Worlds Greatest Original Classics : War and Peace and Anna Karenina (Bundle of 2 Books) Unabridged Classics (Classics book set)

There is nothing stronger than those two: Patience and Time. The year was 1805. Napoleons conquest of western Europe was causing anxiety among the Russians. In alliance with the Austrian empire, the Russian troops were trying to resist Napoleons onslaught. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy chronicles the French invasion of Russia and its impact on Tsarist Russia, through the stories of five families-the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs, the Kuragins, and the Drubetskoys. The Russian Messenger published portions of the manuscript, titled The Year 1805, as a serial from 18651867. Dissatisfied with the published version, Tolstoy extensively rewrote the novel between 1866 and 1869. After his wife, Sophia Tolstaya, copied as many as seven separate manuscripts, the author considered it for publication, again. Tolstoy finally changed the name to War and Peace; it is believed that he borrowed the title from Pierre-Joseph Proudhons 1861 book, La Guerre et la Paix. War and Peace has been translated into several languages and is regarded as Tolstoys finest literary achievement. Leo Tolstoys Anna Karenina was first published in serial instalments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. A canvas exploring a diverse array of themesmatrimony, politics, philosophy, altruism, adultery, religion and death, it is a masterpiece in realist fiction. Anna Karenina, a married aristocrat and socialite from St. Petersburg, falls in love with Count Vronsky, a suave military officer. Hemmed in by the laws of the Russian Orthodox Church, Anna is indecisive and anxious about leaving her husband and starting a new life with Vronsky. A social outcast,Anna is a voracious reader and detests fakery that she feels her husband epitomises. Unfortunately, with her growing suspicion of Vronskys fidelity, her affair brings her more misery than joy. Eventually, her paranoia leads her to taking her own life. Flawless as a work of art is how Fyodor Dostoyevsky described Anna Karenina.