Anna Karenina: the bitterness of ecstasy

Historical context

The importance of the work

Critical reception

History, ideology, fiction: Tolstoy from 1860 to 1880

Exits and entrances: the laws of the novel

Hounds and mares: the crime of eros

Something bitter arises: Levin's peasants and Anna's passion

Forebodings and transformations: the divergence of the twain

Wives and mistresses: love against death

Something bitter arises: the inadequacey of earthly life

The bitterness of ecstasy

Tolstoy's "animal metaphysicum:

Conclusion.