Resurrection (Wordsworth Classics)

This Wordsworth classics edition is the Maud translation which reads well, but which I don't recommend because it was created from the original published CENSORED manuscript. The Russian censors eliminated or changed over 470 passages in Resurrection, particularly those which were sexually suggestive, critical of the Russian Orthodox Church or critical of the Russian prison system.I had the Maud translation, and purchased both the more recent Briggs and Edmonds translations in order to compare select passages. Reading Maud, I became confused at the end of chapter 17 about what happened in a very critical scene between Nikh- and Maslova. Switching to the Edmonds and then the Briggs translation, it all became clear........Maud (probably because of her access only to the censored published edition) had nuked a key passage in the seduction scene. When I compared a number of other passages in Maud that didn't make sense to me, I discovered that the different or more complete passages in Edmonds and Briggs DID make sense, and sometimes a difference in meaning.I am only 1/4 of the way through the book at the moment, so will not comment on it except to say that it IS excellent Tolstoy. But I think it's important to point out this translation issue, and guide readers to either the Edmonds and Briggs translations, both available on Amazon and quite inexpensively from Marketplace sellers. Be wary however because Amazon mixes up the reviews, and you can't tell from most of the reviews which book is which translation. Search by the book title, author AND translator. Note also that there are editions with Maud as translator but an with an introduction by Briggs and editions with Briggs the translator.

Although written long time ago,this story could be contemporary

Not as well known as War & Peace or Anna K, but a true gem. You can never go wrong with Tolstoy. He causes you to reflect on moral issues. The character development is so vivid, I feel that the main characters are real people...and I know them!

If you want to read Tolstoy and you are put off by the length of War and Peace or Anna Karenina, consider Resurrection. All of the things that make Tolstoy a great storyteller are present in this shorter, but no less intense novel.

Best book I've ever read - only recommend it for Tolstoy fans though

Very

One of Tolstoy's best works ever, if not the best!

The reviewer that wrote buy another translation is right; there's no reason to read a copy based on a censored version. Also, I probably came across 20-25 typos.As for the novel itself, it is a masterpiece, but as time went on, Tolstoy tended to become more austere and serious in my opinion. So it's not as fun as War and Peace. The book is however even more profound.I highly recommend this book. It is a great spiritual achievement.

The book arrived in pretty good condition, so no complaints there. The price is extremely fair also.This was the first book by Tolstoy I’ve read, and although I’d guess there are probably better places to start, I didn’t have a hard time getting into this one at all.As I would expect is the case with most of Tolstoy’s work, there are a lot of characters and Russian names in this book, which are hard to get used to at first. But persevere past the setup and you’ll quickly get into the meat and potatoes of the story: the moral dilemma that the main character faces.Without spoiling anything, a Russian prince becomes aware that he is partly to blame for the downfall of a woman he used to be in love with. As a consequence, he discovers the immense injustices of the legal system in 19th century Russia. The prince must then decide whether to change his life and help the lower classes (the victims of the legal system) or to continue living the life of ease he is accustomed to, while attempting to ignore the massive inequality his country is so clearly plagued with.Tolstoy writes in a very matter-of-fact way. His characters are rarely melodramatic and quite down to Earth. I found the people in this book very sympathetic and I really cared what happened to them. He writes about misfortune and injustice in a very passionate, beautiful way which managed to make me interested in the issues of a foreign country from over a century ago, which I did not expect.The only problem I’d say the book has is that it often repeats itself. You can only adequately express the flaws of a legal system so many times before you start repeating yourself, and I think Tolstoy ended up saying much the same thing quite a lot, just with different examples.That being said, each time he made the same point, he made it very eloquently and I never once found the book tedious or hard going. I recommend it to anyone who’s any bit interested in the time period or the themes mentioned (or Tolstoy, obviously).

