Turning to Narrative: Generosity, Giving, and Gratitude in Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”

Abstract

Quantitative approaches to the study of philanthropy often overshadow narrative approaches, especially in the professional literature. Quantitative approaches tend to speak in generalities and narrative approaches in particularities. When it comes to understanding why persons give and receive, narrative approaches have an edge. To illustrate this advantage, this article explores a single, especially thoughtful and beautiful act of generosity in perhaps the greatest novel ever written, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.