Structural compositional features of Anna Karenina's novel. "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy
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"Anna Karenina" (1873-1877) - a novel by L.N. Tolstoy about the tragic love of the married lady Anna Karenina for the brilliant officer Vronsky against the backdrop of the happy family life of the nobles Konstantin Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya. A large-scale picture of the manners and life of the noble environment of St. Petersburg and Moscow in the second half of the 19th century, combining the philosophical reflections of the author's alter ego of Levin with the most advanced psychological sketches in Russian literature, as well as scenes from the life of peasants.
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On February 24, 1870, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy conceived a novel about the private life and relationships of his contemporaries, but he began to realize his plan only in February 1873. The novel was published in parts, the first of which was published in 1875 in the Russian Bulletin. Gradually, the novel turned into a fundamental social work, which was a huge success. The continuation of the novel was eagerly awaited.
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History of creation The editor of the magazine refused to print the epilogue because of the critical thought expressed in it, and finally, the novel was completed on April 5 (17), 1877. The last chapter of the already published material ended with the death of Karenina, at the end it said: "to be continued." The last part was corrected by Strakhov, and the Censor's permission was issued on June 25, 1877. The story began with a deliberate pause: “Almost two months have passed. It was already half of the hot summer. We have already talked about the Serbo-Montenegrin-Turkish war, to which Vronsky is sent.
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History of creation So, the novel was published in full. The next edition (in its entirety) was in 1878. The first report on the work on the novel "Anna Karenina" in a letter from L. N. Tolstoy to N. N. Strakhov dated March 25, 1873
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Thoughts of great writers on the novel "Anna Karenina" If Tolstoy called "War and Peace" a "book about the past", in which he described the beautiful and sublime "whole world", then he called Anna Karenina "a novel from modern life". According to Hegel: “the novel in the modern sense presupposes a prosaically ordered reality,” but L. N. Tolstoy represented in “Anna Karenina” a “fragmented world” devoid of moral unity, in which chaos of good and evil reigns. Unlike War and Peace, there were no great historical events in Anna Karenina, but topics that are close to everyone personally are raised and remain unanswered.
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Thoughts of great writers on the novel "Anna Karenina" F. M. Dostoevsky found in Tolstoy's new novel "an enormous psychological development of the human soul." Therefore, "a lively, hot and complete novel," as Leo Tolstoy called it, will be contemporary in any historical era. The novel, touching on feelings "close to everyone personally," became a living reproach to his contemporaries, whom N. S. Leskov ironically called "real secular people." This novel is a strict, incorruptible judgment of our entire system of life. - A. A. Fet
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Genre features of the novel The originality of the genre of "Anna Karenina" lies in the fact that this novel combines features characteristic of several types of novelistic creativity. It contains, first of all, the features that characterize the family romance. The history of several families, family relationships and conflicts are highlighted here. the Karenin family wedding of Levin and Kitty Stepan Arkadyevich (Stiva) and Anna Arkadyevna
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It is no coincidence that Tolstoy emphasized that when creating Anna Karenina, he was dominated by family thought, while, while working on War and Peace, he wanted to embody the people's thought. But at the same time, Anna Karenina is not only a family novel, but also a social, psychological novel, a work in which the history of family relations is closely connected with the depiction of complex social processes, and the depiction of the fate of the characters is inseparable from the deep disclosure of their inner world. Showing the movement of time, characterizing the formation of a new social order, the lifestyle and psychology of various strata of society, Tolstoy gave his novel the features of an epic. Genre features of the novel
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Genre features of the novel Embodiment of family thought, socio-psychological narration, epic features - these are not separate "layers" in the novel, but those principles that appear in their organic synthesis. And just as the social constantly penetrates into the depiction of personal, family relationships, so the depiction of the individual aspirations of the characters, their psychology largely determines the epic features of the novel. The strength of the characters created in it is determined by the brightness of the embodiment in them of one's own, personal and at the same time by the expressiveness of the disclosure of those social ties and relationships in which they exist.
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Tolstoy's brilliant skill in Anna Karenina evoked enthusiastic appraisal from the writer's outstanding contemporaries. “Count Leo Tolstoy,” wrote V. Stasov, “rose to such a high note, which Russian literature has never taken before. Even in Pushkin and Gogol themselves, love and passion were not expressed with such depth and amazing truth, as now in Tolstoy. V. Stasov noted that the writer is able to "sculpt with a wonderful sculptor's hand such types and scenes that no one knew before him in our entire literature ... "Anna Karenina" will remain a bright, huge star forever and ever!". No less highly appreciated "Karenina" and Dostoevsky, who considered the novel from his ideological and creative positions. He wrote: "Anna Karenina" is perfection as a work of art ... and one with which nothing similar from European literature in the present era can be compared. Genre features of the novel
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The novel was created, as it were, at the turn of two eras in the life and work of Tolstoy. Even before the completion of Anna Karenina, the writer is fascinated by new social and religious quests. They received a well-known reflection in the moral philosophy of Konstantin Levin. However, the whole complexity of the problems that occupied the writer in the new era, the whole complexity of his ideological and life path are widely reflected in the journalistic and artistic works of the writer of the 80-90s. Genre features of the novel
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Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) created Anna Karenina at a special period in his life: the time has come for him, as we would say now, a reassessment of values. “A revolution happened to me,” he wrote in his philosophical essay “Confession”, “which has been preparing in me for a long time and the makings of which have always been in me. It happened to me that the life of our circle - the rich, the scientists - not only disgusted me, but lost all meaning. Spiritual search L.N. Tolstoy in Anna Karenina
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So, Lev Nikolaevich rejected the traditionally measured existence of a Russian educated nobleman and began to search for some alternative to him, unshakable moral ideals, in accordance with which a different, righteous life is possible. As you know, in the end this resulted in Tolstoy's special religiosity (Christianity, cleansed of the dogmas and rites of the church). "Anna Karenina" is interesting precisely as a creative reflection of the author's complex spiritual quest. Spiritual quest of Leo Tolstoy in the novel "Anna Karenina"
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The characters of the novel Leo Tolstoy's entourage is the modern society of Anna Oblonskaya-Karenina. Tolstoy's observations of the feelings and thoughts of real people became an "artistic depiction of life" of the characters in the novel ... "Anna Karenina" film 2009
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There are no coincidences in Tolstoy's novel. The path begins with the railway, without which communication was impossible. Anna Karenina and Princess Vronskaya travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow in the same carriage, who tells her about her son Alexei. Anna comes to reconcile Dolly with her brother Stiva, convicted of treason, and who is "to blame". Vronsky meets his mother, Stiva meets his sister. A coupler dies under the wheels ... The death of a coupler under the wheels of a steam locomotive became a “bad omen”, the “beautiful horror of a snowstorm” symbolized the imminent destruction of the family.
