Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)

Anna Karenina

Introduction by John Bayley

By Leo Tolstoy
Introduction by Mona Simpson
Translated by Constance Garnett
Revised by Leonard J. Kent and Nina Berberova

By Leo Tolstoy
Introduction by Mona Simpson
Translated by Constance Garnett
Revised by Leonard J. Kent and Nina Berberova

By Leo Tolstoy

By Leo Tolstoy

By Leo Tolstoy
Introduction by John Bayley
Translated by Louise Maude and Alymer Maude

By Leo Tolstoy
Introduction by John Bayley
Translated by Louise Maude and Alymer Maude

By Leo Tolstoy

By Leo Tolstoy

Best Seller

Part of Modern Library Classics

Part of Everyman's Library Classics Series

Paperback $20.00

Oct 10, 2000 | ISBN 9780679783305

Mass Market Paperback $7.95

Jun 01, 1984 | ISBN 9780553213461

Hardcover $30.00

Apr 28, 1992 | ISBN 9780679410003

Ebook $12.99

Mar 28, 2012 | ISBN 9780553902297

All Formats
+
    Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
    Paperback $20.00
    Oct 10, 2000 | ISBN 9780679783305

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (3) +

    Paperback (2)
    –

    • Paperback $20.00

      Oct 10, 2000 | ISBN 9780679783305

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Mass Market Paperback $7.95

      Jun 01, 1984 | ISBN 9780553213461

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Hardcover
    +

    • Hardcover $30.00

      Apr 28, 1992 | ISBN 9780679410003

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Ebook
    +

    • Ebook

      Mar 28, 2012 | ISBN 9780553902297

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Ebook:

    About Anna Karenina

    Considered by some to be the greatest novel ever written, Anna Karenina is Tolstoy’s classic tale of love and adultery set against the backdrop of high society in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. A rich and complex masterpiece, the novel charts the disastrous course of a love affair between Anna, a beautiful married woman, and Count Vronsky, a wealthy army officer. Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together the lives of dozens of characters, and in doing so captures a breathtaking tapestry of late-nineteenth-century Russian society. As Matthew Arnold wrote in his celebrated essay on Tolstoy, "We are not to take Anna Karenina as a work of art; we are to take it as a piece of life."

    About Anna Karenina

    A magnificent drama of vengeance, infidelity, and retribution, Anna Karenina portrays the moving story of people whose emotions conflict with the dominant social mores of their time.  

    Sensual, rebellious Anna falls deeply and passionately in love with the handsome Count Vronsky. When she refuses to conduct the discreet affair that her cold, ambitious husband (and Russian high society) would condone, she is doomed. Set against the tragic love of Anna and Vronsky, the plight of the melancholy nobleman Konstantine Levin unfolds.  

    In doubt about the meaning of life, haunted by thoughts of suicide, Levin’s struggles echo Tolstoy’s own spiritual crisis.  But Anna’s inner turmoil mirrors the own emotional imprisonment and mental disintegration of a woman who dares to transgress the strictures of a patriarchal world.  

    In Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy brought to perfection the novel of social realism and created a masterpiece that bared the Russian soul.

    About Anna Karenina

    A famous legend surrounding the creation of Anna Karenina tells us that Tolstoy began writing a cautionary tale about adultery and ended up falling in love with his magnificent heroine. It is rare to find a reader of the book who doesn’t experience the same kind of emotional upheaval. Anna Karenina is filled with major and minor characters who exist in their own right and fully embody their mid-nineteenth-century Russian milieu, but it still belongs entirely to the woman whose name it bears, whose portrait is one of the truest ever made by a writer. Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude.

    About Anna Karenina

    This edition, the famous Constance Garnett translation, has been revised throughout by Leonard J. Kent and Nina Berberova.

    "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."  So begins Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy’s great modern novel of an adulterous affair set against the backdrop of Moscow and St. Petersburg high society in the later half of the nineteenth century.  A sophisticated woman who is respectably married to a government bureaucrat, Anna begins a passionate, all-consuming involvement with a rich army officer.  Refusing to conduct a discreet affair, she scandalizes society by abandoning both her husband and her young son for Count Vronsky–with tragic consequences.  Running parallel is the story of the courtship and marriage of Konstantin Levin (the melancholy nobleman who is Tolstoy’s stand-in) and Princess Kitty Shcherbatsky.  

    Levin’s spiritual searching and growth reflect the religious ideals that at the time Tolstoy was evolving for himself.  Taken together, the two plots embroider a vast canvas that ultimately encompasses all levels of Russian society.  "Now and then Tolstoy’s novel writes its own self, is produced by its matter, but its subject," noted Vladimir Nabokov.  "Anna Karenina is one of the greatest love stories in world literature."  As Matthew Arnold wrote in his celebrated essay on Tolstoy:  "We are not to take Anna Karenina as a work of art; we are to take it as a piece of life."  

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Also in Everyman’s Library Classics Series

    Wuthering Heights
    Selected Stories of Guy de Maupassant

    Also by Leo Tolstoy

    Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
    War and Peace
    Anna Karenina
    Anna Karenina (Movie Tie-in Edition)
    Hadji Murat
    See all books by Leo Tolstoy

    Also by Leo Tolstoy

    Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
    War and Peace
    Anna Karenina
    Anna Karenina (Movie Tie-in Edition)
    Hadji Murat
    See all books by Leo Tolstoy

    Also by Leo Tolstoy

    Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
    War and Peace
    Anna Karenina
    Anna Karenina (Movie Tie-in Edition)
    Hadji Murat
    See all books by Leo Tolstoy

    Also by Leo Tolstoy

    Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
    War and Peace
    Anna Karenina
    Anna Karenina (Movie Tie-in Edition)
    Hadji Murat
    See all books by Leo Tolstoy

    About Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was born in central Russia. After serving in the Crimean War, he retired to his estate and devoted himself to writing, farming, and raising his large family. His novels and outspoken social polemics brought him world fame.

    About Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was born in central Russia. After serving in the Crimean War, he retired to his estate and devoted himself to writing, farming, and raising his large family. His novels and outspoken social polemics brought him world fame.

    About Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was born in central Russia. After serving in the Crimean War, he retired to his estate and devoted himself to writing, farming, and raising his large family. His novels and outspoken social polemics brought him world fame.

    About Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was born in central Russia. After serving in the Crimean War, he retired to his estate and devoted himself to writing, farming, and raising his large family. His novels and outspoken social polemics brought him world fame.

    Product Details

    Category: Fiction Classics | Literary Fiction | Romance

    Paperback | $20.00
    Published by Modern Library
    Oct 10, 2000 | 976 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780679783305

    Category: Fiction Classics | Literary Fiction | Romance

    Mass Market Paperback | $7.95
    Published by Bantam Classics
    Jun 01, 1984 | 1008 Pages | 4-3/16 x 6-7/8 | ISBN 9780553213461

    Category: Fiction Classics | Literary Fiction | Romance

    Hardcover | $30.00
    Published by Everyman’s Library
    Apr 28, 1992 | 1016 Pages | 5 x 8 | ISBN 9780679410003

    Category: Fiction Classics | Literary Fiction | Romance

    Ebook | $12.99
    Published by Modern Library
    Mar 28, 2012 | 1008 Pages | ISBN 9780553902297
    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    "One of the greatest love stories in world literature."
    –Vladimir Nabokov

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
    Get the latest updates about Leo Tolstoy
    And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
    And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
    By clicking SIGN UP, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
    Dismiss
    Thanks!
    Something awesome is on its way.
    Back to Top

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read
    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?
    An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook