Serial Publication of Anna Karenina (published in the Russian Herald)

1                                  Jan. 1875                     1.1 – 23

2                                  Feb. 1875                    1.24 – 2.11

3                                  Mar. 1875                    2.12 – 29

4                                  Apr. 1875                    2.30 – 3.12

5                                  Jan. 1876                     3.13 – 32

6                                  Feb. 1876                    4.1 – 17

7                                  Mar. 1876                    4.18 – 5.6

8                                  Apr. 1876                    5.7 – 20

9                                  Dec. 1876                    5.21 – 33

10                                Jan. 1877                     6.1 – 15

11                                Feb. 1877                    6.16 – 32

12                                Mar. 1877                    7.1 – 16

13                                Apr. 1877                    7.17 – 31

Notes:

-Serialization was a common method of publishing novels in 19^th century Russia.

-Tolstoy was well paid at 500 rubles per signature (for an expected forty signatures of Anna Karenina).  Turgenev earned 400 rubles per signature, Dostoevsky 300.

-In the 1870s, at most 10% of Russian population was literate.  Many of those who were literate were not literate enough to read “high” literature (i.e. Tolstoy’s works)

-Russian Herald, a long-lived (1856-1906) “thick journal” included not only fictional literary works, but also history, memoirs, literary criticism, analysis of foreign events, material from social, natural and biological sciences.  Its publisher, M.N. Katkov, had conservative imperialist political views and was an Anglophile.

-Publication of Anna was strange because: a) didn’t fit into the usual one year of publications, b) was particularly irregular (Nothing was published May – December 1875 or May – November 1876). These breaks were due to Tolstoy’s time on his estate, overseeing the farming and pursuing other activities, including educating peasants.

-Part 8 was not published in the Russian Herald, but as a separate pamphlet.  This part includes references to the war in the Balkans, which was imminent but hadn’t yet begun.  The publisher, Katkov, was a supporter of the war, so he refused to the final part of the novel.

-Along with the installment of Anna in each issue of the Russian Herald, there were also articles on themes discussed by the novel’s characters (e.g. education, spiritualism, labor, contemporary politics, the Empire’s treatment of people).  It is also interesting to note that, in the issue in which part 8 would have been published, most of the issue was dedicated to the Empire’s imperial ambitions and military activities.