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The symbolism in the novel is the railroad (the symbolism of the railroad tells the reader that the prophecy of the author of the novel is as follows: the modern world, which has lost God, is inevitably moving towards failure, as if on railroad tracks); the flaring and dying candle becomes a symbol of the life and death of Anna Karenina. Darkness conjures up in Anna Karenina's imagination the symbolic image of extinct life; one of the most important symbols of "Anna Karenina" is the figure of a little peasant with a disheveled beard. The “peasant” appears at the decisive moments in the life of the title character: a few moments before her acquaintance with Vronsky, before childbirth and (thrice!) on the day of her death; he is not only present in reality, but is also seen by the characters in a dream;
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sparkle in Anna's eyes. After a conversation with Vronsky, “Anna walked with her head down and playing with the tassels of her hood. Her face shone with a bright brilliance; but this brilliance was not cheerful, it resembled the terrible brilliance of a fire in the middle of a dark night. This image is a symbol of emerging love; K. D. Levin is relentlessly pursued by the image of a bear (talking about comparing 3 young ladies on a skating rink with 3 bears, the skin of a bear, the constellation Ursa Major); nature accompanies Anna Karenina in the form of a whirlwind, a snowstorm, a snow storm. The snowstorm in the novel is not just a blizzard, but a blizzard of passion; Symbolism in the novel
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red bag. He first appears in the novel during Anna's conversation with Dolly after the ball. Anna Karenina hid her bonnet and cambric handkerchiefs there. It can be assumed that at that moment in the soul of the heroine the bag contacted her secret - it was as if she hid her secret in the bag. During the episode on the train, the red bag ends up in Annushka's hands next to the torn glove. Gloves can be associated with notions of honor; when challenged to a duel, "throw down the gauntlet". Annushka, in torn gloves, is holding a red bag belonging to Anna Karenina, thanks to which it begins to acquire a special meaning, that is, to symbolize the loss of honor; symbolically, the heroine's crime is indicated by episodes where wedding rings appear. The ring symbolizes the union of two hearts. An attempt to remove the ring from the finger speaks of a desire to throw off the burden of this union, break the union, terminate the marriage; Symbolism in the novel
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Alexei Karenin's ears seem too big to Anna. Karenin's protruding ears are the accumulation in Anna's mind of disgust for him and a symbol of Karenin's death; theater, opera. The falsity on the stage, as it were, spread to the people in the audience and prevented them from separating truth from lies. Only one cursory mention at the very beginning of the story about Anna that the heroine had just been to Tolstoy's opera already doomed the heroine to the absence of a deeply moral feeling in her soul. Consequently, the opera in the novel becomes a symbol of immorality. Symbolism in the novel
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Prototypes Anna Karenina (Oblonskaya) According to the appearance described by Leo Tolstoy (dark hair, white lace and a small lilac garland of pansies), the prototype could be Maria Aleksandrovna Gartung, Pushkin's daughter. By marital status - Alexandra Alekseevna Obolenskaya (ur. Dyakova), wife of A. V. Obolensky and sister of M. A. Dyakova; According to fate - Anna Stepanovna Pirogova, whose unhappy love led to death, in 1872 (because of A.N. Bibikov); According to the situation - S. A. Bakhmeteva and M. A. Dyakova. Divorce was very rare. And a lot of noise in the world was made by the story of the marriage of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy to S. A. Bakhmetyeva, who left her husband L. Miller (nephew of E. L. Tolstoy) for him. The wife of chamberlain Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin, Maria Alekseevna Dyakova, in 1868 obtained a divorce and married S. A. Ladyzhensky.
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Konstantin Levin Lyova, Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. He was drawn in the novel as a typical image of a Russian idealist, but he shows far from the best part of his "I". Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky Adjutant Wing and poet Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy. In 1862 he married S. A. Miller-Bakhmetyeva, who left her husband and family for him. This story made a lot of noise in the world. Alexey Alexandrovich Karenin Baron Vladimir Mikhailovich Mengden is a landowner and official, a member of the State Council, a callous person, small in stature and unattractive. But he was married to the beautiful Elizaveta Ivanovna Obolenskaya (ur. Bibikova), L. N. Tolstoy said: “She is lovely, and one can only imagine what would happen if she cheated on her husband ...” Chamberlain, adviser to the Moscow city office Sergey Mikhailovich Sukhotin. In 1868, his wife M. A. Dyakova obtained a divorce and married S. A. Ladyzhensky. Prototypes
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T. Samoilova as A. Karenina (1967) N. Gritsenko as A. Karenin V. Lanovoy as A. Vronsky B. Goldaev as K. Levin
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The epigraph of the novel, its meaning As an epigraph to the novel, Tolstoy chose the words of God from the biblical book of Deuteronomy in the Church Slavonic translation: "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay."
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Epigraph of the novel, its meaning The main character, Anna Karenina, is a delicate and conscientious nature, she is connected with her lover Count Vronsky by a real, strong feeling. Anna's husband, a high-ranking official Karenin, seems to be soulless and callous, although at certain moments he is capable of high, truly Christian, kind feelings. "Karenon" in Greek (in Homer) "head". the surname "Karenin" is derived from this word. Perhaps that is why Tolstoy gave such a surname to Anna's husband, Karenin is a head man, that in him reason prevails over the heart, that is, feeling.
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The epigraph of the novel, its meaning Tolstoy creates circumstances that seem to justify Anna. The writer tells in the novel about the connections of another secular lady, Betsy Tverskoy. She does not advertise these connections, does not flaunt them, and enjoys a high reputation and respect in society. Anna, on the other hand, is open and honest, she does not hide her relationship with Vronsky and seeks to achieve a divorce from her husband. Nevertheless, Tolstoy judges Anna on behalf of God himself. The retribution for cheating on her husband is the suicide of the heroine. Her death is a manifestation of divine judgment.
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Anna commits suicide, but it is not divine retribution - the meaning of Anna's divine punishment is not revealed by Tolstoy. (In addition, according to Tolstoy, not only Anna deserves the highest judgment, but also other characters who have committed a sin - first of all, Vronsky.) Anna's guilt for Tolstoy is in evading the destiny of his wife and mother. Communication with Vronsky is not only a violation of marital duty. It leads to the destruction of the Karenin family: their son Seryozha is now growing up without a mother, and Anna and her husband fight each other for their son. Anna's love for Vronsky is not a high feeling, in which a spiritual principle prevails over physical attraction, but a blind and destructive passion. Epigraph of the novel, its meaning
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Anna deliberately goes against the divine law that protects the family. This is her fault for the author. Later, Tolstoy wrote about the biblical saying - the epigraph to Anna Karenina: “People do a lot of bad things to themselves and to each other only because weak, sinful people have taken upon themselves the right to punish other people. “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.” Only God punishes, and then only through the person himself. Epigraph of the novel, its meaning
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According to A. A. Fet, “Tolstoy points to “I will repay” not as a rod of a squeamish mentor, but as a punitive force of things<…>". Only God has the right to punish, and people do not have the right to judge. This is not only a different meaning, but also the opposite of the original. In the novel, the pathos of unresolved is increasingly revealed. Depths, truths - and therefore unresolved. Epigraph of the novel, its meaning
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But another interpretation is possible. According to Christ, "from everyone to whom much is given, much will be required." Anna was given more than those who are not faithful to Betsy Tverskaya or Steve Oblonsky. She is spiritually richer and thinner than them. And more severely exacted from her. Such an interpretation corresponds to the meaning of the epigraph to the text of the first completed edition of the novel: "One and the same business of marriage is fun for some, the wisest thing in the world for others." For Anna, marriage is not fun, and the more difficult is her sin. Epigraph of the novel, its meaning "Anna Karenina" film 1935
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The tragedy of Anna Karenina Anna, still quite young, was given in marriage to Karenin, a prosperous tsarist official. His usual, normal state is soullessness and lies, worship of form. Such is he in the public service, and in society, and in the family.
