The Resurrection

by Jodi Ellen Malpas • 1899

Though Resurrection is much less widely known and honored than Tolstoy's earlier great novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, it still is infused with the Tolstoy magic. Many of its scenes seem not like fiction but like windows opening into the real world. And the scenes of young love are as beautiful, poignant, and honest as anything Tolstoy ever wrote. Resurrection was an immense success when first published in 1899. A rich visual record of the vices of petty officialdom, Tolstoy's poignant study of spiritual regeneration provides a panoramic view of Russian social life at the end of the nineteenth century, while articulating his contempt for the social injustices of the world in which he lived. Book jacket.