Ressurection's essentially a true story . Cant do better than abbridge from Anthony Brigg's excellent Introduction .Imagine a Courtroom where a young prostitute is on trial for Murder . Suddenly U are stunned by an instant of shocking recognition . U know that woman : isin't she that girl , the chamber-maid who's virginity U took with some force some years ago ? Her pregnancy followed , then her dismissal from service . Could it be that your forgotten moment of self-gratification set her on a downward path to where she is now ? Can U do anything to make amends for the wrong U did ?Resurrection's no where near as good as Dostoyevsky's Crime And Punishment . But then nothing ever is . Crime And Punishment is better told , more shocking , more thrilling + much more grown up !Still ... When it comes to Tolstoy's moral polemics please remember never to throw the baby out with the bath water !

The bulk of 'Resurrection' is outstanding, if still not up to T's magnum opus's. Though what I do like is that in this piece of fiction T states, without equivocation his creed, in all his righteous indignation and incredulity, mankind's inhumanity to man as exhibited in the dying days of Tsarist Capitalism, at the iniquities of private property ownership, and the impossibility of an Equitable Criminal Justice System in a world of gross inequality of wealth distribution. It should be required reading in all schools. But even on purely dramatic terms Parts I and II are a gripping read, excepting that having introduced us to a veritable host of interesting characters we never or hardly see any of them again. So that it all rather fizzles out in Part 3 in a rather damp appeal that we must all be better Christians which immediately counts me out, Count! But still worth a read despite the unsatisfactory ending. Prof Briggs, who contributes an introduction, (more on him anon!) suggest a plausible reason for the extreme 'inequality' of the dramatic content, Part III is a sprinter's nose dive for the line almost indecent in it's haste for Le Fin, namely the fact that the 'motivation' for writing was very likely pecuniary embarrassment due to specific private life committments, he needed dosh, and lots of it, quick. Published in 1899 it was certainly a long time coming after A.K. (1876!). Finally I can't resist a comment or two on the introduction. The afor mentioned Prof Anthony D.P. Briggs has the gall to rubbish the Great Man's extreme pessimism at the Human Condition and the future of humanity etc etc I can only say that perhaps the Prof wouldn't be quite so 'bullish' if he were cowering under the tonnes of western origin ordinance that Middle Eastern, Levantine, and Northern and West African Islamic Rural Peasantry have had to endure over the years prior to and since publication of this edition, 2014. I also remind him that at time of publication he held a chair at an institution, Bristol University, that was financed out of the profits of the slave trade, and when slavery was abolished, out of the continuing mercantile trade with the slave plantation economies! Though I am nit-picking here since the whole red-brick university system was effectively finance out of the exploitation of the quaint jolly old British Empire, but still glass-universities and stones spring to mind. So I'm with the Count on this one, Prof! Perhaps the erstwhile Prof should be a little more careful when chucking around grandiloquent exhortations as to what a beautiful First World 'we all gratefully' live in today?! And thank the gods that our 'stork' didn't drop us in Syria! Though, I have added Rousseau and Schopenhauer to my reading list based on the Prof's strong 'recommendation'.

What's your favourite Tolstoy book? Mine would have to be Anna Karenina; then War and Peace. That's still true after reading Resurrection. But this comes a close third. If you've never read any of Tolstoy's novels, you owe it to yourself to do so. His novels are long, but you always wish that they were twice that length, because they are never heavy or boring. I actually find them laugh out loud funny. He has this gift for finding that detail which makes the story come alive. One example in "Resurrection" is the place where the protagonist is visiting a prison and notices a picture of Christ on the cross in a room used for torturing people and Tolstoy points out that you always find pictures of Christ in torture chambers, probably true in Tsarist Russia. Much of the story is devoted to describing the condition of Russia's peasants who barely had enough food to live because the aristocracy had taken all the land. The book describes the protagonist's struggle to do something to ameliorate this situation; it was Tolstoy's own struggle, and one which he never was able to do anything about. In conclusion, this is a great story, written by someone who was probably the greatest writer who ever lived. Do yourself a favour and read it.

I enjoy the depth of Russian literature having read many short stories which have great depth about beinghuman together with its trials and tribulations, Resurrection is shorter than Tolstoy's most famous novelsWar and Peace and Anna Karenina, it is about a man who lives a very privileged life and then sees theworld through different eyes and does his best to do good for mankind, a book that makes you think andremains with you long after the final chapter.Bluebird