speculate that the early loss of his mother colors Tolstoy’s portrayal of the young Seryozha in Anna Karenina. When Tolstoy was nine, the family moved to Moscow. Shortly afterward his father died, murdered while traveling. Being orphaned before the age of ten, albeit without financial worries, left Tolstoy with an acute awareness of the power of death—an idea central to all his great works and especially evident in the strong association of the character of Anna Karenina with mortality.
Though an intelligent child, Tolstoy had little interest in -academics. His aunt had to work hard to persuade him to go to university, and he failed his entrance exam on his first attempt. Eventually matriculating at Kazan University at the age of sixteen, Tolstoy studied law and Oriental languages. He showed interest in the grand heroic cultures of Persia, Turkey, and the Caucasus—an interest that persisted throughout his life. He was not popular at the university, and was self-conscious about his large nose and thick eyebrows. Ultimately, Tolstoy was dissatisfied with his education, and he left in 1847 without a degree. The social awkwardness of Konstantin Levin at the beginning of Anna Kareninareflects Tolstoy’s own discomfort in fancy social surroudings at this time in his life.
In 1851, Tolstoy visited his brother in the Russian army and then decided to enlist shortly afterward. He served in the Crimean War (1854–1856) and recorded his experience in his Sevastopol Stories(1855). Tolstoy was able to write during his time in the army, producing a well-received autobiographical novel, Childhood (1852), followed by two others, Boyhood (1854) and Youth (1857). He ultimately evolved antimilitaristic