A complete introduction to this book, its author Leo Tolstoy and its translator Constance Garnett is provided in this edition.--------------"No one may build their happiness on another''s pain." *****''Anna Karenina'', the novel authored by the Russian philosopher Leo Tolstoy, was first published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical ''The Russian Messenger'' and the first complete novel in a book form was published in 1878. Tolstoy considered Anna Karenina his first true novel when he came to consider War and Peace to be more than a novel. Anna Karenina is widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction.Fyodor Dostoyevsky declared it "flawless as a work of art." His opinion was shared by Vladimir Nabokov, who especially admired "the flawless magic of Tolstoy''s style," and by William Faulkner, who described the novel as, "the best ever written." The novel is currently enjoying popularity, as demonstrated by a recent poll of 125 contemporary authors by J. Peder Zane, published in 2007 in "The Top Ten" in ''Time'', which declared that Anna Karenina is the "greatest novel ever written." The novel is divided into eight parts. Its epigraph is Vengeance is mine, I will repay. It begins with one of its most oft-quoted lines: ''Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way''. ''Anna Karenina'' is the tragic story of a married aristocrat/socialite and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. A bachelor, Vronsky is eager to marry her if she would agree to leave her husband Karenin, a government official, but she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms, her own insecurities, and Karenin''s indecision. Although Vronsky and Anna go to Italy, where they can be together, they have trouble making friends. Back in Russia, she is shunned, becoming further isolated and anxious, while Vronsky pursues his social life. Despite Vronsky''s reassurances, she grows increasingly possessive and paranoid about his imagined infidelity, fearing loss of control.A parallel story within the novel is that of Konstantin Levin, a country landowner who wants to marry Kitty, sister to Dolly and sister-in-law to Anna''s brother Oblonsky. Konstantin has to propose twice before Kitty accepts. The novel details Konstantin''s difficulties managing his estate, his eventual marriage, and his personal issues, until the birth of his first child.*****Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, born on 9 September 1828 and usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, he is best known for the novels ''War and Peace'' (1869) and ''Anna Karenina'' (1877), often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction. He first achieved literary acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy- ''Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth'' (1852-1856), and ''Sevastopol Sketches'' (1855), based upon his experiences in the Crimean War. Tolstoy''s fiction includes dozens of short stories and several novellas such as ''The Death of Ivan Ilyich'', ''Family Happiness'', and ''Hadji Murad''. He also wrote plays and numerous philosophical essays.In the 1870s, Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, followed by what he regarded as an equally profound spiritual awakening, as outlined in his non-fiction work ''A Confession''. His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centring on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. Tolstoy''s ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You'', were to have a profound impact on such pivotal 20th-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. (USA), and James Bevel. Tolstoy also became a dedicated advocate of Georgism, the economic philosophy of Henry George, which he incorporated into his writing, particularly Resurrection. Leo Tolstoy died on 20 November, 1910.