The peculiarity of the narrative manner (about the novel "Anna Karenina" by L.N.

46. Artistic originality of Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina" (features of the genre, composition, language) . The narrative in Tolstoy's new socio-psychological novel was determined by two main storylines that practically did not intersect, except for a single chance meeting of the two main characters. Some of his contemporaries reproached the author for splitting his new novel into two independent works. To such remarks, Tolstoy replied that, on the contrary, he was proud of “architecture - the vaults are brought together so that it is impossible to notice the place where the castle is. And that's what I tried the most. The connection of the construction is made not on the plot and not on the relationship (acquaintance) of persons, but on the internal connection. This internal connection gave the novel an impeccable compositional harmony and determined its main meaning, looming "in that endless labyrinth of links in which the essence of art consists," as Tolstoy understood it at that time. In the novel "Anna Karenina" the most important component of the content is the depiction of the realities of life in the 70s of the XIX century. In literary criticism, the opinion has long been established that every good social novel acquires historical significance over time, which is fully confirmed by the example of this work, which is not without reason compared with "Eugene Onegin" as an "encyclopedia of Russian life" in terms of breadth and accuracy of reflection of the picture of the world. In the novel, descriptions of all the most important events of that era found their place - from the issues of life and work of the people, the post-reform relations between landlords and peasants to military events. The heroes of Tolstoy are also concerned about other everyday problems of their time: Zemstvo, noble elections, the establishment of education, including higher education for women, public discussions about Darwinism, naturalism, painting, and so on. Commentators on the novel "Anna Karenina" noted that new parts of the work depicting current events of our time appeared in print when their public discussion had not yet been completed in magazines and newspapers. Indeed, in order to list everything that was reflected in the novel, one would have to rewrite it again. For Tolstoy, the main question among all the topical issues of the time remains the question of “how Russian life will fit in” after the reform of 1861. This question concerned not only the social, but also the family life of people. Being a sensitive artist, Tolstoy could not help but see that under the current conditions, it was the family that turned out to be the most vulnerable as the most complex and fragile form of life, the violation of which leads to the violation of the unshakable foundations of being and general disorder. Therefore, the writer singled out “family thought” as the main and favorite thought of this novel. The finale of the novel is not the tragic death of Anna under the wheels of the train, but Levin's reflections, which are remembered by the reader looking at the Milky Way from the terrace of his house. Composition feature The novel is that in the center of it there are two stories that develop in parallel: the story of the family life of Anna Karenina, and the fate of the nobleman Levin, who lives in the village and strives to improve the economy. These are the main characters of the novel. Their paths cross at the end of the work, but this does not affect the development of the novel. There is an internal connection between the images of Anna and Levin. The episodes associated with these images are united by contrast, or according to the law of correspondence, one way or another, they complement each other. This connection helps the author to demonstrate the unnaturalness, falsity of human life.

