Book Description 　　Wordsworth Classics covers a huge list of beloved works of literature in English and translations. This growing series is rigorously updated, with scholarly introductions and notes added to new titles. 　　 　　This novel, through its heroine, addresses the very nature of society at all levels: of destiny; death; human relationships; and the irreconcilable contradictions of existence. It ends tragically, but there is an abounding joy in life's ephemeral pleasures, and also comic relief. 　　 　　 Amazon.com 　　Some people say Anna Karenina is the single greatest novel ever written, which makes about as much sense to me as trying to determine the world's greatest color. But there is no doubt that Anna Karenina, generally considered Tolstoy's best book, is definitely one ripping great read. Anna, miserable in her loveless marriage, does the barely thinkable and succumbs to her desires for the dashing Vronsky. I don't want to give away the ending, but I will say that 19th-century Russia doesn't take well to that sort of thing. 　　 　　 From Library Journal 　　Pevear and Volokhonsky, winners of the 1991 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize for their version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, have produced the first new translation of Leo Tolstoy's classic Anna Karenina in 40 years. The result should make the book accessible to a new generation of readers. In an informative introduction, Pevear gives the reader a history of the work Tolstoy called his first true novel and which took him some four years to write. Pevear explains how Tolstoy took real events, incorporated them into his novel, and went through several versions before this tale of the married Anna and her love for Count Vronsky emerged in its final form in 1876. It was during the writing of the book that Tolstoy went through a religious crisis in his life, which is reflected in this novel. The translation is easily readable and succeeds in bringing Tolstoy's masterpiece to life once again. For all libraries. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Ron Ratliff, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan 　　 　　 From AudioFile 　　Released to coincide with a new film version and featuring one of its stars, this recording compresses the original a little too much. We get the entire story of Anna's tragic adultery and the subplot of Levin's search for meaningful love and work. But the distinctive thematic material and Russian character are sacrificed. On the plus side, Molina reads well indeed. His impersonations have great depth. He can leap into their full emotional intensity from a dead stop, thus elevating the audio considerably above the level of "Cliffs Notes." Y.R. 　　 　　 The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature 　　Novel by Leo Tolstoy, published in installments between 1875 and 1877 and considered one of the pinnacles of world literature. The narrative centers on the adulterous affair between Anna, wife of Aleksey Karenin, and Count Vronsky, a young bachelor. Karenin's discovery of the liaison arouses only his concern for his own public image. Anna promises discretion for the sake of her husband and young son but eventually becomes pregnant by Vronsky. After the child is born, Anna and the child accompany Vronsky first to Italy, then to his Russian estate. She begins making furtive trips to see her older child and grows increasingly bitter toward Vronsky, eventually regarding him as unfaithful. In desperation she goes to the train station, purchases a ticket, and then impulsively throws herself in front of the incoming train. A parallel love story, involving the difficult courtship and fulfilling marriage of Kitty and Levin, provides rich counterpoint to the tragedy and is thought to reflect Tolstoy's own marital experience. There is an inevitability about the tragic fate that hangs over the adulterous love of Anna and Vronsky. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" is the leitmotiv of the story. Anna pays not so much because she transgresses the moral code but because she refuses to observe the proprieties customarily exacted in such liaisons by the hypocritical high society to which she belongs. 　　 　　 Book Dimension : 　　length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.6