Leo Tolstoy, author of Anna Karenina, was born in 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana. He was born into a wealthy Russian family. Tolstoy's mother died when he was two and his father was murdered when he was nine. Having been orphaned at such a young age, Tolstoy was very familiar with the concept of death and makes this evident in all of his great works. Specifically in Anna Karenina, it symbolizes the power of death and mortality through Anna. Tolstoy was dissatisfied with his education and had no interest in academics. In 1847 he left Kazan University without a degree. In 1851 he joined the Russian army and served in the Crimean War. In 1862, Leo Tolstoy and Sofya Behrs married, and for the next two decades Tolstoy devoted his time to raising his family. During this period he also wrote his two most famous novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Eventually, Tolstoy moved from fiction to faith and religion. In November 1910 Tolstoy fell ill with pneumonia and died at the age of eighty-two. His work is still read and is still remembered as...