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“They say: a religious, moral, honest, intelligent person,” Anna thinks of her husband, “but they don’t see what I saw. They don’t know how he choked my life for eight years, choked everything that was alive in me ... They don’t know how at every step he insulted me and remained pleased with himself. Haven't I tried, tried with all my might to justify my life? Didn't I try to love him, to love my son, when it was no longer possible to love my husband? But the time has come, I realized that I can no longer deceive myself, that I am alive, that I am not to blame, that God made me such that I need to love and live. The tragedy of Anna Karenina
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Anna Karenina is one of the most charming female characters in Russian literature. Her clear mind, pure heart, kindness and truthfulness attract the sympathy of the best people in the novel - the Shcherbatsky sisters, Princess Myagkaya, Levin. Anna's special charm is unconsciously felt by children - sensitive souls that do not tolerate falsehood. The tragedy of Anna Karenina T. Drubich as A. Karenina in the film of the same name (2009)
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Anna tried to break free from the false, soulless world, but failed. She could not deceive her husband, as decent women of her circle, who were not condemned by anyone for this, did. It was also impossible to divorce him: it meant giving up his son. Karenin does not give Serezha, who loves his mother dearly, out of lofty Christian motives. A wall of alienation grows around Anna: Everyone pounced on her, all those who are a hundred times worse than her. The tragedy of Anna Karenina
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With amazing power, Tolstoy depicts the torment of a lonely female soul. Anna has no friends, no business that could captivate her. In life, only Vronsky's love remains for her. And Anna begins to be tormented by terrible thoughts about what will happen if he stops loving her. She becomes suspicious, unfair. An evil spirit of some kind of struggle settles between her and a person dear to her. Life becomes unbearable. And death, as the only means of restoring love for her in his heart, punishing him and winning the struggle that the evil spirit that had settled in her heart waged with him, clearly and vividly presented itself to her. The tragedy of Anna Karenina
The originality of the Anna Karenina genre lies in the fact that this novel combines features characteristic of several types of novelistic creativity. It contains, first of all, the features that characterize the family romance. The history of several families, family relationships and conflicts are highlighted here. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy emphasized that when creating Anna Karenina, he was dominated by family thought, while, while working on War and Peace, he wanted to embody the people's thought. But at the same time, Anna Karenina is not only a family novel, but also a social, psychological novel, a work in which the history of family relations is closely connected with the depiction of complex social processes, and the depiction of the fate of the characters is inseparable from the deep disclosure of their inner world. Showing the movement of time, characterizing the formation of a new social order, the lifestyle and psychology of various strata of society, Tolstoy gave his novel the features of an epic. The embodiment of family thought, the socio-psychological narrative, the features of the epic are not separate "layers" in the novel, but those principles that appear in their organic synthesis. And just as the social constantly penetrates into the depiction of personal, family relationships, so the depiction of the individual aspirations of the characters, their psychology largely determines the epic features of the novel. The strength of the characters created in it is determined by the brightness of the embodiment in them of one's own, personal and at the same time by the expressiveness of the disclosure of those social ties and relationships in which they exist.
Tolstoy's brilliant skill in Anna Karenina evoked enthusiastic appraisal from the writer's outstanding contemporaries. “Count Leo Tolstoy,” wrote V. Stasov, “rose to such a high note that Russian literature has never taken before. Even in Pushkin and Gogol themselves, love and passion were not expressed with such depth and amazing truth, as now in Tolstoy. V. Stasov noted that the writer is able to "sculpt with a wonderful sculptor's hand such types and scenes that no one knew before him in our entire literature ... "Anna Karenina" will remain a bright, huge star forever and ever!". No less highly appreciated "Karenina" and Dostoevsky, who considered the novel from his ideological and creative positions. He wrote: "Anna Karenina" is perfection as a work of art ... and one with which nothing similar from European literature in the present era can be compared.
The novel was created, as it were, at the turn of two eras in the life and work of Tolstoy. Even before the completion of Anna Karenina, the writer is fascinated by new social and religious quests. They received a well-known reflection in the moral philosophy of Konstantin Levin. However, the whole complexity of the problems that occupied the writer in the new era, the whole complexity of his ideological and life path are widely reflected in the journalistic and artistic works of the writer of the eighties - nineties.
Artistic originality of the novel "Anna Karenina"
The plot and composition of the novel
Tolstoy called Anna Karenina "a broad and free novel", using Pushkin's term "free novel". This is a clear indication of the genre origins of the work.
Tolstoy's "broad and free novel" is different from Pushkin's "free novel". In "Anna Karenina" there are no, for example, lyrical, philosophical or journalistic author's digressions. But between Pushkin's novel and Tolstoy's novel there is an undoubted successive connection, which manifests itself in the genre, in the plot, and in the composition.
In Tolstoy's novel, as well as in Pushkin's novel, paramount importance belongs not to the plot completeness of the provisions, but to the "creative concept", which determines the selection of material and, in the spacious frame of the modern novel, provides freedom for the development of storylines. “I can’t and I don’t know how to put certain boundaries on the persons I imagine, such as marriage or death, after which the interest of the story would be destroyed. It involuntarily seemed to me that the death of one person only aroused interest in other persons, and marriage seemed for the most part an outburst, and not a denouement of interest, ”wrote Tolstoy.
The “broad and free novel” obeys the logic of life; one of his internal artistic goals is to overcome literary conventions. In 1877, in the article “On the Significance of the Modern Novel,” F. Buslaev wrote that modernity cannot be satisfied with “non-realizable fairy tales, which until recently were passed off as novels with mysterious plots and adventures of incredible characters in a fantastic, unprecedented setting. -novka". Tolstoy sympathetically noted this article as an interesting experience in comprehending the development of realist literature in the 19th century. .
“Now the novel is interested in the reality that surrounds us, the current life in the family and society, as it is, in its active fermentation of unsteady elements of the old and the new, the dying and the emerging, the elements excited by the great upheavals and reforms of our century” - wrote F. Buslaev.
Anna's storyline unfolds "in the law" (in the family) and "outside the law" (outside the family). Levin's storyline moves from the position "in the law" (in the family) to the consciousness of the illegality of all social development ("we are outside the law"). Anna dreamed of getting rid of what "painfully bothered" her. She chose the path of willing sacrifice. And Levin dreamed of "stopping dependence on evil," and he was tormented by the thought of suicide. But what seemed to Anna "truth" was for Levin "a painful lie." He could not dwell on the fact that evil owns society. He needed to find the “higher truth”, that “undoubted meaning of goodness”, which should change life and give it new moral laws: “instead of poverty, common wealth, contentment, instead of enmity - harmony and connection of interests” . Circles of events in both cases have a common center.