2.1. The plot and composition of the novel . The dramatic and tense style of Pushkin's stories, with their inherent swiftness of the plot, the rapid development of the plot, and the characterization of the characters directly in action, especially attracted Tolstoy in the days when he began work on a "lively, hot" novel about modernity. And yet, it is impossible to explain the novel's peculiar beginning in style by Pushkin's external influence alone. The impetuous plot of "Anna Karenina", its intense plot development - all these are artistic means, inextricably linked with the content of the work. These funds helped the writer convey the drama of the fate of the characters. Not only the very beginning of the novel, but its entire style is associated with a lively and energetic creative principle, clearly formulated by Tolstoy - "the introduction into action immediately." Without exception, Tolstoy introduces all the heroes of his wide multifaceted work without preliminary descriptions and characteristics, in an atmosphere of acute life situations. Anna - at the moment of her meeting with Vronsky, Steve Oblonsky and Dolly in a situation where it seems to both that their family is collapsing, Konstantin Levin - on the day when he tries to propose to Kitty. In Anna Karenina, a novel whose action is especially tense, the writer, introducing one of the characters (Anna, Levin, Karenin, Oblonsky) into the narrative, focuses his attention on him, devotes several chapters in a row, many pages to the primary characterization of this hero. So, Oblonsky is dedicated to I-IV, Levin - V-VII, Anna - XVIII-XXIII, Karenin - XXXI-XXXIII chapters of the first part of the novel. Moreover, each page of these chapters is distinguished by an amazing capacity of characteristics of the characters. As soon as Konstantin Levin managed to cross the threshold of the Moscow Presence, the writer already showed him in the perception of the gatekeeper, the official of the Presence, Oblonsky, spending only a few phrases on all this. In just a few first pages of the novel, Tolstoy managed to show the relationship of Stiva Oblonsky with his wife, children, servants, a petitioner, a watchmaker. Already on these first pages, Stiva's character is vividly and multifacetedly revealed in a multitude of typical and at the same time uniquely individual traits. Following Pushkin's traditions in the novel, Tolstoy remarkably developed and enriched these traditions. The great artist-psychologist has found many new unique means and techniques to combine a detailed analysis of the hero's experiences with Pushkin's purposeful development of the narrative. As you know, "internal monologues", "psychological commentary" are specifically Tolstoy's artistic techniques, through which the writer revealed the inner world of the characters with special depth. These subtle psychological devices are saturated in Anna Karenina with such intense dramatic content that they usually not only do not slow down the pace of the narrative, but enhance its development. All of Anna Karenina's "inner monologues" can serve as an example of this connection between the most subtle analysis of the characters' feelings and the dramatic development of the plot. Overwhelmed by a sudden passion, Anna tries to run away from her love. Unexpectedly, ahead of schedule, she leaves Moscow for home in St. Petersburg. “Well, what? Is it possible that between me and this boy officer there are and can exist any other relations than those that happen with every acquaintance? She smiled contemptuously and took up the book again, but already she absolutely could not understand what she was reading. She ran a cutting knife across the glass, then put its smooth and cold surface to her cheek and almost laughed aloud from the joy that suddenly seized her for no reason. She felt that her nerves, like strings, were being pulled tighter and tighter on some kind of screwed pegs. She felt that her eyes were opening more and more, that her fingers and toes were moving nervously, that something was pressing her breath inside, and that all the images and sounds in this wavering twilight struck her with extraordinary brightness. Anna's sudden feeling develops rapidly before our eyes, and the reader waits with ever-increasing excitement to see how the struggle in her soul will be resolved. Anna's internal monologue on the train psychologically prepared her meeting with her husband, during which Karenin's "cartilages of the ears" caught her eye for the first time. Let's take another example. Alexey Alexandrovich, who has become convinced of his wife's infidelity, painfully ponders what to do, how to find a way out of the situation. And here, a detailed psychological analysis and the mastery of live plot development are inextricably linked. The reader closely follows the course of Karenin's thoughts, not only because Tolstoy subtly analyzes the psychology of a bureaucratic official, but also because Anna's fate depends on the decision he comes to. In the same way, by introducing a “psychological commentary” into the dialogues between the characters of the novel, revealing the secret meaning of the words, fleeting glances and gestures of the characters, the writer, as a rule, not only did not slow down the narration, but imparted special tension to the development of the conflict. In chapter XXV of the seventh part of the novel, Anna and Vronsky again have a difficult conversation about divorce. It was thanks to the psychological commentary introduced by Tolstoy into the dialogue between Anna and Vronsky that it became especially clear how rapidly, with every minute, the gap between the characters was brewing. In the final version of this scene (19, 327), the psychological commentary is even more expressive and dramatic. In Anna Karenina, in view of the greater dramatic intensity of the whole work, this connection became especially close and immediate. Striving for greater laconicism of the narrative, Tolstoy often moves from conveying the thoughts and feelings of the characters in their direct flow to the author's, more condensed and brief depiction of them. Here, for example, is how Tolstoy describes Kitty's state at the moment of her explanation to Levin. She was breathing heavily, not looking at him. She was delighted. Her soul was filled with happiness. She never expected that his expressed love would make such a strong impression on her. But this only lasted for a moment. She remembered Vronsky. She raised her bright, truthful eyes to Levin and, seeing his desperate face, hastily answered: "That cannot be... forgive me." Thus, throughout the entire length of the novel Anna Karenina, Tolstoy constantly combines psychological analysis, a comprehensive study of the dialectics of the soul, with the liveliness of plot development. To use the terminology of the writer himself, we can say that in Anna Karenina, a keen "interest in the details of feelings" is constantly combined with an exciting "interest in the development of events." At the same time, it cannot be noted that the plot line connected with Levin's life and searches develops less rapidly: the chapters, dramatically tense, are often replaced by calm ones, with a leisurely, slow development of the narrative (scenes of mowing, hunting, episodes of Levin's happy family life in the village ). A. S. Pushkin, drawing the multifaceted characters of his heroes, sometimes used the technique of “cross characteristics” (for example, in “Eugene Onegin”). In the work of L. Tolstoy, this Pushkin tradition was widely developed. It is known that by showing his heroes in the assessment and perception of various characters, Tolstoy achieved a special truth, depth and versatility of the image. In Anna Karenina, the technique of "cross-characteristics" constantly helped the artist, moreover, to create situations full of sharp drama. At first, Tolstoy described, for example, the behavior of Anna and Vronsky at the Moscow ball, mostly from his own perspective. In the final version, we saw the characters through the prism of the enamored Vronsky, who turned cold with horror from Kitty. The image of the tense atmosphere of the races is also associated with Tolstoy's use of this technique. The artist draws Vronsky's dangerous leap not only from his own face, but also through the prism of perception of the excited, “compromising” Anna. Anna's behavior at the races, in turn, is closely monitored by the outwardly calm Karenin. “He again peered into this face, trying not to read what was so clearly written on it, and against his will, with horror, he read on it what he did not want to know.” Anna's attention is focused on Vronsky, however, she involuntarily detains her attention on every word, every gesture of her husband. Exhausted by Karenin's hypocrisy, Anna catches the traits of servility and careerism in his behavior. By adding Anna's assessment of Karenin to the author's characterization, Tolstoy intensified both the drama and accusatory sound of the episode. Thus, in Anna Karenina, Tolstoy's peculiar, subtly psychological methods of penetrating the characters (internal monologue, mutual assessments) serve at the same time as a means of tense, "lively and hot" development of the action. Moving "fluid" portraits of Tolstoy's heroes are in many ways the opposite of Pushkin's. However, behind this contrast, some common features are also found here. At one time, Pushkin, honing his realistic, authentic, lively style of narration, ironically over the lengthy and static descriptions of contemporary fiction writers. Pushkin, as a rule, painted portraits of his heroes in action, in connection with the development of the conflict, revealing the feelings of the characters through the depiction of their postures, gestures, and facial expressions. All the above characteristics of the behavior and appearance of the characters are devoid of static, descriptive, do not slow down the action, but contribute to the development of the conflict, are directly related to it. Such lively, dynamic portraits occupy a much larger place in Pushkin's prose and play a greater role than a few generalized descriptive characteristics. Tolstoy was a brilliant innovator in the creation of portrait characteristics. Portraits and his works, in contrast to the stingy and laconic Pushkin's, are fluid, reflecting the most complex "dialectics" of the characters' feelings. At the same time, it was in Tolstoy's work that Pushkin's principles - drama and dynamism in depicting the appearance of characters, Pushkin's tradition - to draw heroes in live scenes, without the help of direct characteristics and static descriptions, received their highest development. Tolstoy, like Pushkin in his time, sharply condemned “the manner of descriptions, which have become impossible, which are logically arranged: first, descriptions of the characters, even their biographies, then a description of the locality and environment, and then the action begins. And the strange thing is that all these descriptions, sometimes on dozens of pages, acquaint the reader with faces less than a carelessly thrown artistic feature during an already begun action between completely undescribed faces. The art of a fluid, dynamic portrait made it possible for Tolstoy to link the characteristics of the characters especially closely with the action, with the dramatic development of the conflict. In Anna Karenina, this connection is especially organic. And in this respect, Pushkin is closer to Tolstoy as a portrait painter than such artists as Turgenev, Goncharov, Herzen, in whose works the direct characteristics of the characters are not always merged with the action. The connections between Tolstoy's style and Pushkin's style are deep and varied. The history of the creation of Anna Karenina testifies that not only in the years of his literary youth, but also in the period of his highest creative flowering, Tolstoy fruitfully drew from the source of national literary traditions, developed and enriched these traditions. We tried to show how in the 1970s, during the critical period of Tolstoy's work, Pushkin's experience contributed to the evolution of the writer's artistic method. Tolstoy relied on the traditions of Pushkin the prose writer, following the path of creating his own new style, which is characterized, in particular, by the combination of deep psychologism with the dramatic and purposeful development of the action. It is significant that in 1897, speaking of the folk literature of the future, Tolstoy affirmed “the same three Pushkinian principles: “clarity, simplicity and brevity” as the most important principles on which this literature should be based.

2.3. The originality of the genre . The originality of the Anna Karenina genre lies in the fact that this novel combines features characteristic of several types of novelistic creativity. It contains, first of all, the features that characterize the family romance. The history of several families, family relationships and conflicts are highlighted here. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy emphasized that when creating Anna Karenina, he was dominated by family thought, while, while working on War and Peace, he wanted to embody the people's thought. But at the same time, Anna Karenina is not only a family novel, but also a social, psychological novel, a work in which the history of family relations is closely connected with the depiction of complex social processes, and the depiction of the fate of the characters is inseparable from the deep disclosure of their inner world. Showing the movement of time, characterizing the formation of a new social order, the lifestyle and psychology of various strata of society, Tolstoy gave his novel the features of an epic. The embodiment of family thought, the socio-psychological narrative, the features of the epic are not separate "layers" in the novel, but those principles that appear in their organic synthesis. And just as the social constantly penetrates into the depiction of personal, family relationships, so the depiction of the individual aspirations of the characters, their psychology largely determines the epic features of the novel. The strength of the characters created in it is determined by the brightness of the embodiment in them of one's own, personal and at the same time by the expressiveness of the disclosure of those social ties and relationships in which they exist. Tolstoy's brilliant skill in Anna Karenina evoked enthusiastic appraisal from the writer's outstanding contemporaries. “Count Leo Tolstoy,” wrote V. Stasov, “rose to such a high note, which Russian literature has never taken before. Even in Pushkin and Gogol themselves, love and passion were not expressed with such depth and amazing truth, as now in Tolstoy. V. Stasov noted that the writer is able to "sculpt with a wonderful sculptor's hand such types and scenes that no one knew before him in our entire literature ... "Anna Karenina" will remain a bright, huge star forever and ever!". No less highly appreciated "Karenina" and Dostoevsky, who considered the novel from his ideological and creative positions. He wrote: "Anna Karenina" is perfection as a work of art ... and one with which nothing similar from European literature in the present era can be compared. The novel was created, as it were, at the turn of two eras in the life and work of Tolstoy. Even before the completion of Anna Karenina, the writer is fascinated by new social and religious quests. They received a well-known reflection in the moral philosophy of Konstantin Levin. However, the whole complexity of the problems that occupied the writer in the new era, the whole complexity of his ideological and life path are widely reflected in the journalistic and artistic works of the writer of the eighties and nine hundred years.

