Anna Karenina · Chapter
V explained
Levin attends a concert with his sister-in-law.
What happens
Levin attends a concert with his sister-in-law. He struggles to understand and appreciate two new pieces of music, a fantasia based on 'King Lear' and a quartette dedicated to Bach. He finds the music fragmented and bewildering. After the performance, he discusses the merits of the Wagnerian school with Pestsov, arguing against the fusion of arts. The chapter highlights Levin's intellectual discomfort in high society and his search for genuine meaning in art.
Themes in this chapter
Isolation and Misunderstanding
Levin feels isolated in his inability to appreciate or understand the new music that others praise, leading to a sense of bewilderment and disconnect from the social circle.
Search for Meaning
Levin's intense, conscientious effort to listen and form a genuine opinion about the art reflects his broader philosophical search for authenticity and truth.
Characters to notice
- Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin
Attends a concert, feels bewildered by the new music, and argues with Pestsov about the Wagnerian school's fusion of arts.
- Pestsov
A musical connoisseur who praises the fantasia and argues with Levin that all arts should be combined to reach the highest expression.
- Madame Lvova
Levin's sister-in-law whom he escorts to the concert; she advises him to visit Count Bol afterwards.
Key passages
“He tried to avoid meeting musical connoisseurs or talkative acquaintances, and stood looking at the floor straight before him, listening.”
Levin deliberately isolated himself to concentrate on the music, avoiding social distractions.
Shows his earnest, almost painful desire for a pure artistic experience.
“Levin maintained that the mistake of Wagner and all his followers lay in their trying to take music into the sphere of another art...”
Levin argued that Wagner's error was forcing music to do the work of other arts like poetry or painting.
Highlights Levin's belief in the distinct, separate purposes of different art forms.
“Gaiety and grief and despair and tenderness and triumph followed one another without any connection, like the emotions of a madman.”
The music shifted between extreme emotions chaotically and unpredictably.
Conveys Levin's perception of the modern composition as incoherent and unsettling.