Tolstoy's great novel, one of his last works of fiction, tells the story of a harmless flirtation that gradually develops into a destructive passion: the love affair between Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky. Anna turns to Vronsky, a dashing military man, as a refuge from her passionless marriage to a pompous, chilly bureaucrat--a move that results in social ostracization, the loss of her position in the world, and the relentless self-doubt that destroys her confidence and leads to her sad end. A parallel plot follows the contrasting fortunes of Levin (Tolstoy's alter ego, with his deep love of the land) and Kitty, whose marriage thrives and prospers because of mutual commitment, sympathy, and respect. In ANNA KARENINA, Tolstoy reaches deep into his own experiences and his observations of family and friends to create a picture of Russian society that reaches from the high life in St. Petersburg and Moscow to the idyllic rural existence of Kitty and Levin. Sketched on a smaller canvas than the vast panorama of WAR AND PEACE, ANNA KARENINA is a profound examination of human psychology. At its heart is its heroine, the flawed, vulnerable, lovable Anna--a woman whom Tolstoy never judges adversely, despite her follies, but whom he views with compassionate understanding throughout. Published two decades after Flaubert's groundbreaking MADAME BOVARY, Tolstoy's novel is a further exploration of adultery and its effects not only on individuals but on the society at large. Vladimir Nabokov called it "one of the greatest love stories in world literature," a view that has been echoed by critics since its publication in the 1870s.
"Em va passar un cas sorprenent: de cop vaig oblidar que va abans, el 7 o el 8. Vaig anar a veure els vens i els vaig preguntar quina opinió tenien ells respecte a aquest tema. I quina fou la seva i la meva sorpresa quan van descobrir que ells tampoc no podien recordar l’ordre dels numeros. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 i 6 els recordaven, pero mes enlla els havien oblidat."
A El Gran Inquisidor, probablement el capítol més cèlebre d’Els germans Karamàzov, l’última novel·la de Dostoievski i la seva obra cabdal, l’Ivan llegeix a l’Alioixa un poema seu que descriu la troba
"Bere bizitza pribatuaren hogeita hamargarren urteurrenean, Vostxovi kontua eskaini zioten existentziarako baliabideak eskuratzea ahalbidetzen zion tailer mekaniko txikian. Kaleratze-aginduan honako hau idatzi zuten: ekoizpenetik baztertzen zutela, batetik bere gorputzari makaltasunaren hazkunde bat eta, bestetik, lanaren dinamika globalaren testuinguruan pentsakortasun bat igarri zizkiotelako". Horrela hasten da Lubakia, XX. mende hasierako errusiar surrealismoaren maisulana. Antiutopia izeneko literaturaren azpigeneroan kokatu izan da. Lubakian gizakiek gizatasun gutxi erakusten dute. Animalien, haizearen, zuhaitzen izaera, berriz, oso gizatiarra da. Kolektibizazioa, bosturteko planak, ildo ideologikoak, doktrinamendua, iraultzarekiko erlijiozko fedea ... Ezerezetik gizaki berria sortzea posible ote da? Platonov ezezkoan dagoela dirudi.
In Russian Language. Prestuplenie i nakazanie (1866) roman ob odnom prestuplenii. Dvojnoe ubijstvo, sovershennoe bednym studentom iz-za deneg. Trudno najti fabulu prosh'e, no intellektual'noe i dushevnoe potryasenie, kotoroe proizvodit roman, neizgladimo. V chem zdes' zagadka? Krome prostogo i ochevidnogo otveta v genial'nosti Dostoevskogo vozmozhno, sush'estvuet kak minimum esh'e odin: proklyatye voprosy ne imeyut prostyh i polozhitel'nyh otvetov. Nish'eta, sobstvennye stradaniya i stradaniya blizkih vsegda stavili i budut stavit' cheloveka pered vyborom: imeyu li ya pravo prestupit' lyuboj nravstvennyj zakon, chtoby potom stat' spasitelem unizhennyh i uteshitelem slabyh; dolzhen li ya sperva vozlyubit' sebya, a tol'ko potom, stav sil'nym, vozlyubit' blizhnego svoego? Eto vechnye voprosy.
