Creating Anna Karenina: Tolstoy and the Birth of Literature's Most Enigmatic Heroine

Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina" is a nuanced biography and portrait of the last decades of the Russian empire. It explores Tolstoy's family, literary, and day-to-day life during the period he conceived, drafted, abandoned, and revised the novel. Tolstoy's consciousness and energy flow with the same depth and complexities as Anna, and her fateful suicide is the road he nearly traveled himself. This book will enthrall thousands of readers who have experienced this hallmark of world literature.

Format: Hardback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 01 October 2020
Publisher: Pegasus Books

Anna Karenina is a complex and captivating character in world literature, and her story continues to captivate readers. Surprisingly, there has yet to be a comprehensive examination of Leo Tolstoy's life and work through the lens of this novel. In his book, Critic and professor Bob Blaisdell delves into Tolstoy's family, literary, and daily life during the period when he conceived, drafted, abandoned, and revised Anna Karenina. Through this exploration, Blaisdell reveals the interconnectedness of Tolstoy's life and art in both obvious and subtle ways.

Many readers assume that Tolstoy, a nobleman-turned-mystic, would write himself into the principled Levin. However, it is within Anna that the consciousness and energy flow with the same depth and complexities as Tolstoy. Her tragic suicide is a path that Tolstoy nearly tread himself. Creating Anna Karenina is a multifaceted biography and portrait of the last decades of the Russian empire and an artful literary examination. It has the power to enthrall thousands of readers who have experienced the profound impact of this hallmark of world literature on their lives.

Weight: 592g
Dimension: 163 x 238 x 33 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781643134628