“I’m tired, as bitter radish”. As Tolstoy worked on “Anna Karenina”
One American writer, Nobel prize for literature, William Faulkner was asked to name the three best novel in the world literature, to which he, without hesitation, replied: “Anna Karenina, “Anna Karenina”, and again “Anna Karenina””.
Leo Tolstoy began writing one of the most famous novels in the history of Russian literature in 1873. All reading Russia been dying waiting for new chapters of “Anna Karenina”, which was published in “Russian Gazette”, but the work was hard — the author has made only 17 of April, 1877.
Aify says 10 interesting facts about great novel.
“Unbearably disgusting”
At the end of 1874 Tolstoy decided to give in “Russian Gazette” of the first Chapter of the novel (which was still very far from complete), and now he “necessarily” need to do a book, to keep up with the monthly magazine. Sometimes he sat down to work with pleasure, and sometimes shouted: “Unbearably disgusting”, “my God, if someone behind me had finished Anna Karenina” or “My Anna bothered me, as bitter radish”.
Only the first part of the novel had ten revisions in total amount of work on the manuscript amounted to 2560 pages.
“Bad” epilogue
By the spring of 1877 Tolstoy already wanted to quickly finish with “Anna Karenina” to “oprostite space for new work.” However, the magazine’s editor Mikhail Katkov were dissatisfied with the content of the epilogue, as it in a negative light exhibited the volunteer movement in Russia in favor of the insurgent Serbs. Therefore, in the next issue of “Russian journal” instead of an epilogue, there appeared the anonymous article “What happened at the death of Anna Karenina,” which reported: “the previous owner under the novel “Anna Karenina” exposed “to be continued”. But with the death of the heroine, in fact, the novel ended.
The plan author would do a small epilogue of the sheet in two, from which readers could learn that Vronsky, embarrassed and grief after the death of Anna is sent as a volunteer to Serbia and all the other alive and well, and Levin remains in his village and is angry with the Slavic committees and volunteers.
The author, perhaps, will develop these chapters for the special edition of his novel.
In the end, the author of these chapters, of course, “developed”. And “Anna Karenina” was first published in a newspaper in January 1878.
Ah Yes Pushkin!
Tolstoy started work on “Anna Karenina” under the impression from the prose of Pushkin. This is also evidence of Sophia Tolstoy, and own records of the author.
In a letter to literary criticism Strahova Nikolai Tolstoy reported: “…I somehow after work, took this volume of Pushkin and as always (I think, the seventh time), reread it all, not in forces was to break away and like re-read. But moreover, he seemed to have resolved all my doubts. Not only Pushkin before, but nothing I seem, I’ve never admired: “Shot”, “Egyptian nights”, “captain’s daughter”!!! And there is a verse, “Guests gathered at the cottage”. I inadvertently, accidentally, not knowing why, and that will be up to the people and events began to continue, then, of course, changed, and suddenly started so nice and cool, it was a novel, which I now finished a rough draft, the novel is very lively, hot and finished, which I am very happy and it will be ready, if God give health, two weeks”.
But two weeks later, the novel was not ready — Tolstoy continued to work on “Anna Karenina,” for another three years.
At the station
Tolstoy repeatedly reproached that he too was cruelly done to Anna, “causing her to die in a car.” To which the writer replied: “Pushkin Once said to a friend: “Imagine what kind of thing threw my Tatiana. She was married. This I did not expect”. What can I say about Anna. My heroes do what they must do in real life, and not what I want.”
The scene of the suicide Karenina Tolstoy chose the suburban railway station rip-off, and did it not by chance: at that time Nizhny Novgorod road was one of the main industrial highways, it often went heavily Laden freight trains. The Railway station (until 1939.)
In the years of writing the novel the station was used by an average of 25 people a day, and in 1939 it was renamed the Railway.
The successor of the poet
The appearance of Anna Karenina Tolstoy largely sketched with daughter Alexander Pushkin Mary Hartung. From her Karenina and got a haircut, and a favorite necklace: “her Hair was invisible. There was only decorating it, these headstrong ringlets short curly hair always stands out on the neck and temples. For chiseled strong neck was a thread of pearls”.
Heir to the great poet met Tolstoy in Tula for 5 years prior to the writing of the novel. As you know, the charm and cuteness of Mary allocated among the other women of the time, and she immediately liked the writer. However, the daughter of Pushkin no train, of course, not rushed and even went through Tolstoy almost a decade. She died in Moscow on 7 March 1919 at 86 years of age.
“Rare” women
Another prototype Karenina became a kind of Anna Pirogova, which in 1872 in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana threw herself under a train because of unrequited love. According to the memoirs of the wife of the writer of Sophia Tolstoy, Tolstoy even went to the railway barracks, to see the unfortunate.
In addition, the Tolstoy family was two women, departed from husbands to lovers (which in those days was very rare). Literary critics believe that their fate had not the least influence on the image and character Karenina.
Instead of a diary
Konstantin Levin is one of the most difficult and at the same time, autobiographical images in the works of the writer. While writing “Anna Karenina” Tolstoy even stopped teaching diaries, as his thoughts and feelings reflected in the work on the image of the provincial landowner.
Today the name Levina is most often pronounced using the letter “e” Tolstoy himself would pronounce it with an “e”, which once again indicates its connection with the hero (contemporaries called Tolstoy not Leo, and Leo).
Levin, like the author, was interested in the issues that were ignored by most of society: whether the education of the peasants, and what will happen if you give it to them? Even the internal crisis experienced Levin, researchers correlated with the life crisis of the author.
Hero-lover
The prototype of Vronsky is considered to be Nikolay Nikolaevich Raevsky, a grandson of the famous General, hero of 1812, whose feat Tolstoy described on the pages of the novel “War and peace”.
Also, the image of one of the main characters of the novel were close to the poet Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, for whom the Countess Bahmeteva left her husband — this story made in light of a lot of noise.
“Good girl”
In the mid 1930-ies, during work on the jubilee edition of Tolstoy’s works, literary critics have explored the manuscript Fund “Anna Karenina” and determined that the original novel did not begin with the famous words “Everything was in confusion in the oblonskys ‘house”, and the scene in the cabin of the future Princess of Tver.
Called this draft the manuscript “Good girl”, and the main character’s first name was Tatiana, and then a Nan (Anastasia) and only later she became Anna.
“The Principle Of Anna Karenina”
The novel opens with the phrase: “All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”- on the basis of which scientists have exposed the so-called “principle of Anna Karenina.” This principle describes a situation when the success of any business is possible only in the simultaneous presence of a number of factors, and is used in various fields — from the crisis to adapt to the changing climatic conditions, to the change of UPS and downs in the financial markets.