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The history of the creation of "Anna Karenina" testifies that not only during the years of his literary youth, but also during the period of his highest creative flowering, Tolstoy fruitfully drew from the source of national literary traditions, developed and enriched these traditions. We tried to show how in the 1970s, during the critical period of Tolstoy's work, Pushkin's experience contributed to the evolution of the writer's artistic method. Tolstoy relied on the traditions of Pushkin the prose writer, following the path of creating his own new style, which is characterized, in particular, by the combination of deep psychologism with the dramatic and purposeful development of the action.

It is significant that in 1897, speaking of the folk literature of the future, Tolstoy affirmed “the same three Pushkinian principles: “clarity, simplicity and brevity” as the most important principles on which this literature should be based.

2.3. The originality of the genre

The originality of the Anna Karenina genre lies in the fact that this novel combines features characteristic of several types of novelistic creativity. It contains, first of all, the features that characterize the family romance. The history of several families, family relationships and conflicts are brought to the fore here. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy emphasized that when creating Anna Karenina, he was dominated by family thought, while, while working on War and Peace, he wanted to embody the people's thought. But at the same time, Anna Karenina is not only a family novel, but also a social, psycho-logical novel, a work in which the history of family relations is closely connected with the depiction of complex social processes, and the depiction of the fate of the characters is inseparable from deep disclosure of their inner world. Showing the movement of time, characterizing the formation of a new social order, the lifestyle and psychology of various strata of society, Tolstoy gave his novel the features of an epic.

The embodiment of family thought, the socio-psychological narrative, the features of the epic are not separate "layers" in the novel, but those principles that appear in their organic synthesis. And just as the social constantly penetrates into the depiction of personal, family relationships, so the depiction of the individual aspirations of the characters, their psychology largely determines the epic features of the novel. The strength of the characters created in it is determined by the brightness of the embodiment in them of one's own, personal and at the same time by the expressiveness of the disclosure of those social ties and relationships in which they exist.

Tolstoy's brilliant skill in Anna Karenina evoked enthusiastic appraisal from the writer's outstanding contemporaries. “Count Leo Tolstoy,” wrote V. Stasov, “rose to such a high note, which Russian literature has never taken before. Even in Pushkin and Gogol themselves, love and passion were not expressed with such depth and amazing truth, as now in Tolstoy. V. Stasov noted that the writer is able to "sculpt with a wonderful sculptor's hand such types and scenes that no one knew before him in our entire literature ... "Anna Karenina" will remain a bright, huge star forever and ever!". No less highly appreciated "Karenina" and Dostoevsky, who considered the novel from his ideological and creative positions. He wrote: "Anna Karenina" is perfection as a work of art ... and one with which nothing similar from European literature in the present era can be compared.

