The Forged Coupon, and Other Stories
1912
In this, Tolstoy's final major work of fiction, a single forged ruble note sets off an avalanche of destruction. What begins as a desperate son's small act of counterfeiting spirals outward through Russian society, touching merchants, soldiers, peasants, and aristocrats, each passing their corruption to the next victim. The chain of evil grows longer and more brutal with each link, until it seems nothing can stop its momentum. Yet Tolstoy, that relentless examiner of conscience, offers a radical solution: only by refusing to pass the harm forward, by absorbing the wound without retaliation, can the chain be broken. These stories crackle with moral tension, each character standing at a crossroads where a single choice will reverberate through lives they'll never see. Written by an old man who had renounced violence, who had questioned empires and priests and his own past, this collection distills everything Tolstoy believed about human responsibility into tales that feel less like fiction than necessary parables. It demands to be read not as entertainment but as reckoning.
Editions
X-Ray
“Proshka was a man of self-esteem. He considered himself a cut above the rest, and had a degree of personal pride. His spell in prison was a humiliating experience for him. No longer could he strut with pride before his fellows, and his spirits sank at once.Proshka went home from prison embittered not so much against Pyotr Nikolayevich as against the whole world.Everyone said the same thing: after he came out of prison, Proshka went to pieces. He grew too lazy to work, took to drink, and was soon caught stealing clothes from the trademan's wife. Once again he ended up in prison.””
— Leo Tolstoy
“Chuyev was brought before the court for false witness and blasphemy, and was sentenced to deportation. Father Misail, on the other hand, received an award and was made an archimandrite.””
— Leo Tolstoy
“and had only just recovered from the corrupting influence, the ignorance and narrow-mindedness in which she had been brought up”
— Leo Tolstoy
“felt as much as you do when you reach the top of the stairs in the dark and lift your foot onto a step that isn't there.””
— Leo Tolstoy