Despite the isolation of the content, these plots represent concentric circles with a common center. Tolstoy's novel is a pivotal work with artistic unity. “There is a center in the field of knowledge, and from it there are an innumerable number of radii,” said Tolstoy. “The whole task is to determine the length of these radii and their distance from each other.” This statement, if applied to the plot of Anna Karenina, explains the principle of concentric arrangement of large and small circles of events in the novel.
Tolstoy made Levin's "circle" much wider than Anna's. Levin's story begins much earlier than Anna's story and ends after the death of the heroine, after whom the novel is named. The book ends not with the death of Anna (part seven), but with Levin's moral quest and his attempts to create a positive program for the renewal of private and public life (part eight).
The concentricity of plot circles is generally characteristic of the novel Anna Karenina. Through the circle of relations between Anna and Vronsky, the parodic novel of Baroness Shilton and Petritsky “shines through”. The story of Ivan Parmenov and his wife becomes for Levin the embodiment of patriarchal peace and happiness.
But Vronsky's life did not develop according to the rules. His mother was the first to notice this, dissatisfied with the fact that some kind of "Wertherian passion" had taken possession of her son. Vronsky himself feels that many conditions of life were not provided for by the rules”: “Only very recently, regarding his relationship with Anna, did Vronsky begin to feel that his set of rules did not quite determine all the conditions, and in the future it seemed difficult -ties and doubts in which Vronsky no longer found a guiding thread.
The more serious Vronsky's feeling becomes, the further he moves away from the "undoubted rules" to which light is subject. Illicit love put him outside the law. By the will of circumstances, Vronsky had to renounce his circle. But he is unable to overcome the "secular person" in his soul. With all his might, he seeks to return "to his bosom." Vronsky is drawn to the law of light, but this, according to Tolstoy, is a cruel and false law that cannot bring happiness. At the end of the novel, Vronsky leaves as a volunteer for the army. He admits that he is fit only to “get into a square, crush or lie down” (19, 361). The spiritual crisis ended in catastrophe. If Levin denies the very thought expressed in “revenge and murder,” then Vronsky is entirely in the grip of harsh and cruel feelings: “I, as a person,” said Vronsky, “are good because life is nothing for me what is not worth it"; “Yes, as a tool I can be good for something, but as a person I am a ruin.”
One of the main lines of the novel is connected with Karenin. This is a statesman
Tolstoy points to the possibility of the enlightenment of Karenin's soul at critical moments in his life, as it was in the days of Anna's illness, when he suddenly got rid of the "confusion of concepts" and comprehended the "law of goodness." But this enlightenment did not last long. Karenin can find footholds in nothing. “My situation is terrible because I don’t find anywhere, I don’t find a foothold in myself.”
Oblonsky's character presented a difficult task for Tolstoy. Many fundamental features of Russian life in the second half of the 19th century found their expression in it. In the novel, Oblonsky is located with a lordly latitude. One of his dinners stretched over two chapters. Oblonsky's hedonism, his indifference to everything except what can bring him pleasure, is a characteristic feature of the psychology of an entire class that is declining. “One of two things is necessary: either to recognize that the current structure of society is fair, and then defend your rights; or admit that you are enjoying unfair advantages, as I do, and use them with pleasure ”(19, 163). Oblonsky is smart enough to see the social contradictions of his time; he even believes that the structure of society is unfair.
Oblonsky's life proceeds within the boundaries of the "law", and he is quite satisfied with his life, although he has long admitted to himself that he enjoys "unfair advantages." His "common sense" is the prejudice of an entire class and is the touchstone on which Levin's thought is honed.
The peculiarity of the "broad and free novel" lies in the fact that the plot here loses its organizing influence on the material. The scene at the railway station completes the tragic story of Anna's life (ch. XXXI, part seven).
In Tolstoy's novel, they searched for a plot and did not find it. Some claimed that the novel was already over, others assured that it could be continued indefinitely. In "An-ne Karenina" the plot and the plot do not coincide. The plot provisions, even when exhausted, do not interfere with the further development of the plot, which has its own artistic completeness and moves from the emergence to the resolution of the conflict.
Tolstoy only at the beginning of the seventh part "introduced" the two main characters of the novel - Anna and Levin. But this acquaintance, extremely important in terms of plot, did not change the course of events in the plot. The writer tried to discard the concept of the plot altogether: “The connection is built not on the plot and not on the relationship (acquaintance) of persons, but on the internal connection”.
Tolstoy wrote not just a novel, but a "novel of life." The genre of "wide and free novel" removes the restrictions of the closed development of the plot within the framework of a complete plot. Life does not fit into the scheme. The plot circles in the novel are arranged in such a way that attention is focused on the moral and social core of the work.
The plot of "Anna Karenina" is "the history of the human soul", which enters into a fatal duel with the prejudices and laws of its era; some do not endure this struggle and perish (Anna), others "under the threat of despair" come to the consciousness of "people's truth" and ways to renew society (Levin).
The principle of the concentric arrangement of plot circles is a characteristic form of revealing the internal unity of the “broad and free novel” for Tolstoy. The invisible "castle" - the general view of the author on life, naturally and freely transforming into the thoughts and feelings of the characters, "reduces the vaults" with impeccable accuracy.
The originality of the "wide and free novel" is manifested not only in the way the plot is built, but also in the kind of architecture, what composition the writer chooses.
The unusual composition of the novel "Anna Karenina" seemed to many especially strange. The absence of a logically complete plot made the composition of the novel also unusual. In 1878 prof. S. A. Rachinsky wrote to Tolstoy: “The last part made a chilling impression, not because it was weaker than the others (on the contrary, it is full of depth and subtlety), but because of a fundamental flaw in the construction of the whole novel. It has no architecture. It develops side by side, and develops magnificently, two themes that are not connected in any way. How delighted I was to make Levin's acquaintance with Anna Karenina. - You must admit that this is one of the best episodes in the novel. Here was an opportunity to connect all the threads of the story and provide them with a coherent finale. But you didn't want to - God bless you. Anna Karenina still remains the best of modern novels, and you are the first of modern writers.
Letter from Tolstoy to Prof. S. A. Rachinsky is extremely interesting, as it contains a definition of the characteristic features of the artistic form of the novel "Anna Karenina". Tolstoy insisted that one can judge a novel only on the basis of its "internal content". He believed that the critic's opinion about the novel was "wrong": "On the contrary, I am proud of the architecture," wrote Tolstoy. And this is what I tried most of all” (62, 377).
In the strict sense of the word, there is no exposition in Anna Karenina. Regarding Pushkin's passage "The guests huddled at the dacha," Tolstoy said: "That's how you have to start. Pushkin is our teacher. This immediately introduces the reader into the interest of the action itself. Another would begin to describe the guests, rooms, and Pushkin directly gets down to business.
In the novel "Anna Karenina" from the very beginning, attention is directed to events in which the characters of the characters are clarified.
