Anna Karenina: One Story, Two Storylines, and the Importance of Oblonsky

Abstract

Scholars have debated whether Tolstoy’s masterpiece, Scholars have debated whether Tolstoy’s masterpiece, Anna Karenina is a work consisting of two separate stories or is one coherent story. Not disputed is that the work entails two distinct storylines: that of the Vronskys and that of the Levins. It is argued that Tolstoy’s two distinct storylines are part of a single story, not two. As such, this article supports Tolstoy’s original presentation of the novel and argues against those who assert that Tolstoy should have presented Anna Karenina in two separate novels. By demonstrating why Tolstoy presents the novel in this manner and how he weaves the two distinct storylines together, the necessity of having presented the novel in its original, unified form is underscored.