mix critical reception, with Russian critics either condemning

or applauding the novel primarily on its views of Russian society.

Thematically, the novel parallels its heroine's, Anna Karenina,

moral and social conflicts with Constantin Levin's internal struggle

to find the meaning of life. There are many others underlying themes

which links the novel as a whole, yet many critics at the time only

looked upon its critical view of Russian life. Henry James called

Tolstoy's novels as "loose and baggy monsters' of stylessness, but

Tolstoy stated of Anna Karenina ".....I am very proud of its

architecture--its vaults are joined so that one cannot even notice

where the keystone is." That is absolutely correct, because within

Anna Karenina, there exists many themes that are all linked together

to create such a wonderful piece of work. Critics tend to miss the

role that the theme of life and death plays in Tolstoy's Anna

Karenina. Despite its apparent meanings, these two themes are

intertwined in the novel and provides a backbone for some of the other

existing themes. With a masterful touch, Tolstoy is able to use these

to suicide in her long soliloquy, she discovers that her love had

mentioned about, of the architecture of the book.

didn't know it. In the end as Anna traces the career which drives her

himself in the materialism of the hypocritical aristocrats. Modern

been reading the book filled with trouble and deceit, sorrow and evil,

the world which we live in, because it is all a delusion. Yet if we

"natural man," love and deceit, "unhappy family," adultery, and some

all-too-intimate Nikolai, whose lingering, ghastly death pushes Levin

Some topics in this essay:
Anna Karenina, Betsy Tverskoy, Sydney Schultze, Anna Vronsky, Karenina Despite, Death Karenin, Tolstoyp816 Tolstoy, Karenin Vronsky, Constantin Levin's, Anna Levin, anna karenina, novel anna, leap faith, life world, life death, characters novel, meaning life, tolstoy's anna karenina, near death, anna levin, daily life, novel anna karenina, death critical novel,