Resurrection

Leo TolstoyPeople's Literature Publishing House1979

Rating 4.5
Word count
455K words
Chapters
4
ISBN
9787020071104

Tags

Literature Foreign Literature Social PanoramaPersonal FateHuman NatureJudicial CorruptionCritical RealismRedemptionMoral RedemptionClassic MasterpieceFull-Length NovelRussian Literature

Summary

Resurrection is Tolstoy's last novel, written between 1889 and 1899 over ten years and six drafts. The novel draws on a real case told to Tolstoy by his friend, the prosecutor Koni: a young nobleman seduced an orphan girl adopted by relatives, causing her to be cast out of the household and fall into prostitution; years later, the young man serves on the jury trying her case, meets her again in court, is profoundly shaken in conscience, and from then on embarks on a path of atonement. The work follows the fates of the two protagonists, Nekhlyudov and Maslova. Nekhlyudov appeals on Maslova's behalf; after the appeal fails, he follows her to penal servitude in Siberia. In the process, he abandons the life of a noble landowner, distributes his land to the peasants, and breaks completely with his comfortable social circle; Maslova, on the road into exile, meets the political exile Simonson and rises again spiritually. In the end neither moves toward a conventional happy reunion; each completes a "resurrection" of the soul. Through this thread of personal fate, Tolstoy presents a full social panorama of late 19th-century Russia, from noble salons, courts, prisons, and government offices to the church, and sharply condemns the autocratic system, judicial corruption, private land ownership, and the hypocrisy of the official church, while advocating the Tolstoyan doctrines of "non-resistance to evil by violence" and "moral self-perfection." The novel caused a great sensation upon publication and led to Tolstoy's excommunication by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1901. The Ru Long translation published by People's Literature Press (first edition 1979, later included in the "Famous Works, Famous Translations, Illustrated Editions" series) is one of the most widely circulated Chinese translations.

Editor's review

在托尔斯泰的三部长篇中，《复活》是篇幅最短、批判最锋利，也最贴近现代读者困境的一部。它不像《战争与和平》那样以史诗的广度铺开，而是从一座法庭切入，用一桩误判的案子把读者一路带进监狱、贫民窟、官僚衙署和流放队伍，让你直面19世纪末俄国社会从上到下的不公。 汝龙先生的译笔朴素、克制、句子干净，把托尔斯泰那种不留情面的心理剖析还原得很到位：聂赫留朵夫每一次自我辩解、每一次动摇退缩，都写得令人坐立不安。小说中大量的内心独白，正是这本译本读起来“扎人”的地方。 值得一提的还有本书的写作背景：托尔斯泰当年急着写完并放弃版权收入，是为了资助受迫害的杜霍波尔派教徒迁居加拿大。也就是说，《复活》从诞生起，就带有一份实践性的道德冲动。对今天的读者而言，它仍然在追问同一个问题：当一个人意识到了自己犯下的错、并且发现这错误背后还有一整套制度性的恶，他究竟能做些什么。

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. 先读第一部中法庭重逢的段落，把握全书的核心冲突，再从头通读
  2. 留意聂赫留朵夫每一次自我辩解，那是托尔斯泰讽刺最见功力的地方
  3. 第三部夹杂大量宗教议论，可结合写作背景理解托尔斯泰晚年思想，不必急于否定
  4. 读完可对照莫德（Maude）英译本或另一种中译本，体会译者处理俄语长句时的取舍

About the publisher

People's Literature Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

People's Literature Publishing House publishes across classical literature, foreign literature, documentary writing and folk literature, with 492 titles in its catalogue. Representative books range from the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms to Lao She's Teahouse and Longxu Ditch in the Selected Works of Lao She, as well as translated foreign literature such as Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Dante's Divine Comedy and Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels, alongside documentary and fictional works including Primo Levi's If This Is a Man and João Guimarães Rosa's The Devil to Pay in the Backlands. Its authors include Chinese writers such as Lao She, translators such as Shen Emeri and Li Wenjun, and foreign authors such as James Wood. Overall, the house has a strong record in editing classic works and translating foreign literature, with a publishing character that bridges Chinese and foreign writing and values textual quality.

Contents

  1. Part One
  2. Part Two
  3. Part Three
  4. About Resurrection

FAQ

《复活》和《The Awakening》是同一本书吗？ 是。托尔斯泰原著俄文题为《Воскресение》，通译《复活》。1899年小说在美国《Cosmopolitan》杂志连载时用了《The Awakening》这一英文书名，早期英译本亦有题为《The Awakening: The Resurrection》的，实为同一部作品。
这个汝龙译本是完整版还是删节本？ 据人民文学出版社版本信息，汝龙据苏联国家文学出版社1964年版《托尔斯泰二十卷集》第十三卷，并参照莫德英译本译出。该译本为全本三部分，通行的名著名译插图本约510至514页。
没读过托尔斯泰其他作品能直接读《复活》吗？ 可以。《复活》与《战争与和平》《安娜·卡列宁娜》在情节上并无关联，人物与背景都是独立的，是入门托尔斯泰较适合的一部长篇，但需要适应其密集的社会议论。
小说中的故事是真实事件吗？ 主要素材来自托尔斯泰友人、检察官柯尼讲述的一起真实案件：一名贵族青年在陪审时重遇自己当年诱奸的孤女，并决定赎罪——但现实中那对男女结婚后不久，女子便死于伤寒。托尔斯泰在此基础上做了大幅改写。

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Leo Tolstoy Author · Russian · 1828–1910

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.