An excerpt from the original text.(complete · 1872 words)
fter a capital dinner and a great deal of cognac drunk at
Bartnyansky’s, Stepan Arkadyevitch, only a little later than the
appointed time, went in to Countess Lidia Ivanovna’s.
“Who else is with the countess?—a Frenchman?” Stepan Arkadyevitch asked
the hall-porter, as he glanced at the familiar overcoat of Alexey
Alexandrovitch and a queer, rather artless-looking overcoat with
clasps.
“Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin and Count Bezzubov,” the porter answered
severely.
“Princess Myakaya guessed right,” thought Stepan Arkadyevitch, as he
went upstairs. “Curious! It would be quite as well, though, to get on
friendly terms with her. She has immense influence. If she would say a
word to Pomorsky, the thing would be a certainty.”
It was still quite light out-of-doors, but in Countess Lidia Ivanovna’s
little drawing-room the blinds were drawn and the lamps lighted. At a
round table under a lamp sat the countess and Alexey Alexandrovitch,
talking softly. A short, thinnish man, very pale and handsome, with
feminine hips and knock-kneed legs, with fine brilliant eyes and long
hair lying on the collar of his coat, was standing at the end of the
room gazing at the portraits on the wall. After greeting the lady of
the house and Alexey Alexandrovitch, Stepan Arkadyevitch could not
resist glancing once more at the unknown man.
“Monsieur Landau!” the countess addressed him with a softness and
caution that impressed Oblonsky. And she introduced them.
Landau looked round hurriedly, came up, and smiling, laid his moist,
lifeless hand in Stepan Arkadyevitch’s outstretched hand and
immediately walked away and fell to gazing at the portraits again. The
countess and Alexey Alexandrovitch looked at each other significantly.
“I am very glad to see you, particularly today,” said Countess Lidia
Ivanovna, pointing Stepan Arkadyevitch to a seat beside Karenin.
“I introduced you to him as Landau,” she said in a soft voice, glancing
at the Frenchman and again immediately after at Alexey Alexandrovitch,
“but he is really Count Bezzubov, as you’re probably aware. Only he
does not like the title.”
“Yes, I heard so,” answered Stepan Arkadyevitch; “they say he
completely cured Countess Bezzubova.”
“She was here today, poor thing!” the countess said, turning to Alexey
Alexandrovitch. “This separation is awful for her. It’s such a blow to
her!”
“And he positively is going?” queried Alexey Alexandrovitch.
“Yes, he’s going to Paris. He heard a voice yesterday,” said Countess
Lidia Ivanovna, looking at Stepan Arkadyevitch.
“Ah, a voice!” repeated Oblonsky, feeling that he must be as
circumspect as he possibly could in this society, where something
peculiar was going on, or was to go on, to which he had not the key.
A moment’s silence followed, after which Countess Lidia Ivanovna, as
though approaching the main topic of conversation, said with a fine
smile to Oblonsky:
“I’ve known you for a long while, and am very glad to make a closer
acquaintance with you. Les amis de nos amis sont nos amis. But to be
a true friend, one must enter into the spiritual state of one’s friend,
and I fear that you are not doing so in the case of Alexey
Alexandrovitch. You understand what I mean?” she said, lifting her fine
pensive eyes.
“In part, countess, I understand the position of Alexey
Alexandrovitch....” said Oblonsky. Having no clear idea what they were
talking about, he wanted to confine himself to generalities.
“The change is not in his external position,” Countess Lidia Ivanovna
said sternly, following with eyes of love the figure of Alexey
Alexandrovitch as he got up and crossed over to Landau; “his heart is
changed, a new heart has been vouchsafed him, and I fear you don’t
fully apprehend the change that has taken place in him.”
“Oh, well, in general outlines I can conceive the change. We have
always been friendly, and now....” said Stepan Arkadyevitch, responding
with a sympathetic glance to the expression of the countess, and
mentally balancing the question with which of the two ministers she was
most intimate, so as to know about which to ask her to speak for him.
“The change that has taken place in him cannot lessen his love for his
neighbors; on the contrary, that change can only intensify love in his
heart. But I am afraid you do not understand me. Won’t you have some
tea?” she said, with her eyes indicating the footman, who was handing
round tea on a tray.
“Not quite, countess. Of course, his misfortune....”
“Yes, a misfortune which has proved the highest happiness, when his
heart was made new, was filled full of it,” she said, gazing with eyes
full of love at Stepan Arkadyevitch.
“I do believe I might ask her to speak to both of them,” thought Stepan
Arkadyevitch.
“Oh, of course, countess,” he said; “but I imagine such changes are a
matter so private that no one, even the most intimate friend, would
care to speak of them.”
“On the contrary! We ought to speak freely and help one another.”