The novel was created, as it were, at the turn of two eras in the life and work of Tolstoy. Even before the completion of Anna Karenina, the writer is fascinated by new social and religious quests. They received a well-known reflection in the moral philosophy of Konstantin Levin. However, all the complexity of the problems that occupied the writer in the new era, all the complexity of his ideological and life path are widely reflected in the journalistic and artistic works of the writer of the eighties - nineties.

Conclusion

Tolstoy called "Anna Karenina" "a broad, free novel." This definition is based on Pushkin's term "free novel." There are no lyrical, philosophical or journalistic digressions in Anna Karenina. But there is an undoubted connection between Pushkin's novel and Tolstoy's novel, which manifests itself in the genre, in the plot and in the composition. Not the plot completeness of the provisions, but the “creative conception” determines the choice of material in Anna Karenina and opens up scope for the development of plot lines.

The genre of the free novel arose and developed on the basis of overcoming literary schemes and conventions. On the plot completeness of the provisions, the plot was built in the traditional family novel, for example, in Dickens. It was this tradition that Tolstoy abandoned, although he loved Dickens very much as a writer. “It involuntarily seemed to me,” writes Tolstoy, “that the death of one person only aroused interest in other persons, and marriage seemed for the most part a plot, and not a denouement of interest.”

Tolstoy's innovation was perceived as a deviation from the norm. It was like that in essence, but it did not serve to destroy the genre, but to expand its laws. Balzac, in his Letters on Literature, very precisely defined the characteristic features of the traditional novel: “However great the number of accessories and the multitude of images, the modern novelist must, like Walter Scott, the Homer of this genre, group them according to their meaning. , subordinate them to the sun of your system - an intrigue or a hero - and lead them, like a sparkling constellation, in a certain order ”27. But in Anna Karenina, just as in War and Peace, Tolstoy could not put "certain boundaries" on his heroes. And his romance continued after Levin's marriage and even after Anna's death. Thus, the sun of Tolstoy's novelistic system is not a hero or an intrigue, but a "folk thought" or "family thought", which leads many of his images, "like a sparkling constellation, in a certain order."

In 1878, the article "Karenina and Levin" was published in the journal M. M. Stasyulevich "Bulletin of Europe". The author of this article was A. V. Stankevich, brother of the famous philosopher and poet N. V. Stankevich. He argued that Tolstoy wrote two novels instead of one. As a "man of the forties", Stankevich frankly adhered to the old-fashioned concepts of the "correct" genre. He ironically called "Anna Karenina" a novel "a novel of wide breathing", comparing it with medieval multi-volume narratives that once found "numerous and grateful readers." Since then, the philosophical and literary taste has been "purified" so much that "indisputable norms" have been created, the violation of which is not in vain for the writer.

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Composition, novel genre

The peculiarity of the composition of the novel is that in the center of it there are two stories that develop in parallel: the story of the family life of Anna Karenina, and the fate of the nobleman Levin, who lives in the village and strives to improve the economy. These are the main characters of the novel. Their paths cross at the end of the work, but this does not affect the development of the novel. There is an internal connection between the images of Anna and Levin. The episodes associated with these images are united by contrast, or according to the law of correspondence, one way or another, they complement each other. This connection helps the author to demonstrate the unnaturalness, falsity of human life.

The originality of the genre

The originality of the Anna Karenina genre lies in the fact that this novel combines features characteristic of several types of novelistic creativity. It contains, first of all, the features that characterize the family romance. The history of several families, family relationships and conflicts are highlighted here. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy emphasized that when creating Anna Karenina, he was dominated by family thought, while, while working on War and Peace, he wanted to embody the people's thought. But at the same time, Anna Karenina is not only a family novel, but also a social, psychological novel, a work in which the history of family relations is closely connected with the depiction of complex social processes, and the depiction of the fate of the characters is inseparable from the deep disclosure of their inner world. Showing the movement of time, characterizing the formation of a new social order, the lifestyle and psychology of various strata of society, Tolstoy gave his novel the features of an epic.

The novel was created, as it were, at the turn of two eras in the life and work of Tolstoy. Even before the completion of Anna Karenina, the writer is fascinated by new social and religious quests. They received a well-known reflection in the moral philosophy of Konstantin Levin. However, the whole complexity of the problems that occupied the writer in the new era, the whole complexity of his ideological and life path are widely reflected in the journalistic and artistic works of the writer of the eighties and nine hundred years.

