Anna Karenina A Penguin Classics Hardcover — Lev Nikolayeviç Tolstoy

Tolstoy s epic novel of love destiny and self destruction in a gorgeous new clothbound edition from Penguin Classics Anna Karenina seems to have everything beauty wealth popularity and an adored son But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky Their subsequent affair scandalizes society and family alike and soon brings jealously and bitterness in its wake Contrasting with this tale of love and self destruction is the vividly observed story of Levin a man striving to find contentment and a meaning to his life and also a self portrait of Tolstoy himself This acclaimed modern translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky won the PEN Book of the Month Club Translation Prize in 2001 Their translation is accompanied in this edition by an introduction by Richard Pevear and a preface by John Bayley The new and brilliantly witty translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is a must Lisa Appignanesi Independent Books of the Year Pevear and Volokhonsky are at once scrupulous translators and vivid stylists of English and their superb rendering allows us as perhaps never before to grasp the palpability of Tolstoy s characters acts situations James Wood New Yorker