Anna Karenina Part 2, Chapters 12-17

It's been many months since Levin's encounter with Kitty, but Levin hasn't gotten her out of his head. Nonetheless, he spends the majority of his time tending to his farm and writing a book on agriculture that emphasizes the need to emancipate serfs. Levin says freedom for farmers is just as important to farming as is soil/vegetation.

Stiva, suffering from financial problems, comes again to visit Levin on the farm. Stiva made a deal there with a dealer named Ryabinin to sell a forest owned by Dolly. Levin doesn't like the dealer or the deal--he thinks the price is too low and tells Stiva to raise it. But Stiva says it's too late to change the terms of the deal. Internally, Levin scoffs at city people, who come to the country with little knowledge of the land and therefore contribute to its destruction.

Topic Tracking: City vs. Country 5

Stiva also comes to the country bearing news of Kitty, about whom Levin has been trying not to think. Stiva informs the countryman that the love of his life never ended up with the count. Levin and Stiva continue on to argue over Vronsky's place in society, and what, in general, is the aristocracy. The two male characters have extremely dissenting opinions--Stiva speaks positively about the aristocrats while Levin criticizes. The differences between the two widen.