The novel "Anna Karenina" is called the "Pushkin" novel by L.N. Tolstoy. Pushkin's capacity, combined with the religious and moral conceptuality of the novel, explains aphoristic language"Anna Karenina", its saturation with phraseological units, cultural quotations and reminiscences. Widely using phraseology, the writer acts not only as a user, but also as a creator of language and culture. Already in the very selection of phraseological units from the national phraseological fund, in his specific introduction into the text of the work, the depth of his skill is manifested, the author's individuality of the writer lies.

Analysis of "Anna Karenina" - parallelism in the composition of the novel

"Anna Karenina" begins with a phrase that is the psychological key of the work:
"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
The pathos of the novel is not in the affirmation of spiritual unity between family members, but in the study of the destruction of families and human relationships.

The main problem of the novel develops on the example of several married couples:
Anna + Karenin
Dolly + Oblonsky
Kitty + Levin
In all cases, the author never finds an answer to the questions that concern him: how does a person live in a family and in society, is it possible to confine oneself only to the framework of a family? What is the secret of human happiness?

Dolly devoted herself completely to her family and children, but did not find happiness, because her husband, Stepan Arkadievich Oblonsky, constantly cheats on her, and does not see anything reprehensible in this. It is not unusual for him to cheat, and although he loves Dolly and his children, he does not understand that happiness and normal family relationships cannot be built on lies. Dolly decided to save the family and the deception continues. The author emphasizes that it doesn’t matter if Steve continues to cheat on her, the main thing is that the internal spiritual unity between people is broken, everyone lives on his own, and is guided not by the dictates of his own heart and not by the principles of Christian morality, but by secular laws, which in themselves contrary to natural morality.

There is also no happiness in the outwardly harmonious family of Levin and Kitty, although it is built on mutual love. The closed world of marriage does not allow Levin to feel the fullness of life - answers to questions about the meaning of being. It is no coincidence that the image of a train appears in the novel, which has become a symbol of the entire era, which is steadily moving towards a person, threatening his existence. Therefore, the family tragedy of Anna Karenina is a natural reflection of the spiritual and social contradictions of the time.

There are other family stories in the novel: Vronsky's mother, Princess Betsy, and so on. But not one lacks "simplicity and truth." The false life of aristocrats is contrasted with the life of the people, where real values are still preserved. The family of the peasant Ivan Parmenov lives much happier than the rich. But, as Levin notes, spiritual destruction also penetrated into the people's milieu. He observes deceit, cunning, hypocrisy among the peasants. The whole society is captured by internal spiritual rot, the most important moral principles are violated, which leads to a dramatic denouement.

In addition to the analysis of Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina" see also:

The image of Levin in the novel "Anna Karenina"
The image of Vronsky in the novel "Anna Karenina"
The symbolism of the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "Anna Karenina"
Analysis of the image of Anna Karenina in the novel of the same name by Tolstoy
"Anna Karenina" - the history of creation

2.1. The plot and composition of the novel

Tolstoy called Anna Karenina "a broad and free novel", using Pushkin's term "free novel". This is a clear indication of the genre origins of the work.

Tolstoy's "broad and free novel" is different from Pushkin's "free novel". In "Anna Karenina" there are no, for example, lyrical, philosophical or journalistic author's digressions. But between Pushkin's novel and Tolstoy's novel there is an undoubted successive connection, which manifests itself in the genre, in the plot, and in the composition.

In Tolstoy's novel, as well as in Pushkin's novel, paramount importance belongs not to the plot completeness of the provisions, but to the "creative concept", which determines the selection of material and, in the spacious frame of the modern novel, provides freedom for the development of storylines. “I can’t and I don’t know how to put certain boundaries on the persons I imagine, such as marriage or death, after which the interest of the story would be destroyed. It involuntarily seemed to me that the death of one person only aroused interest in other persons, and marriage seemed for the most part an outburst, and not a denouement of interest, ”wrote Tolstoy.

The “broad and free novel” obeys the logic of life; one of his internal artistic goals is to overcome literary conventions. In 1877, in the article “On the Significance of the Modern Novel,” F. Buslaev wrote that modernity cannot be satisfied with “non-realizable fairy tales, which until recently were passed off as novels with mysterious plots and adventures of incredible characters in a fantastic, unprecedented setting. -novka". Tolstoy sympathetically noted this article as an interesting experience in comprehending the development of realist literature in the 19th century. .

“Now the novel is interested in the reality that surrounds us, the current life in the family and society, as it is, in its active fermentation of unsteady elements of the old and the new, the dying and the emerging, the elements excited by the great upheavals and reforms of our century” - wrote F. Buslaev.