The aphorism - "all happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" - this is a philosophical introduction to the novel. The second (event) introduction is enclosed in one single phrase: "Everything was mixed up in the Oblonskys' house." And finally, the next phrase gives the beginning of the action and defines the conflict. The accident that revealed Oblonsky's infidelity entails a chain of necessary consequences that make up the plot line of the family drama.
The chapters of the novel are arranged in cycles, between which there is a close connection both in thematic and plot relations. Each part of the novel has its own "idea knot". The strongholds of the composition are plot-thematic centers, successively replacing each other.
In the first part of the novel, cycles are formed in connection with conflicts in the lives of the Oblonskys (ch. I-V), Levin (ch. VI-IX), and the Shcherbatskys (ch. XII-XVI). The development of the action is determined "by the events caused by the arrival of Anna Karenina in Moscow (ch. XVII-XXIII), Levin's decision to leave for the village (ch. XXIV--XXVII) and Anna's return to Petersburg, where Vronsky followed her ( chapter XXIX-XXXIU).
These cycles, following one after another, gradually expand the scope of the novel, revealing the patterns of development of conflicts. Tolstoy maintains the proportion of cycles in terms of volume. In the first part, each cycle occupies five or six chapters, which have their own “content boundaries”. This creates a rhythmic change of episodes and scenes.
The first part is one of the finest examples of the "cool romance plot". The logic of events, nowhere violating the truth of life, leads to abrupt and inevitable changes in the fate of the characters. If before Anna Karenina's arrival Dolly was unhappy, and Kitty was happy, then after Anna's appearance in Moscow "everything was mixed up": the reconciliation of the Oblonskys became possible - Dolly's happiness, and Vronsky's break with Kitty was inevitably approaching - the misfortune of Princess Shcherbatskaya. The plot of the novel is built on the basis of major changes in the lives of the characters and captures the very meaning of their existence.
The plot-thematic center of the first part of the novel is the depiction of the "confusion" of family and social relations that turn the life of a thinking person into torment and cause a desire to "get away from all the abomination, confusion, both one's own and someone else's." This is the basis of the “linking of ideas” in the first part, where the knot of further events is tied.
The second part has its own plot and thematic center. This is the “abyss of life”, before which the heroes stop in confusion, trying to free themselves from the “confusion”. The action of the second part from the very beginning acquires a dramatic character. The circles of events here are wider than in the first part. Episodes change at a faster pace. Each cycle contains three or four chapters. The action is transferred from Moscow to St. Petersburg, from Pokrovsky to Krasnoye Selo and Peterhof, from Russia to Germany.
Kitty, having experienced the collapse of her hopes, after a break with Vronsky, leaves for "German waters" (ch. I--III). The relationship between Anna and Vronsky is becoming more and more open, inconspicuously moving the heroes to the abyss (ch. IV-VII). The first to see the “abyss” was Karenin, but his attempts to “warn” Anna were in vain (ch. VIII-X)
From the secular salons of St. Petersburg, the action of the third cycle is transferred to Levin's estate - Pokrovskoye. With the onset of spring, he especially clearly felt the influence on life of the "elemental force" of nature and folk life (ch. XII-XVII). Vronsky's secular life is opposed to Levin's economic concerns. He succeeds in love and is defeated at the races in Krasnoye Selo (ch. XVIII-XXV).
A crisis begins in the relationship between Anna and Karenin. Uncertainty dissipates, and the rupture of family ties becomes inevitable (ch. XXVI--XXIX). The finale of the second part returns attention to the beginning - to Kitty's fate. She comprehended "the whole burden of this world of grief", but gained new strength for life (ch. XXX--XXXV).
Peace in the Oblonsky family was again broken. "The spike made by Anna turned out to be fragile, and family harmony broke again in the same place." "Abyss" absorbs not only the family, but the entire property of Oblonsky. It is as difficult for him to count the trees before making a deed with Ryabinin as "to measure the deep ocean, to count the sands, the rays of the planets." Ryabinin buys wood for next to nothing. The soil leaves from under Oblonsky's feet. Life "displaces the idle man."
Levin sees "from all sides the impoverishment of the nobility is taking place." He is still inclined to ascribe this phenomenon to the indiscretion, the "innocence" of such masters as Oblonsky. But the very ubiquity of this process seems to him mysterious. Levin's attempts to get closer to the people, to understand the laws and meaning of patriarchal life, have not yet been crowned with success. He stops in perplexity in front of the "elemental force", which "constantly resisted him." Levin is determined to fight against this "elemental force." But, according to Tolstoy, forces are not equal. Levin will have to change the spirit of struggle to the spirit of humility.
Anna's love overwhelmed Vronsky with a sense of "vanity-glorious success." He was "proud and self-sufficient". His wish came true, "the charming dream of happiness" came true. Chapter XI, with its "bright realism", is built on a striking combination of opposing feelings of joy and sorrow, happiness and disgust. "It's all over," says Anna; The word “horror” is repeated several times, and the whole mood of the characters is sustained in the spirit of irretrievable immersion in the abyss: “She felt that at that moment she could not express in words that feeling of shame, joy and horror before this entry into a new life.”
The unexpected turn of events embarrassed Karenin with its illogicality and unforeseen nature. His life has always been subject to unchanging and precise concepts. Now Karenin "was face to face with something illogical and stupid and did not know what to do." Karenin had to reflect only on the "reflections of life." There the weight was clear. “Now he experienced a feeling similar to what a person would experience if he calmly passed over the abyss along the bridge and suddenly saw that this bridge had been dismantled and that there was an abyss. This abyss was life itself, a bridge - that artificial life that Aleksey Aleksandrovich lived” [18, 151].
"Bridge" and "abyss", "artificial life" and "life itself" - in these categories, an internal conflict is revealed. The symbolism of generalizing images that give a prophetic indication of the future is much clearer than in the first part. This is not only spring in Pokrovsky and horse racing in Krasnoye Selo.
The heroes have changed in many ways, entered into a new life. In the second part of the novel, the image of a ship on the high seas naturally appears as a symbol of the life of modern man. Vronsky and Anna “experienced a feeling similar to the feeling of a navigator who sees by compass that the direction in which he is moving quickly is far from the proper one, but that it is not in his power to stop the movement, that every minute removes him all more and more from the proper direction, and that admitting to oneself a retreat is the same as admitting to death.
The second part of the novel has an internal unity, despite all the differences and the contrasting change of plot episodes. What for Karenin was "an abyss", for Anna and Vronsky became the "law of love", and for Levin the consciousness of his helplessness in the face of "elemental force". No matter how far the events of the novel diverge, they are grouped around a single plot and thematic center.
The third part of the novel depicts the heroes after the crisis they experienced and on the eve of decisive events. Chapters are combined into cycles, which can be subdivided into periods. The first cycle consists of two periods: Levin and Koznyshev in Pokrovsky (. I-VI) and Levin's trip to Ergushevo (ch. VII-XII). The second cycle is devoted to the relations between Anna and Karenin (ch. XIII-XVI), Anna and Vronsky (ch. XVII-XXIII). The third cycle again returns attention to Levin and is divided into two periods: Levin's trip to Sviyazhsky (ch. XXV-XXVIII) and Levin's attempt to create a new "science of economy" (ch. XXIX-XXXP).
