FEATURES OF THE EPIC NARRATIVE IN THE NOVEL «ANNA KARENINA» BY LEO TOLSTOY: FROM AUTHOR TO HERO

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the epic nature of the novel «Anna Karenina» by Leo Tolstoy. Artistic concept dedicated to the crisis era of the 1870s as the most important milestone in Russian history, the wide coverage of the events contemporary for the author, the depiction of representatives of different estates - testify to the scale of the creative task. The article examines the originality of Leo Tolstoy’s epic narrative, which is largely determined by the choice of the protagonist. Endowed with a sensitive heart and a troubled conscience, seeking his true destiny, such a man always goes the same path – from egocentrism to understanding of folkish life, realising himself as part of a common «swarm» life. Nikolenka Irteniev, Dmitri Nekhlyudov, Pierre Bezukhov are a complex reflection of Leo Tolstoy himself, each at a certain stage in his spiritual biography. In the gallery of Leo Tolstoy’s heroes, Konstantin Lyovin occupies a special place, since he reflects a writer who is on the verge of a serious worldview revolution. Understanding the biographical and artistic principles in the image of Konstantin Lyovin is given in the context of epistolary and memoir sources in the article. The story of Konstantin Lyovin with his uneasy search for the meaning of life, with religious doubts, embodied the author’s innermost thoughts repeatedly expressed by him in letters to Nikolay Strakhov. Not only the most important page of Leo Tolstoy’s biography is revealed in the fate of Konstantin Lyovin, but the fate of a person of transition time closely related to the life of the country, is planned.