Anna's storyline unfolds "in the law" (in the family) and "outside the law" (outside the family). Levin's storyline moves from the position "in the law" (in the family) to the consciousness of the illegality of all social development ("we are outside the law"). Anna dreamed of getting rid of what "painfully bothered" her. She chose the path of willing sacrifice. And Levin dreamed of "stopping dependence on evil," and he was tormented by the thought of suicide. But what seemed to Anna "truth" was for Levin "a painful lie." He could not dwell on the fact that evil owns society. He needed to find the “higher truth”, that “undoubted meaning of goodness”, which should change life and give it new moral laws: “instead of poverty, common wealth, contentment, instead of enmity - harmony and connection of interests” . Circles of events in both cases have a common center.

Despite the isolation of the content, these plots represent concentric circles with a common center. Tolstoy's novel is a pivotal work with artistic unity. “There is a center in the field of knowledge, and from it there are an innumerable number of radii,” said Tolstoy. “The whole task is to determine the length of these radii and their distance from each other.” This statement, if applied to the plot of Anna Karenina, explains the principle of concentric arrangement of large and small circles of events in the novel.

Tolstoy made Levin's "circle" much wider than Anna's. Levin's story begins much earlier than Anna's story and ends after the death of the heroine, after whom the novel is named. The book ends not with the death of Anna (part seven), but with Levin's moral quest and his attempts to create a positive program for the renewal of private and public life (part eight).

The concentricity of plot circles is generally characteristic of the novel Anna Karenina. Through the circle of relations between Anna and Vronsky, the parodic novel of Baroness Shilton and Petritsky “shines through”. The story of Ivan Parmenov and his wife becomes for Levin the embodiment of patriarchal peace and happiness.

But Vronsky's life did not develop according to the rules. His mother was the first to notice this, dissatisfied with the fact that some kind of "Wertherian passion" had taken possession of her son. Vronsky himself feels that many conditions of life were not provided for by the rules”: “Only very recently, regarding his relationship with Anna, did Vronsky begin to feel that his set of rules did not quite determine all the conditions, and in the future it seemed difficult -ties and doubts in which Vronsky no longer found a guiding thread.

The more serious Vronsky's feeling becomes, the further he moves away from the "undoubted rules" to which light is subject. Illicit love put him outside the law. By the will of circumstances, Vronsky had to renounce his circle. But he is unable to overcome the "secular person" in his soul. With all his might, he seeks to return "to his bosom." Vronsky is drawn to the law of light, but this, according to Tolstoy, is a cruel and false law that cannot bring happiness. At the end of the novel, Vronsky leaves as a volunteer for the army. He admits that he is fit only to “get into a square, crush or lie down” (19, 361). The spiritual crisis ended in catastrophe. If Levin denies the very thought expressed in “revenge and murder,” then Vronsky is entirely in the grip of harsh and cruel feelings: “I, as a person,” said Vronsky, “are good because life is nothing for me what is not worth it"; “Yes, as a tool I can be good for something, but as a person I am a ruin.”

One of the main lines of the novel is connected with Karenin. This is a statesman

Tolstoy points to the possibility of the enlightenment of Karenin's soul at critical moments in his life, as it was in the days of Anna's illness, when he suddenly got rid of the "confusion of concepts" and comprehended the "law of goodness." But this enlightenment did not last long. Karenin can find footholds in nothing. “My situation is terrible because I don’t find anywhere, I don’t find a foothold in myself.”

Oblonsky's character presented a difficult task for Tolstoy. Many fundamental features of Russian life in the second half of the 19th century found their expression in it. In the novel, Oblonsky is located with a lordly latitude. One of his dinners stretched over two chapters. Oblonsky's hedonism, his indifference to everything except what can bring him pleasure, is a characteristic feature of the psychology of an entire class that is declining. “One of two things is necessary: either to recognize that the current structure of society is fair, and then defend your rights; or admit that you are enjoying unfair advantages, as I do, and use them with pleasure ”(19, 163). Oblonsky is smart enough to see the social contradictions of his time; he even believes that the structure of society is unfair.

Oblonsky's life proceeds within the boundaries of the "law", and he is quite satisfied with his life, although he has long admitted to himself that he enjoys "unfair advantages." His "common sense" is the prejudice of an entire class and is the touchstone on which Levin's thought is honed.

The peculiarity of the "broad and free novel" lies in the fact that the plot here loses its organizing influence on the material. The scene at the railway station completes the tragic story of Anna's life (ch. XXXI, part seven).

