investigating leo tolstoy’s anna karenina under the lens of derrida’sdeconstruction

Anna karenina is leo tolstoy’s realistic novel, focusing on prevailing issues in nineteenthcentury russia. for years, his book has been a perfect research source for feminism becauseof its subject matter. however, what makes this work to be a controversial book is its powerof deconstruction. accordingly, this study aims to examine anna karenina through thelens of derridean “deconstruction.” “deconstructive reading” is the structural investigationof a text to find where it loses its coherence. for its purpose, the study uses three conceptsof deconstruction to depict anna karenina’s incoherence. they are “signifier andsignified,” “decenterism,” and “binary opposition.” tolstoy desires to present anna andher miserable life as a moral lesson for other women in society, but she becomes the actualhero of the novel. hence, through the lens of deconstruction, the researcher will prove thattext is made of language and that language is ultimately unstable. it can destroy a text’sunity, question its meaning, and change its arguments.