New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-04-18
RECENT NOVELS.
poNANrJC AND REALISTIC,

81 R RS TSfssT m''
THE LOST NAME. Novelette,. BY MtDELEiSE YIN
ToN DaHI0RrN. 16mo. PIP. 222. Ticknor W.
THE PHELATE A Novel BY Isaac Henderson limo
PIP $50. TcknOr Co.
The interest which the writings or Coun1 Leu
Tostoi have created is certainly attributable ho'
alone to his powers but to their accord win Inc
two STRONGEST tendencies Of the time; ths
tendencies. namely, toward Realism and toward
Mysticism Tolstoi combines qualities which at
the first view seem antipatbetic. He is at once
faithful recorder of life as 1t is, and a passionate
seeker after life as it should be. One OF tho
attractions of Anna Karenna is the exploitation
of these divergent views in its pages. side by side.
Broadly regarded, the book is the history OF
woman who falls and of man who rises; the hrst
finding ruin and despair in the Incorporate ana
Law less qualification Of earthly passion the
second finding repose and happ ness in the ex-
pansion OF his obligations to his kind ana III INC
cultivation of religious faith transcending ,he
bounds of doctrine. Those who have reai INC
authors more recent book, My Religion" VIII see
in the spiritual agitation through which Levin
passes in his progress to higher plane OF thouNht
the beginning of those soul-storms out OF when
was evolved the authors latest convictions Inc
autobographical character of much oil tho story OF
Levin is plain, and it is told with simplicity
which is half its power But the story Is COM
plicated rs q whole. IL is not only the contrast
between the destnes of Anna and Levin which is
emphasizrd, but the contrast between town and
country life, and that between the man OF the
world and the born mystic. The character of
Oblonsky is foil to that OF Levin. 1t 10 more
than that however, for iu Oblonsky may be
perceived clew 10 the fall of Anna. Brother ana
sister have inherited moral weakness which.
o;a 70 In wnman's life because
of the greater restraint which social conventions
imp se upoi, her SEX only makes of the man light
hearted voluptuary. whose nidelities react indeed
most mischlevously upon his own family, but do
not affect his position in society.
Anna KarenIna is a figure which only the hand vi
genius could have drawn She Is woman GU
whom nature has bestowed every good gilt but
that of moral stamina And even her weakness
is saved from the suspicion of sensuallty by her
evident miscalcu aton of her power of resistance.
She plays with tire and is burned. She is carried
away By the force of a current she deemed feeble.
Married young without love to a middle-aged maj,
for several years she leads an irreproachable lie.
Then she meets her fate il. the person OF Vronsky.
IL is love ut first sight, ana being hrst love Also
with her she is not on her guard. when her eyes
are opened she has acquired too much momentum
to check herself and like many women so situated
she becomes desperate anu ucHdHO III ib"hHiHe '"S
constraint of her position. Her husband is II
clever study He is good man, though super
fcially cold. He loves his wife, who detests him.
When she. driven to bay. avows her love for
Vronsky he takes a high resolve. He will act on
Christian principles, Instead of obeying the con-
yentons of society lie is punished for his nobility.
Society laughs and SCOTS at him, ascribes the
basest motives to him, holds him up to ridlcule III
neither ccmprehends nor cares to comprehend his
indulrencc for Anna. All this is most subtly set
forth.
The gradual descent of the unfortunate Anna Is
recorded with naturalness which gives surprising
force to the narrative. There Is no sensational
action in the book If we except the death OF Anna
nor is there any artificial endeavor to eliminate
passion and strong emotion from life AT every
stem we see this poor creature beating against the
bars of her cage like wild bird. Bnt her agonies
are not dramatiSed; they are indicated by brief
outlines light touches which yet tell everything.
The Nemesis is never obtruded, but 1t is mono tho
less fell to he present, and the days Tiled with
petty details are seen to be marching steadily to
the catastrophe. The hopelessness of Annals
position despite all that wealth and affection en-
do becomes more ey ident continually. and as this
truth Is borne in up her the irritation and
nervous tension which can kill love If maintained
beqin TO dominate her, and then the end is almost
in view.
The troubles of Leyin are of q very different
order 1t is the problem of existence that perpleXes
and yexes him. What his real dui iesT What
his obligations to the mgjiks on his land How is
bappip.ss to be attainedi What OF all the crerds
and doctrines accepted among men Is to be
Lelieyedi These among the questions that
burden his mind as he wanders in his ancestral
fields. He wrestes brayely with his difficulties.
To gain fuller knowledge on agrononic problems he
travels in other countries. But he returns cOu-
v,nced that in some way the Russian question
must be ol,ed in a purely Russian way, and he
cannot get any further light upon the matter. His
mental stru giles, and the intuitlonal method ny
which at last he obtains relief. described with
the fidelity to nature of one who mas experienced
what lac narrates. This is a piece of psychologist
ANALYSIS well calculated to interest the present
interpretive generation. There ID certain
resemblance between Levin and John Ingesant
though the characters are strongly Differentiated
as whOes
The other dranatis person9 are strongly and
clearly drawn. Count Tostoi employs no lay
figures. Aleksei Karenina. VrDnsky, Prince Stepan,
Darya Sergei Ivanovitch, Kitty, all are living
people with whose weaknesses, vices, virtues
prominent habits, personal appearance, we Oeto ONE
well acquainted, and who ale always consistent
with what we know Of them. The Realism of the
story seems sometimes, all Realism must, too
minute. elaborate, detailed. The life described
appears sometimes dull and monotonous. But this
is in fact due to the influence of that peculiarly
Russian melancholy which is SO marked charac-
t,r:stc of Tonrguene0. and which Is found In all
of Tolstois books also The history of the race and
the character OF the country are both responsible
for th, natural uldercurrent of sadness; this
note III a minor key which sounds so plantivefy
throughout the imaginative literature Of Russia
The book is very long for this age of condensed
fiction 1t may indeed be doubted whether it
might not have been made stronger in places by
compression. But the story is certainly worth all
the space given to it. 1t is clear that while tue
author bestowed great pains upon Alma karenina,
his favortc study was Levin. Anna dies, but
though she gives her name to the book it goes on