In Tolstoy's novel, they searched for a plot and did not find it. Some claimed that the novel was already over, others assured that it could be continued indefinitely. In "An-ne Karenina" the plot and the plot do not coincide. The plot provisions, even when exhausted, do not interfere with the further development of the plot, which has its own artistic completeness and moves from the emergence to the resolution of the conflict.

Tolstoy only at the beginning of the seventh part "introduced" the two main characters of the novel - Anna and Levin. But this acquaintance, extremely important in terms of plot, did not change the course of events in the plot. The writer tried to discard the concept of the plot altogether: “The connection is built not on the plot and not on the relationship (acquaintance) of persons, but on the internal connection”.

Tolstoy wrote not just a novel, but a "novel of life." The genre of "wide and free novel" removes the restrictions of the closed development of the plot within the framework of a complete plot. Life does not fit into the scheme. The plot circles in the novel are arranged in such a way that attention is focused on the moral and social core of the work.

The plot of "Anna Karenina" is "the history of the human soul", which enters into a fatal duel with the prejudices and laws of its era; some do not endure this struggle and perish (Anna), others "under the threat of despair" come to the consciousness of "people's truth" and ways to renew society (Levin).

The principle of the concentric arrangement of plot circles is a characteristic form of revealing the internal unity of the “broad and free novel” for Tolstoy. The invisible "castle" - the general view of the author on life, naturally and freely transforming into the thoughts and feelings of the characters, "reduces the vaults" with impeccable accuracy.

The originality of the "wide and free novel" is manifested not only in the way the plot is built, but also in the kind of architecture, what composition the writer chooses.

The unusual composition of the novel "Anna Karenina" seemed to many especially strange. The absence of a logically complete plot made the composition of the novel also unusual. In 1878 prof. S. A. Rachinsky wrote to Tolstoy: “The last part made a chilling impression, not because it was weaker than the others (on the contrary, it is full of depth and subtlety), but because of a fundamental flaw in the construction of the whole novel. It has no architecture. It develops side by side, and develops magnificently, two themes that are not connected in any way. How delighted I was to make Levin's acquaintance with Anna Karenina. - You must admit that this is one of the best episodes in the novel. Here was an opportunity to connect all the threads of the story and provide them with a coherent finale. But you didn't want to - God bless you. Anna Karenina still remains the best of modern novels, and you are the first of modern writers.

Letter from Tolstoy to Prof. S. A. Rachinsky is extremely interesting, as it contains a definition of the characteristic features of the artistic form of the novel "Anna Karenina". Tolstoy insisted that one can judge a novel only on the basis of its "internal content". He believed that the critic's opinion about the novel was "wrong": "On the contrary, I am proud of the architecture," wrote Tolstoy. And this is what I tried most of all” (62, 377).

In the strict sense of the word, there is no exposition in Anna Karenina. Regarding Pushkin's passage "The guests huddled at the dacha," Tolstoy said: "That's how you have to start. Pushkin is our teacher. This immediately introduces the reader into the interest of the action itself. Another would begin to describe the guests, rooms, and Pushkin directly gets down to business.

In the novel "Anna Karenina" from the very beginning, attention is directed to events in which the characters of the characters are clarified.

The aphorism - "all happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" - this is a philosophical introduction to the novel. The second (event) introduction is enclosed in one single phrase: "Everything was mixed up in the Oblonskys' house." And finally, the next phrase gives the beginning of the action and defines the conflict. The accident that revealed Oblonsky's infidelity entails a chain of necessary consequences that make up the plot line of the family drama.

The chapters of the novel are arranged in cycles, between which there is a close connection both in thematic and plot relations. Each part of the novel has its own "idea knot". The strongholds of the composition are plot-thematic centers, successively replacing each other.

In the first part of the novel, cycles are formed in connection with conflicts in the lives of the Oblonskys (ch. I-V), Levin (ch. VI-IX), and the Shcherbatskys (ch. XII-XVI). The development of the action is determined "by the events caused by the arrival of Anna Karenina in Moscow (ch. XVII-XXIII), Levin's decision to leave for the village (ch. XXIV--XXVII) and Anna's return to Petersburg, where Vronsky followed her ( chapter XXIX-XXXIU).

These cycles, following one after another, gradually expand the scope of the novel, revealing the patterns of development of conflicts. Tolstoy maintains the proportion of cycles in terms of volume. In the first part, each cycle occupies five or six chapters, which have their own “content boundaries”. This creates a rhythmic change of episodes and scenes.