Winter Reading Circle 2011 - Two Tolstoy Novellas
Updated March 23, 2011
Winter Reading Circle 2011
Two Tolstoy Novellas: The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and The Forged Coupon
New translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
$16.95 in paperback at your local bookstore.
Beginning Monday, Feb 28
Dear Readers,
Our Parish Reading Circle is scheduled to meet on Monday evening, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the parish library. In preparation for our discussion of Leo Tolstoy’s “The Forged Coupon,” I have attached a handout that summarizes all of the twists and turns of this cleverly-conceived and executed tale of sin and redemption. This will help us keep the sequence of events and the multitude of names in order – hopefully! This story chronicles the descent into deeper and more evil manifestations of sin, as they “spin” off a seemingly innocuous offense that occurs at the beginning. This descent is balanced with an ascent from the abyss of sin into a Gospel-based mode of life that occurs through the stirrings of conscience and repentance. We can discuss which part of this moral tale is more convincing.
In other words, perfect Lenten reading that will hopefully lead to deeper reflection and a lively discussion!
Please let me know if you intend on participating, but were not present at our first discussion a few weeks back.
Fr. Steven
P.S. Dear Readers,
I don’t want to take up more of your time - or printer ink – but I am attaching an edited version of the summary of “The Forged Coupon” that is more consistent with the spelling of the various names according to the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation that most of us are using. In the summary sent out yesterday, I did not spell the names consistently, and that could cause some confusion.
Fr. Steven
I don’t want to take up more of your time - or printer ink – but I am attaching an edited version of the summary of “The Forged Coupon” that is more consistent with the spelling of the various names according to the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation that most of us are using. In the summary sent out yesterday, I did not spell the names consistently, and that could cause some confusion.
Fr. Steven
Handout for The Forged Coupon (pdf)