“Yes, undoubtedly so, but there is such a difference of convictions,
and besides....” said Oblonsky with a soft smile.
“There can be no difference where it is a question of holy truth.”
“Oh, no, of course; but....” and Stepan Arkadyevitch paused in
confusion. He understood at last that they were talking of religion.
“I fancy he will fall asleep immediately,” said Alexey Alexandrovitch
in a whisper full of meaning, going up to Lidia Ivanovna.
Stepan Arkadyevitch looked round. Landau was sitting at the window,
leaning on his elbow and the back of his chair, his head drooping.
Noticing that all eyes were turned on him he raised his head and smiled
a smile of childlike artlessness.
“Don’t take any notice,” said Lidia Ivanovna, and she lightly moved a
chair up for Alexey Alexandrovitch. “I have observed....” she was
beginning, when a footman came into the room with a letter. Lidia
Ivanovna rapidly ran her eyes over the note, and excusing herself,
wrote an answer with extraordinary rapidity, handed it to the man, and
came back to the table. “I have observed,” she went on, “that Moscow
people, especially the men, are more indifferent to religion than
anyone.”
“Oh, no, countess, I thought Moscow people had the reputation of being
the firmest in the faith,” answered Stepan Arkadyevitch.
“But as far as I can make out, you are unfortunately one of the
indifferent ones,” said Alexey Alexandrovitch, turning to him with a
weary smile.
“How anyone can be indifferent!” said Lidia Ivanovna.
“I am not so much indifferent on that subject as I am waiting in
suspense,” said Stepan Arkadyevitch, with his most deprecating smile.
“I hardly think that the time for such questions has come yet for me.”
Alexey Alexandrovitch and Lidia Ivanovna looked at each other.
“We can never tell whether the time has come for us or not,” said
Alexey Alexandrovitch severely. “We ought not to think whether we are
ready or not ready. God’s grace is not guided by human considerations:
sometimes it comes not to those that strive for it, and comes to those
that are unprepared, like Saul.”
“No, I believe it won’t be just yet,” said Lidia Ivanovna, who had been
meanwhile watching the movements of the Frenchman. Landau got up and
came to them.
“Do you allow me to listen?” he asked.
“Oh, yes; I did not want to disturb you,” said Lidia Ivanovna, gazing
tenderly at him; “sit here with us.”
“One has only not to close one’s eyes to shut out the light,” Alexey
Alexandrovitch went on.
“Ah, if you knew the happiness we know, feeling His presence ever in
our hearts!” said Countess Lidia Ivanovna with a rapturous smile.
“But a man may feel himself unworthy sometimes to rise to that height,”
said Stepan Arkadyevitch, conscious of hypocrisy in admitting this
religious height, but at the same time unable to bring himself to
acknowledge his free-thinking views before a person who, by a single
word to Pomorsky, might procure him the coveted appointment.
“That is, you mean that sin keeps him back?” said Lidia Ivanovna. “But
that is a false idea. There is no sin for believers, their sin has been
atoned for. Pardon,” she added, looking at the footman, who came in
again with another letter. She read it and gave a verbal answer:
“Tomorrow at the Grand Duchess’s, say.” “For the believer sin is not,”
she went on.
“Yes, but faith without works is dead,” said Stepan Arkadyevitch,
recalling the phrase from the catechism, and only by his smile clinging
to his independence.
“There you have it—from the epistle of St. James,” said Alexey
Alexandrovitch, addressing Lidia Ivanovna, with a certain
reproachfulness in his tone. It was unmistakably a subject they had
discussed more than once before. “What harm has been done by the false
interpretation of that passage! Nothing holds men back from belief like
that misinterpretation. ‘I have not works, so I cannot believe,’ though
all the while that is not said. But the very opposite is said.”
“Striving for God, saving the soul by fasting,” said Countess Lidia
Ivanovna, with disgusted contempt, “those are the crude ideas of our
monks.... Yet that is nowhere said. It is far simpler and easier,” she
added, looking at Oblonsky with the same encouraging smile with which
at court she encouraged youthful maids of honor, disconcerted by the
new surroundings of the court.
“We are saved by Christ who suffered for us. We are saved by faith,”
Alexey Alexandrovitch chimed in, with a glance of approval at her
words.
“Vous comprenez l’anglais?” asked Lidia Ivanovna, and receiving a
reply in the affirmative, she got up and began looking through a shelf
of books.
“I want to read him ‘Safe and Happy,’ or ‘Under the Wing,’” she said,
looking inquiringly at Karenin. And finding the book, and sitting down
again in her place, she opened it. “It’s very short. In it is described
the way by which faith can be reached, and the happiness, above all
earthly bliss, with which it fills the soul. The believer cannot be
unhappy because he is not alone. But you will see.” She was just
settling herself to read when the footman came in again. “Madame
Borozdina? Tell her, tomorrow at two o’clock. Yes,” she said, putting
her finger in the place in the book, and gazing before her with her
fine pensive eyes, “that is how true faith acts. You know Marie Sanina?
