Through Maslova’s suffering and Nekhludoff’s appeal process, the novel extensively and profoundly criticizes the corruption and darkness of courts, prisons, and bureaucracies, and exposes the arrogance and licentiousness of the feudal ruling class. Life reflects the bankruptcy of the countryside and the extreme poverty of the peasants, and outlines a social picture of serfdom Russia that has reached the brink of collapse.
"Resurrection" has been listed as a recommended reading for middle school students by the Ministry of Education of China many times. In October 2019, Chinese and Russian artists collaborated to adapt "Resurrection" into an opera for the first time.
Era Background
From the late 1870s to the early 1880s, Russia's capitalism developed rapidly, the countryside suffered huge damage, and the working people's lives became increasingly impoverished. At that time, the heavy burden of the Russian-Turkish war and successive years of famine brought even more serious disasters to the people. At this time Tolstoy became more and more concerned about the plight of the people. He actively participated in the disaster relief work at that time and witnessed the terrible situation of farmers and urban poor. Based on his many years of exploration and thinking, he finally saw clearly the reactionary nature of the autocratic system.
The author participated in disaster relief work from 1891 to 1892 and realized that there was a huge gap between farmers and landlords. The root cause of farmers' poverty was the private ownership of land by landlords.