The fourth part of the novel consists of three main cycles: the life of the Karenins in St. Petersburg (ch. I-V), the meeting of Levin and Kitty in Moscow in the Oblonsky house (ch. VII-XVI); the last cycle, dedicated to the relationship between Anna, Vronsky and Karenin, has two periods: the happiness of forgiveness ”(ch. XVII-XIX) and the gap (ch. XX-- XXIII).
In the fifth part of the novel, the focus is on the fate of Anna and Levin. The heroes of the novel achieve happiness and choose their own path (Anna and Vronsky's departure to Italy, Levin's marriage to Kitty). Life has changed, although each of them remained himself. “There was a complete break with all former life, and a completely different, new, completely unknown life began, but in reality the old one continued.”
The plot-thematic center is a general concept of a given plot state. In each part of the novel there are repeated words - images and concepts - which are the key to the ideological meaning of the work. "Abyss" appears in the second part of the novel as a metaphor for life, and then goes through many conceptual and figurative transformations. The word "confusion" was key for the first part of the novel, "web of lies" for the third, "mysterious communication" for the fourth, "choosing the path" for the fifth. These recurring words indicate the direction of the author's thought and can serve as the "thread of Ariadne" in the complex transitions of the "wide and free novel".
The architecture of the novel "Anna Karenina" is distinguished by the natural arrangement of all structural parts connected to each other. There is no doubt that the composition of the novel "Anna Karenina" was compared with an architectural structure. I. E. Zabelin, characterizing the features of originality in Russian architecture, wrote that for a long time in Rus', houses, palaces and temples “were arranged not according to the plan that was thought out in advance and drawn on paper, and the construction of the building rarely fully met all the real needs of the owner.
Most of all, they were built according to the plan of life itself and the free style of the very everyday life of the builders, although any separate structure was always executed according to the drawing.
This characteristic, referring to architecture, points to one of the deep traditions that nourished Russian art. From Pushkin to Tolstoy, a 19th-century novel. arose and developed as an "encyclopedia of Russian life." The free movement of the plot outside the constraining framework of the conditional plot determined the originality of the composition: "the lines of the placement of buildings were waywardly controlled by life itself."
A. Fet compared Tolstoy with a master who achieves "artistic integrity" and "in simple carpentry work." Tolstoy built circles of plot movement and a labyrinth of composition, "bridging vaults" of the novel with the art of the great architect.
The dramatic and intense style of Pushkin's stories, with their inherent swiftness of plot, rapid development of the plot, characterization of the characters directly in action, especially attracted Tolstoy in the days when he began work on a "lively, hot" novel about modernity.
And yet, it is impossible to explain the novel's peculiar beginning in style by Pushkin's external influence alone. The impetuous plot of "Anna Karenina", its intense plot development - all these are artistic means, inextricably linked with the content of the work. These funds helped the writer convey the drama of the heroes' su-deb.
Not only the very beginning of the novel, but its entire style is associated with a lively and energetic creative principle, clearly formulated by Tolstoy - "immediate introduction into action."
Without exception, Tolstoy introduces all the heroes of his wide multi-planned work without preliminary descriptions and characteristics, in an atmosphere of acute life situations. Anna - at the moment of her meeting with Vronsky, Steve Oblonsky and Dolly in a situation where it seems to both that their family is collapsing, Konstantin Levin - on the day when he tries to propose to Kitty.
In Anna Karenina, a novel whose action is especially tense, the writer, introducing one of the characters (Anna, Levin, Karenin, Oblonsky) into the narrative, focuses his attention on him, dedicates several chapters in a row, many pages predominantly noah characterization of this hero. So, Oblonsky is dedicated to I-IV, Levin - V--VII, Anna - XVIII--XXIII, Karenin - XXXI-XXXIII chapters of the first part of the novel. Moreover, each page of these chapters is distinguished by an amazing capacity for characterizing the characters.
As soon as Konstantin Levin managed to cross the threshold of the Moscow Presence, the writer already showed him in the perception of the gatekeeper, the official of the Presence, Oblonsky, spending only a few phrases on all this. In just a few first pages of the novel, Tolstoy managed to show the relationship of Stiva Oblonsky with his wife, children, servants, a petitioner, a watchmaker. Already on these first pages, Stiva's character is vividly and multifacetedly revealed in a multitude of typical and at the same time unique individual traits.
Following Pushkin's traditions in the novel, Tolstoy remarkably developed and enriched these traditions. The great artist-psychologist found many new unique means and techniques to combine a detailed analysis of the hero's experiences with Pushkin's purposeful development of the narrative.
As you know, "internal monologues", "psychological commentary" are specifically Tolstoy's artistic techniques, through which the writer revealed the inner world of the characters with special depth. These subtle psychological devices are saturated in Anna Karenina with such tense dramatic content that they usually not only do not slow down the pace of the narrative, but enhance its development. All of Anna Karenina's "inner monologues" can serve as an example of this connection between the most subtle analysis of the characters' feelings and the acutely dramatic development of the plot.
Overwhelmed by a sudden passion, Anna tries to run away from her love. Unexpectedly, ahead of schedule, she leaves Moscow for home in St. Petersburg.
“Well, what? Is it possible that between me and this boy officer there are and can exist any other relations than those that happen with every acquaintance? She smiled contemptuously and took up the book again, but already she definitely could not understand what she was reading. She ran a cutting knife across the glass, then put its smooth and cold surface to her cheek and almost laughed aloud from the joy that suddenly seized her for no reason. She felt that her nerves, like strings, were being pulled tighter and tighter on some kind of screwed pegs. She felt that her eyes were opening more and more, that her fingers and toes were moving nervously, that something was pressing her breath inside, and that all the images and sounds in this wavering twilight struck her with extraordinary brightness.
Anna's sudden feeling develops rapidly before our eyes, and the reader waits with ever-increasing excitement to see how the struggle in her soul will be resolved.
Anna's internal monologue on the train psychologically prepared her meeting with her husband, during which Karenin's "ear cartilage" caught her eye for the first time.
Let's take another example. Alexey Alexandrovich, who has become convinced of his wife's infidelity, painfully ponders what to do, how to find a way out of the situation. And here, a detailed psychological analysis and the mastery of lively plot development are inextricably linked. The reader closely follows the course of Karenin's thoughts, not only because Tolstoy subtly analyzes the psychology of a bureaucratic official, but also because Anna's fate depends on the decision he comes to.
In the same way, by introducing a “psychological commentary” into the dialogues between the characters of the novel, revealing the secret meaning of the words, fleeting glances and gestures of the characters, the writer, as a rule, not only did not slow down the narration, but imparted special tension to the development of the conflict.
In chapter XXV of the seventh part of the novel, Anna and Vronsky again have a difficult conversation about divorce. It was thanks to the psychological commentary introduced by Tolstoy into the dialogue between Anna and Vronsky that it became especially clear how rapidly, with every minute, the gap between the characters was brewing. In the final version of this scene (19, 327), the psychological commentary is even more expressive and dramatic.
