In 1872 the mistress of a neighbouring landowner threw herself under a train at a station near Tolstoy's home. This gave Tolstoy the starting point he needed for composing what many believe to be the greatest novel ever written. In writing Anna Karenina he moved away from the vast historical sweep of War and Peace to tell, with extraordinary understanding, the story of an aristocratic woman who brings ruin on herself. Anna's tragedy is interwoven with not only the courtship and marriage of Kitty and Levin but also the lives of many other characters. Rich in incident, powerful in characterization, the novel also expresses Tolstoy's own moral vision. `The correct way of putting the question is the artist's duty', Chekhov once insisted, and Anna Karenina was the work he chose to make his point. It solves no problem, but it is deeply satisfying because all the questions are put correctly. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Both critics and admirers of Tolstoy's great novels were shocked by the savage iconoclasm of his "What is Art?" when it appeared in 1898. How was it that this great artist could condemn the works of Shakespeare, Raphael, Beethoven and even his own 'Anna Karenina' as 'false art'? Today's reader still has to grapple with that paradox. The essay still has the power to challenge and provoke, for it was written by a giant who took art seriously while western civilization toyed with it as a mere pastime. For Tolstoy, art was as natural and as necessary for humankind as speech.In his introduction to this translation, W. Gareth Jones shows how vitally Tolstoy's personality and experience of life were engaged in creating "What is Art?," how integral the essay was to his art and teaching, and why it still continues to demand a response from us.

Nikolay Novikov (1744 1818) was a key figure in Russian cultural life under Catherine the Great. He was in turn a successful journalist, historiographer, educator, publisher, leading freemason and philanthropist and he left his distinctive mark on each of these spheres at a formative moment in Russia. This book is a Western study of Novikov's complete career and it shows how he responded to Catherine's enlightened despotism in cultural matters and why their ways eventually parted. Novikov is viewed here not only as a founding father of the Russian intelligentsia, but as a representative of the general European Enlightenment, who discovered and encouraged a new generation of writers. A knowledge of Novikov and the kind of enlightenment he strove to spread in Russia is important for an understanding of the particular cast of mind evident in Russian thought and writings in the nineteenth century. The book will therefore be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students of Russian literature and intellectual history.