You know about her trouble? She lost her only child. She was in
despair. And what happened? She found this comforter, and she thanks
God now for the death of her child. Such is the happiness faith
brings!”
“Oh, yes, that is most....” said Stepan Arkadyevitch, glad they were
going to read, and let him have a chance to collect his faculties. “No,
I see I’d better not ask her about anything today,” he thought. “If
only I can get out of this without putting my foot in it!”
“It will be dull for you,” said Countess Lidia Ivanovna, addressing
Landau; “you don’t know English, but it’s short.”
“Oh, I shall understand,” said Landau, with the same smile, and he
closed his eyes. Alexey Alexandrovitch and Lidia Ivanovna exchanged
meaningful glances, and the reading began.
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Let's Analyse the Pattern
True guidance comes from recognizing and trusting the moral wisdom we already carry within us, not from external authorities or complex theories.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to recognize when you're overthinking problems that your gut already knows how to solve.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you're seeking advice for something you already know the answer to - then try trusting your first instinct instead of asking three more people.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Key Quotes & Analysis
"I have discovered nothing. I have simply recognized what I already knew."
Context: As he realizes his spiritual breakthrough isn't new knowledge but recognition of existing truth
This shows that wisdom often comes from acknowledging what we already feel deep down rather than learning something completely new. Levin's transformation isn't about gaining information but about accepting what his heart already knew.
In Today's Words:
I didn't learn anything new - I just finally admitted what I already knew was true.
"This knowledge is not given by reason, but is given to everyone, and I could not have got it by any effort of thought."
Context: When he understands that moral truth comes from intuition, not logic
Tolstoy argues that the most important truths about how to live can't be figured out through thinking alone. They come from a deeper source that everyone has access to, regardless of education or intelligence.
In Today's Words:
You can't think your way to this - everyone just knows it in their gut, no matter how smart they are.
"The meaning of my life and of the world... is to live for God, for my soul."
Context: His moment of complete clarity about life's purpose
This represents Levin's final answer to his existential crisis. Rather than complex philosophy, he finds meaning in simple dedication to something greater than himself and caring for his inner moral life.
In Today's Words:
Life makes sense when you focus on doing right and being good, not just getting what you want.
Thematic Threads
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin discovers his true identity isn't built on intellectual achievements but on moral choices and connection to others
Development
Evolved from his earlier crisis where he questioned his entire sense of self and purpose
In Your Life:
You might recognize this when you realize who you really are has more to do with how you treat people than what you've accomplished
Class
In This Chapter
A simple peasant's wisdom proves more valuable than all the philosophical theories of educated society
Development
Continues the book's theme that wisdom and worth aren't determined by social position
In Your Life:
You might see this when someone with less formal education gives you better life advice than any expert
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
Levin's transformation comes through recognizing existing inner knowledge rather than acquiring new external knowledge
Development
Culminates his entire journey from despair through questioning to spiritual awakening
In Your Life:
You might experience this when you realize the answer to your problem was something you knew all along but weren't trusting
Human Relationships
In This Chapter
His revelation centers on living for others - family, community, humanity - rather than just for himself
Development
Transforms his earlier struggles with connecting meaningfully to others
In Your Life:
You might feel this shift when you realize your happiest moments come from helping others, not advancing yourself
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
What specific moment triggers Levin's breakthrough, and how does it differ from all his previous attempts to find meaning?
analysis • surface - 2
Why does wisdom from a simple peasant succeed where philosophy and intellectual debate failed for Levin?
analysis • medium - 3
When have you seen someone (or yourself) overthink a decision until they remembered what they already knew was right?
application • medium - 4
How would you help someone who's drowning in advice and opinions find their own inner compass?
application • deep - 5
What does Levin's journey reveal about the difference between knowing something intellectually versus knowing it in your gut?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Inner Voice vs. External Noise
Think of a current decision you're facing or a recent choice that felt complicated. Draw two columns: 'What My Gut Says' and 'What Everyone Else Says.' Fill in both sides honestly. Notice where they align and where they conflict. Circle the gut feelings that keep coming back no matter how much advice you get.
Consider:
- •Your first instinct often contains wisdom that gets buried under analysis
- •External advice reflects other people's values and experiences, not necessarily yours
- •The voice that speaks quietly but consistently is usually your inner compass
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you ignored your inner voice and followed external advice instead. What happened? What would you do differently now?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 211
Levin's newfound spiritual peace faces its first test as he returns to the everyday world of family life and social obligations. Will this profound revelation survive contact with ordinary reality and the people around him?
