Traditions of the English sensation novel in Leo Tolstoy’s works. Article Two: Mrs. Henry Wood’s East Lynne and its reflection in Anna Karenina

The article continues the study of the role of the English sensation novel in Leo Tolstoy’s works. The question is raised as to why Tolstoy included the name of Mrs. Henry Wood in the famous list of “works that made an impression”, labelled “great”. The aim of the article is to prove that Wood’s works, and in particular her famous novel East Lynne (1861), played a significant role in the development of the plot of Anna Karenina. It is suggested that Tolstoy used the model of the novel invented by the English writer, in which the sensational plot of adultery and the heroine’s escape from her family is only the “upper layer” of the narrative, inside which lies a tense plot about the problems of the modern family. The article shows how Tolstoy, following Wood, “subverted” traditional notions of the family, which is no longer a bastion of well-being and personal happiness. Like Wood, Tolstoy constructed in his novel a complex system of family roles, each of which his three female characters – Dolly, Anna, and Lydia Ivanovna – attempt to play with varying degrees of success. Their futile attempts to find their place in life, while following their true feelings, are analysed. In the end, both Anna and Dolly, like Isabel in East Lynn, are ousted from the place they are fighting for: Dolly effectively ceases to be Stiva’s wife and becomes only the “good mother”; Anna abandons her roles as wife, mother, and even housewife, she attempts to become Vronsky’s “comrade”, but in the finale admits that she cannot be anything but his mistress. An assumption is made that Anna dies precisely because of her inability to play any real role – in the monde, in the family, in the world. The article also analyses the comic variant of choosing a new role, which is presented in the character of Lidia Ivanovna. The heroine tries to take Anna’s place and be Karenin’s lover, housewife, and mentor of his son. The author of the article points out that her place in the novel is similar to the role of Barbara Hare: both heroines consider their main goal to compose the happiness of the man they love and distract him from the memories of an unworthy wife. However, while being successful in this role, they simultaneously contribute to the female protagonists’ death. It is concluded that the sensation novel with its artistic imperfection could attract Tolstoy’s attention also due to the fact that it was centred on family issues. Mrs. Henry Wood’s East Lynn demonstrates the process of “destabilization” of Victorian family foundations through a kind of “play” with family roles. This “role-playing” narrative principle, among other things, helped Tolstoy to solve the main problem of his Anna Karenina, related to the self-determination of man in the world. Drawing on the discoveries of Mrs. Henry Wood, Tolstoy shows that family alone does not give meaning to life, and each of the characters must go through a long journey of hardship and inner growth before they find at least relative balance.