The Forged Coupon is a novella written by Leo Tolstoy in his late years, originally titled Фальшивый купон in Russian, also translated as The Counterfeit Note and The Forged Banknote. Tolstoy noted the idea as early as the late 1890s, but only began writing in 1902 and completed it in 1904; because its content touched on the church and society, it could not be published during his lifetime and only appeared in 1911 with a collection of his short works after his death. The book is divided into two major parts. The first tells how a very small evil becomes a chain reaction: the schoolboy Mitya urgently needs money to pay a debt, but his father angrily refuses him, and at the urging of his classmate Makhin he alters a low-denomination interest-bearing coupon to ten times its original value. This forged coupon passes through the hands of a photography studio, a merchant, a peasant, and the police, dragging in deception, false accusation, bankruptcy, imprisonment, and even murder, entangling many people who had never known one another in disaster. The second part turns to the transmission of good: a widow who devoutly believes in Christ and single-handedly cares for her drunken father and her sister's family influences a tailor who comes to work for her through her quiet, selfless character; the tailor in turn carries this influence to a hired laborer in the village; the latter is convicted and imprisoned for criticizing the church, and in prison reforms several convicts. Stepan, who committed the gravest crime in the first part, also turns to faith in despair, changing from the greatest villain into a bearer of goodwill, finally returning to the boy who forged the coupon in the first part. This novella is short and extremely spare in style, regarded as an allegorical work of Tolstoy's late thought of "overcoming evil with good" and an important text for understanding his late religious views. The French director Robert Bresson based his final film, L'Argent (1983), on the first part. Chinese translations may be found in the volume included in Cao Ying's Complete Novels of Tolstoy, under such common titles as The Forged Coupon, The Counterfeit Note, and The Forged Banknote.
《伪券》是托尔斯泰晚年被低估的一篇作品。它没有《战争与和平》的宏大，也没有《安娜·卡列尼娜》的爱欲灼烧，却用近乎新闻报道般的冷静笔法，把一个少年随手造假的瞬间，写成一部因果传导的链条小说。一张被改写数字的息券，从学生流向照相馆，从商人流向农民，从农民流向警局，每一环都有人因贪念、恐惧或懦弱再往下推一把；等到第一部结束，读者会发现最初的“小恶”已经长成了谋杀。 第二部笔锋一转，托尔斯泰用同样的连锁结构写“善”：一个默默照顾家人的寡妇、一个被感动的裁缝、一个狱中悔罪的杀人犯，善意同样可以逐层传递、回头收束。这种“以善接恶”的对称结构，是托尔斯泰晚年思想的直接呈现，也是本书最值得细读之处。 需要提醒的是，这部作品带有明显的说教与宗教色彩，人物多而不深，接近寓言。抱着读“另一个《复活》”的期待可能会落空；但若把它当作托尔斯泰晚年思想的一份浓缩样本，当作理解布列松电影《钱》的底本，它会让人读后久久不安。译名有《伪券》《伪息券》《假利券》等多种，购书时需留意篇名差异。
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a Russian writer of critical realism and a thinker. Born into the nobility, he is widely recognized as one of the world's greatest novelists. His representative works include War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Resurrection. His writing is known for its broad social vision, delicate psychological portrayal, and profound moral inquiry, and is often classified under foreign literature, world classics, and classic works. This site holds 62 of his works, including the above novels and several English editions. In his later years Tolstoy left home and died at a railway station. Public information is limited, so biographical details cannot be fully described, yet his literary achievement and intellectual influence remain enduring.
