On monorail and multirail novels from Anna Karenina

The novel can be divided into two forms: single track and multi track Understanding this basic knowledge is very helpful to analyze the structure Monorail refers to the plot around a main line of life Madame Bovary is a typical monorail novel, which always focuses on the family life of Emma and shire Emma had two lovers in her marriage life, but she never left the main line Therefore, these interluded plots can be regarded as a "fork in the road" and a structural form Multi track is to develop stories around multiple life lines There is no doubt that Anna Karenina is a typical multi track novel with six main lines of life At the beginning of the story, there are six main lines: Arkady, Anna, felonsky, Levin, kiji, and Anna's husband Alexei Tolstoy describes the life background and personality characteristics of these characters respectively, and then interlaces their lives through the relationship between relatives and friends, constantly producing conflicts and suspense, which makes the story complex and fascinating Tolstoy's "war and peace" is also a multi track novel, which describes magnificent war scenes and extravagant and degenerate social gatherings Of course, there is the hero Pierre's quiet life after a happy marriage Don Quixote is a one track and a half novel The reason it can't be classified as monorail is that there are several chapters in the second part that send Sancho to a small island as governor, while Don Quixote stays in the manor to continue his chivalry dream Although the master and the servant had only separated for a short period of ten days, Cervantes described their lives respectively After that, they came together again, and the story continued to develop along the original line.