A collection of seven critical essays discussing Tolstoy's novel, arranged in chronological order of their original publication.

In Tolstoy's powerful tale of family passions set in Russia in the 1870s, Anna, the young and beautiful wife of a powerful older man, risks more than she can imagine when she runs away with the dashing Count Vronsky.

Selections of literary criticism on Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

Young nobleman Baron Sergio Giuramondo, after discovering that his bride-to-be was the king's mistress, leaves Naples in disgust to become a monk. But his quest for perfect solitude is constantly interrupted by visitors hearing rumors that Sergio possesses miraculous powers, and by women who bet each other that they can successfully seduce him.

"You've met the characters in these stories before. We meet them in folktales from all around the world. There is the simple, wise old man who understands far more than he knows; the pompous religious expert who discovers his folly before it's too late; nosey neighbors and petty relatives; and a fight between good and evil in which, by story's end, good and evil almost seem to switch places. These classic folktales, made popular a century ago by Leo...