PDF File Ebook Anna Karenin by Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction, Vols. XVI & XVII. Selected by Charles William Eliot. Criticisms and Interpretations. A novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Tolstoy clashed with its editor Mikhail Katkov over political issues that arose in the final installment (Tolstoy’s unpopular views of volunteers going to Serbia); therefore, the novel’s first complete appearance was in book form.