The Forged Coupon

The Forged Coupon
	Greedy Children by Nikolai Nevrev (1830-1904)
Author	Leo Tolstoy
Original title	Фальшивый купон (Fal'shivyi kupon)
Translator	Charles Theodore Hagberg Wright
Language	Russian
Genre	Fiction
Publication date	1911 (posthumously)
Publication place	Russia

The Forged Coupon (Russian: Фальшивый купон, Fal'shivyi kupon) is a novella in two parts by Leo Tolstoy. Though he first conceived of the story in the late 1890s, he did not begin writing it until 1902. After struggling for several years, he finally completed the story in 1904; however, it was not published until some of Tolstoy's shorter works were collected and anthologized after his death in 1910.^[1]

Synopsis

The story is divided into two parts. In Part I, schoolboy Mitya is in desperate need of money to repay a debt, but his father angrily denies him assistance. Dejected, under the instigation of a friend Makhin, Mitya simply changes a 2.50 rouble bond coupon to read 12.50 roubles, but this one evil deed sets off a chain of events that affects the lives of dozens of others, when his one falsehood indirectly causes a man to murder a woman at the end of Part I, and then seek redemption through religion in Part II.

Having written the novella in his dying years, after his excommunication, Tolstoy relishes the chance to unveil the "pseudo-piety and hypocrisy of organized religion." Yet, he maintains an unwavering belief in man's capacity to find truth, so the story remains hopeful, especially in Part II, which shows that good works can affect another as in a domino effect, just as evil does in Part I.^[2] The novella has also been translated with the title "The Counterfeit Note" and "The Forged Banknote."^[3]

Adaptations

Robert Bresson used Part I as the basis for his last film, L'Argent (1983), transposing the action from early nineteenth century tsarist Russia to capitalistic, present-day France.^[4] Bresson merges the characters of Ivan Mirinov and Stepán into "Yvon Targe", thus providing the ensemble cast with a concise protagonist and focusing more specifically in his story. Because Part II is completely omitted, there is no redeeming the many characters and their crimes that lead up to murder in Part I. The film Frozen Land (Finnish: Paha maa) is a 2005 critically acclaimed dark Finnish film drama directed and written by Aku Louhimies that is based on Part I and set in contemporary Finland.

References

^ R. F. Christian, Tolstoy's Diaries Volume II 1895-1910 (1985) Athlone Press, p. 452. December 13, 1897, Tolstoy lists The Forged Coupon as one of thirteen "subjects which can be, and deserve to be worked up properly." p. 473, Dec. 20, 1899, Tolstoy thought about the story and thought "Perhaps I'll write it."
^ R. F. Christian, Tolstoy's Letters Volume II 1880—1910 (1978) Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 733. In the index, under "Tolstoy, Lev Nikolayevich, works:" there is the index entry "False Coupon, The, 515, 639—640"
^ Kent Jones, L'Argent London (1999) BFI Publishing, p. 24
^ Moravia, A. (1998). L'Argent. In J. Quandt (Ed.), Robert Bresson. Toronto: Cinematheque Ontario Monographs, p. 408