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Anna Karenina gets off to a fast start, opening with a
full-scale domestic crisis: Dolly has learned that Stiva is
having an affair with their French governess, and is threatening
divorce. Anna Karenina, Stiva\'s sister, comes for a visit and
convinces Dolly to make up with Stiva. Konstantin Levin, an old
friend of Stiva\'s, arrives in Moscow to propose marriage to
Kitty Shcherbatsky, Dolly\'s younger sister. Kitty, a young
woman who has just made her debut in society, refuses Levin, as
she believes she\'s in love with the dashing Count Vronsky.
Upon meeting Anna, Kitty is impressed with her glamour,
charm, and apparent kindness. But Anna steals Vronsky\'s
heart.
By the end of Part I, Stiva and Dolly have achieved a shaky
balance in their troubled family life: Levin is heartbroken
over Kitty, Kitty is heartbroken over Vronsky, and Anna is torn
between her passion for the young count and her obligations to
her husband and son. If by then you feel a little breathless,
don\'t worry; you will have covered a lot of ground.
NOTE: The epigraph--\"Vengeance is Mine, I will repay\"--is
from the Bible, specifically from Romans 12:19. In a letter to
Vikenti Vikentevich Veresaev, writer, physician, and friend of
Tolstoy, Tolstoy wrote: \"I chose that epigraph in order to
explain the idea that the bad things man does have as their
consequence all the bitter things, which come not from people,
but from God, and that is what Anna Karenina herself
experienced.\"
Keep this in mind as you read the novel, especially toward
the end.
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