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Resurrection: Introduction by Andrew Kahn
552 pages, Hardcover
Published August 5, 2025
1 person is currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Leo Tolstoy
7,984 books28.6k followersLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 18, 2025
4 1/2 stars
What an invigorating and interesting read. I'm glad I chose to re-read this since most of this had flown over my head the many years ago when I read it.
Tolstoy hits all of his usual markers and themes found in most of his stories (Prison reform, classism, The flawed justice system, etc) and it's cool to see those resurface especially the theme of redemption and strong gospel themes towards the end.
The downside's that this story is a bit on the nose and preachier than his usual stories, so perhaps this would have worked better if he had edited it to be a little shorter? I'm not sure if I agree with that, but I did enjoy it for what it was and that gospel theme at the end is, my goodness, really poignant and powerful.
It's not his best work but I would argue that it's one of his best character studies/arcs. I'm still going to be thinking about it for some time and perhaps will still be a little confused about how the prison system and judicial system worked back then; it certainly was a trip.
Also I'm gonna say it and I apologize to my Goodreads friends who hate this term as much as I do but here it goes; Tolstoy's ideas were woke. Take that for what you will, I certainly enjoyed the timeless nature of his stories/ critiques that could still be applied to our politics today and this one was no exception.
What an invigorating and interesting read. I'm glad I chose to re-read this since most of this had flown over my head the many years ago when I read it.
Tolstoy hits all of his usual markers and themes found in most of his stories (Prison reform, classism, The flawed justice system, etc) and it's cool to see those resurface especially the theme of redemption and strong gospel themes towards the end.
The downside's that this story is a bit on the nose and preachier than his usual stories, so perhaps this would have worked better if he had edited it to be a little shorter? I'm not sure if I agree with that, but I did enjoy it for what it was and that gospel theme at the end is, my goodness, really poignant and powerful.
It's not his best work but I would argue that it's one of his best character studies/arcs. I'm still going to be thinking about it for some time and perhaps will still be a little confused about how the prison system and judicial system worked back then; it certainly was a trip.
Also I'm gonna say it and I apologize to my Goodreads friends who hate this term as much as I do but here it goes; Tolstoy's ideas were woke. Take that for what you will, I certainly enjoyed the timeless nature of his stories/ critiques that could still be applied to our politics today and this one was no exception.
Displaying 1 of 1 review