— Overview
This reading reads Anna Karenina for its first sentence, for a contrast between two couples, and for a thought on judgement and forgiveness today, keeping the period as described in this reading.
— Contents and key concepts
A long classic, and an 1870s this reading calls an empire of light
The writer likes books, they say, and yet still feels fear when a classic is chosen. Set beside a modern novel, a classic is harder to read, and without a sense of the period it does not come easily. Still more, the setting is Russia of a hundred and fifty years ago, and the pressure of the page count was large. The three volumes, they write, come to well over a thousand pages, and elsewhere they put the total at more than 1,500. It was a novel hard to take up unless the wish to read was strong. And yet they wanted to read it as well as they could, because it was a work by Tolstoy, a great writer who stands for Russia. They wanted to know what this story, Anna Karenina, was trying to say, and what thoughts it held, and so they spent a long time taking it in.
Before the plot, they set the period. The 1870s, the background of the work, were, they write, a time just before revolution, glittering enough in the history of Russia to be called an empire of light, as this reading names the period. The upper world of that moment is the setting: nobles lived richly with splendid parties, travel, and servants, while ordinary peasants and workers went hungry in a worn-down life, and this, they say, later became a cause of the Russian Revolution. On a vast territory many peoples lived, and religions were various, but most, they write, held to the Russian Orthodox Church, then the official faith. That naming of the period, and that way of linking it to the later revolution, are left as written in this reading.
Two meetings, and two kinds of love
The plot, as they tell it, begins in Moscow. Prince Stepan Arkadyich Oblonsky, a noble, is found out by his wife Dolly in an affair with a French governess, and the household is in ruin. He calls his sister Anna, who lives in Petersburg; at the station where he has gone to meet her, he also meets his friend Vronsky. Anna and Vronsky pass one another and feel a slight attraction. Vronsky’s old mother praises Anna, whom she has met in the train; and just as they are about to leave, a station official is struck by a train and killed. Anna calls it an ill omen, and pities the widow left alone. Hearing her, Vronsky quickly gives money for the widow, and Anna is made uneasy by that manner.
Levin, a close friend of Oblonsky, lives simply in the country, unlike the nobles filled with hypocrisy, and comes to love Kitty. But Kitty already had, they write, a splendid soldier, Vronsky, to whom she was engaged. Grief-stricken, Levin gives up his trip to Moscow and returns to his country farm to work hard. After a ball, Anna, meeting Vronsky again in a train, begins to feel a disgust at her married life with her husband. Kitty, abandoned by Vronsky, falls ill, goes abroad to recover, and there gets well. Karenin, learning of Anna’s relation, fears other people’s eyes more than he feels anger; Anna honestly reveals her pregnancy and her feeling for Vronsky.
A first sentence, a contrast, and trial by public opinion
The first sentence, as they paraphrase it — that the circumstances of happy families are much alike, but that an unhappy family has its own reasons — is, they write, the theme of the whole work. Unrequited love, a man who loves a married woman, a wife who goes astray, a husband who worries about face: all love unhappily. The husband will not grant a divorce, taking it as a deed against faith, a going against the will of God. A contrast is laid out: a forgiving Karenin, and the simple Levin couple, find peace, and Anna comes to ruin by herself. Anna and Vronsky go toward destruction; Levin and Kitty, living simply, go toward peace.
The fashionable world that condemned Anna and drove her toward death, they write, had no right to try her. At the same time, her suicide was also an impulsive and selfish choice that left a burden on those who remained. The writer looks at today’s trial by public opinion, which presses a person before a verdict, and thinks of the meaning of forgiveness and of the presumption of innocence. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.
Sources
- This reading, a student reading of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: two couples, a first sentence, and a thought on judgement today.
Last updated: 15 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
How did the writer come to the book, and how do they describe its bulk?
They like books, they write, and yet still feel fear when they choose a classic. Compared with a modern novel the reading is harder, and without a sense of the period it does not come easily. Still more, the setting is Russia of a hundred and fifty years ago, and the pressure of the page count was large: the three volumes, they write, come to well over a thousand pages, and elsewhere they put the total at more than 1,500. They read it slowly, they say, because they wanted to know what this story, by a writer who stands for Russia, was trying to say.
What period do they set behind the story, and how should that be kept?
The 1870s, they write, were a time just before revolution, glittering enough to be called an empire of light, as this reading names the period. Nobles lived richly with parties, travel, and servants, while ordinary peasants and workers went hungry in a worn-down life, and this, they say, later became a cause of the Russian Revolution. Many peoples and religions lived on a vast territory, but most, they write, held to the Russian Orthodox Church, then the official faith. That naming of the period, and that way of linking it to the later revolution, are left as written in this reading.
What contrast do they draw, and how do they join the book to today?
The first sentence, as they paraphrase it — that the circumstances of happy families are much alike, but that an unhappy family has its own reasons — is, they write, the theme of the whole work. Unrequited love, a man who loves a married woman, a wife who goes astray, a husband who worries about face: all love unhappily. Karenin will not grant a divorce, taking it as a deed against faith. A forgiving Karenin and the simple Levin couple find peace, and Anna comes to ruin by herself. The fashionable world that condemned her and drove her toward death, they write, had no right to try her; her suicide was also, they add, an impulsive and selfish choice that left a burden on those who remained. They close by thinking of today’s trial by public opinion, which presses a person before a verdict, and of the meaning of forgiveness and of the presumption of innocence.
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