In Anna Karenina, in view of the greater dramatic intensity of the whole work, this connection became especially close and immediate.
Striving for greater laconicism of the narrative, Tolstoy often moves from conveying the thoughts and feelings of the characters in their immediate course to the author's, more condensed and brief depiction of them. Here, for example, is how Tolstoy describes Kitty's condition at the moment of her explanation with Levin.
She was breathing heavily, not looking at him. She experienced delight. Her soul was filled with happiness. She never expected that his expressed love would make such a strong impression on her. But this lasted only for a moment. She remembered Vronsky. She raised her bright, truthful eyes to Levin, and, seeing his desperate face, hastily answered:
This cannot be ... forgive me.
Thus, throughout the entire length of the novel Anna Karenina, Tolstoy constantly combines psychological analysis, a comprehensive study of the dialectic of the soul, with the liveliness of plot development. To use the terminology of the writer himself, we can say that in Anna Karenina, a keen "interest in the details of feelings" is constantly combined with an exciting "interest in the development of events." At the same time, it cannot be noted that the storyline associated with Levin's life and searches develops less rapidly: the chapters, dramatically tense, are often replaced by calm ones, with a leisurely, slow development of the narrative (scenes of mowing, hunting episodes happy family life Levin in the countryside).
A. S. Pushkin, drawing the multifaceted characters of his heroes, sometimes used the technique of “cross-characteristics” (for example, in “Eugene Onegin”).
In the work of L. Tolstoy, this Pushkin tradition was widely developed. It is known that by showing his heroes in the assessment and perception of various characters, Tolstoy achieved a special truth, depth and versatility of the image. In Anna Karenina, the technique of "cross-characteristics" constantly helped the artist, moreover, to create situations full of acute drama. At first, Tolstoy described, for example, the behavior of Anna and Vronsky at the Moscow ball, mostly from his own perspective. In the final version, we saw the characters through the prism of the enamored Vronsky, who turned cold with horror from Kitty.
The image of the tense atmosphere of the races is also associated with Tolstoy's use of this technique. The artist draws Vronsky's dangerous leap not only from his own face, but also through the prism of perception of Anna's agitated bath, "compromising" herself.
Anna's behavior at the races, in turn, is closely monitored by the outwardly calm Karenin. “He again peered into this face, trying not to read what was so clearly written on it, and against his will, with horror, he read on it what he did not want to know.”
Anna's attention is focused on Vronsky, however, she involuntarily detains her attention on every word, every gesture of her husband. Exhausted by Karenin's hypocrisy, Anna catches the traits of servility and careerism in his behavior. By adding Anna's assessment of Karenin to the author's characterization, Tolstoy intensified both the drama and accusatory sound of the episode.
Thus, in Anna Karenina, Tolstoy's peculiar, subtly psychological methods of penetrating into the characters (internal monologue, the method of mutual assessments) serve at the same time as a means of intense, "lively and hot" development of the action.
Moving "fluid" portraits of Tolstoy's heroes are in many ways the opposite of Pushkin's. However, behind this contrast, some common features are also found here. At one time, Pushkin, honing his realistic, authentic, lively style of narration, ironically over the lengthy and static descriptions of contemporary fiction writers.
Portraits of his heroes Pushkin, as a rule, painted in action, in connection with the development of the conflict, revealing the feelings of the characters through the depiction of their postures, gestures, facial expressions.
All the above characteristics of the behavior and appearance of the characters are not static, descriptive, do not slow down the action, but contribute to the development of the conflict, are directly related to it. Such lively, dynamic portraits occupy a much larger place in Pushkin's prose and play a greater role than a few generalized descriptive characteristics.
Tolstoy was a brilliant innovator in the creation of portrait characteristics. Portraits and his works, in contrast to the stingy and laconic Pushkin's, are fluid, reflecting the most complex "dialectics" of the characters' feelings. At the same time, it was in Tolstoy's work that Pushkin's principles - drama and dynamism in depicting the appearance of characters, Pushkin's tradition - to draw heroes in live scenes, without the help of direct characteristics and static descriptions, received their highest development. Tolstoy, just like Pushkin in his time, sharply condemned “the manner of descriptions that has become impossible, logically arranged: first, descriptions of the characters, even their biographies, then a description of the locality and environment, and then the action begins. And a strange thing - all these descriptions, sometimes on dozens of pages, acquaint the reader with faces less than a carelessly thrown artistic feature during an action already begun between completely undescribed faces.
The art of a fluid, dynamic portrait made it possible for Tolstoy to link the characteristics of the characters especially closely with the action, with the dramatic development of the conflict. In Anna Karenina, this connection is especially organic.
And in this respect Pushkin is closer to Tolstoy as a portrait painter than such artists as Turgenev, Goncharov, Herzen, in whose works the direct characteristics of the characters are not always merged with the action.
The connections between Tolstoy's style and Pushkin's style are deep and varied.
The history of the creation of "Anna Karenina" testifies that not only during the years of his literary youth, but also during the period of his highest creative flowering, Tolstoy fruitfully drew from the source of national literary traditions, developed and enriched these traditions. We tried to show how in the 1970s, during the critical period of Tolstoy's work, Pushkin's experience contributed to the evolution of the writer's artistic method. Tolstoy relied on the traditions of Pushkin the prose writer, following the path of creating his own new style, which is characterized, in particular, by the combination of deep psychologism with the dramatic and purposeful development of the action.
It is significant that in 1897, speaking of the folk literature of the future, Tolstoy affirmed “the same three Pushkinian principles: “clarity, simplicity and brevity” as the most important principles on which this literature should be based.
31. "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy. Genre and composition of the novel. Socio-psychological essence of Anna's tragedy.
"Anna Karenina" (18731877; magazine publication 18751877; first book edition 1878) novel by Leo Tolstoy about the tragic love of a married lady Anna Karenina and the brilliant officer Vronsky against the background of the happy family life of the nobles Konstantin Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya. A large-scale picture of the manners and life of the nobility Petersburg and Moscow in the second half of the 19th century, combining the philosophical reflections of the author's alter ego Levin with advanced psychological sketches in Russian literature, as well as scenes from the life of peasants.
On February 24, 1870, T. conceived a novel about the private life and relations of his contemporaries, but he began to realize his plan only in February 1873. The novel was published in parts, the first of which was published in 1875 in RV.Gradually, the novel turned into a fundamental social work, which was a huge success. The continuation of the novel was eagerly awaited. The editor of the magazine refused to publish the epilogue because of the critical thought expressed in it, and finally, the novel was completed on April 5, 1877. The novel was published in its entirety in 1878.
If Tolstoy called “ViM” a “book about the past”, in which he described the beautiful and sublime “whole world”, then"Anna Karenina" he called "a novel from modern life." But L. N. Tolstoy represented in Anna Karenina a “fragmented world” devoid of moral unity, in which chaos of good and evil reigns. F. M. Dostoevsky found in Tolstoy's new novel"an enormous psychological development of the human soul".
The novel begins with two phrases that have long since become textbooks: “All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Everything was mixed up in the Oblonskys' house.
Tolstoy called Anna Karenina a "broad and free novel", using Pushkin's term "free novel". This is a clear indication of the genre origins of the work.
Tolstoy's "broad and free novel" is different from Pushkin's "free novel". In "Anna Karenina" there are no, for example, lyrical, philosophical or journalistic author's digressions. But between Pushkin's novel and Tolstoy's novel there is an undoubted successive connection, which manifests itself in the genre, in the plot, and in the composition.
In Tolstoy's novel, just as in Pushkin's novel, paramount importance belongs not to the plot completeness of the provisions, but to the "creative concept" that determines the selection of material and, in the spacious frame of the modern novel, provides freedom for the development of storylines.
The “broad and free novel” obeys the logic of life; one of his internal artistic goals is to overcome literary conventions.
Anna's storyline unfolds "in the law" (in the family) and "outside the law" (outside the family). Levin's storyline moves from the position "in the law" (in the family) to the consciousness of the illegality of all social development ("we are outside the law"). Anna dreamed of getting rid of what "painfully bothered" her. She chose the path of voluntary sacrifice. And Levin dreamed of "stopping dependence on evil," and he was tormented by the thought of suicide. But what seemed to Anna "truth" was for Levin "a painful lie." He could not dwell on the fact that evil owns society. He needed to find the “higher truth”, that “undoubted meaning of goodness”, which should change life and give it new moral laws: “instead of poverty, common wealth, contentment, instead of enmity, harmony and connection of interests” . The circles of events in both cases have a common center.
Despite the isolation of the content, these plots represent concentric circles with a common center. Tolstoy's novel is a pivotal work with artistic unity. “There is a center in the field of knowledge, and from it there are an innumerable number of radii,” said Tolstoy. “The whole task is to determine the length of these radii and their distance from each other.” This statement, if applied to the plot of Anna Karenina, explains the principle of concentric arrangement of large and small circles of events in the novel.
The peculiarity of the "broad and free novel" lies in the fact that the plot here loses its organizing influence on the material. The scene at the railway station completes the tragic story of Anna's life (ch. XXXI, part seven).
Tolstoy wrote not just a novel, but a "novel of life." The genre of "wide and free novel" removes the restrictions of the closed development of the plot within the framework of a complete plot. Life does not fit into the scheme. The plot circles in the novel are arranged in such a way that attention is focused on the moral and social core of the work.
The plot of "Anna Karenina" is "the history of the human soul", which enters into a fatal duel with the prejudices and laws of its era; some do not withstand this struggle and perish (Anna), while others "under the threat of despair" come to the consciousness of "the people's truth" and ways to renew society (Levin).
The chapters of the novel are arranged in cycles, between which there is a close connection both in thematic and plot relations. Each part of the novel has its own "idea knot". The strongholds of the composition are plot-thematic centers, successively replacing each other.
In the first part of the novel, cycles are formed in connection with conflicts in the lives of Oblonsky, Levin, Shcherbatsky. The development of the action is determined by the events caused by the arrival of Anna Karenina in Moscow, Levin's decision to leave for the countryside and Anna's return to Petersburg, where Vronsky followed her.
These cycles, following one after another, gradually expand the scope of the novel, revealing patterns of development of conflicts. Tolstoy maintains the proportionality of cycles in terms of volume. In the first part, each cycle occupies five or six chapters, which have their own “content boundaries”. This creates a rhythmic change of episodes and scenes.
Tolstoy's narrative style in Anna Karenina is different from that in War and Peace. There he did not hide his views, on the contrary, he boldly rushed into battle, for example, with those judgments of historians that he considered false.
In the new novel, the writer's style is more restrained; his assessments of the events depicted, certain characters are not expressed as directly and clearly as in the previous work. Even the behavior of the characters in Anna Karenina became, as it were, more "independent." Once a writer heard this opinion:
“They say you treated Anna Karenina very cruelly, forcing her to die under the carriage.
Tolstoy smiled and replied:
This opinion reminds me of an incident with Pushkin. Once he said to one of his friends: "Imagine what a trick my Tatyana got away with me! She got married! I did not expect this from her." The same can be said about Anna Karenina. In general, my heroes and heroines sometimes do things that I would not want; they do what they have to do in real life and how it happens in real life, and not what I want.
This is a very deep and important thought. In realistic literature, the character's character has the ability to self-develop. Of course, everything is created by the author, but he must strive to ensure that the internal logic of the character he has created is not violated. So, Tolstoy admitted that after an explanation with Karenin, quite unexpectedly for him, the author, Vronsky began to shoot himself: "for the future, this was organically necessary."
From this, however, it does not at all follow that the writer "loses control" of his text. On the contrary, all the diverse episodes, motifs, images of the novel are united by Tolstoy into a single whole based on the development of the author's idea. This is directly reflected, for example, in the carefully thought-out composition of Anna Karenina.
Tolstoy's friend S. A. Rachinsky noted that, in his opinion, the two plot lines of the novel (associated with the names of Anna and Levin) are not organically connected, therefore, there is supposedly "no architecture" in the novel. Tolstoy replied: "On the contrary, I am proud of architecture ... I'm afraid that, having run through the novel, you did not notice its inner content."
The complexity of the structure of the work also required special means of artistic representation, in particular the use of poetic symbols. Thus, the motive has a symbolic meaning railway(this is the birthplace of Anna Karenina's love and the place of her death. The image of the railway appears in the epilogue). For Tolstoy, who was on the eve of the final transition to the positions of the peasantry, the railway embodies something anti-humanistic, namely iron, some evil, hostile to man. (Remember Anna's dreams.) It is significant in this respect that the impoverished aristocrat Steve Oblonsky is forced to seek "a position as a member of the commission of the joint credit and mutual balance agency of the southern railways and banking institutions." (The title is obviously meaningless. The author's sarcasm is expressed quite clearly here.)
Elements of the so-called "subtext", which is usually mentioned in connection with Chekhov, also appear in the novel. However, even before Chekhov, Tolstoy was able to tell not only what his characters say, but also what they think, in other words, what is not on the surface, but in the depths of their consciousness.
As an example, let us recall the episode when Levin's brother, Sergei Ivanovich, failed to make an offer to Varenka, who, in fact, he really liked. They pick mushrooms together, no one bothers them. Sergei Ivanovich already had the words ready, “with which he wanted to express his proposal; but instead of these words, for some reason that suddenly came to him, he suddenly asked: material from the site
What is the difference between white and birch?
Varenka's lips trembled with excitement when she answered:
“There is no difference in the hat, but in the root.”
They didn’t think about mushrooms, but about something completely different, about what could become the most important thing in their life - but it didn’t.
The broad posing of problems of a universal human scale, artistic innovation, perfection of composition, bold destruction of the narrow genre boundaries of the family novel - all this led to the worldwide recognition that Anna Karenina received after War and Peace.
Dostoevsky wrote: “Anna Karenina is perfection as a work of art... with which nothing similar from European literature in the present era can be compared...”
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