The Forged Coupon

"The Forged Coupon" ("Фальшивый купон" in Russian) is a novella in two parts by Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy had first thought of the story in the late 1890s, [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."] but he did more significant work on it in 1902, [Christian (1985), p. 503. Oct. 6, 1902, Tolstoy writes that the previous day he "began to revise and continue "The Forged Coupon" but that day he devoted more attention to writing "To the Clergy".] 1903, [Christian (1985) p. 514. Dec. 25, 1903, Tolstoy says he's "begun to write "The Forged Coupon". I'm writing very carelessly, but it interests me in so far as a new form, very "sobre", is taking shape."] [Ralph E. Matlaw, "Tolstoy: A Collection of Critical Essays" (1967) Prentice-Hall, Inc., p. 174] and 1904, [Christian (1985) p. 515. Jan. 3, Tolstoy said he was "making a little progress" but by Jan. 6 he was "getting on with" it. p. 517, Jan. 28, he "revised a bit of" it.] and it was published posthumously. The story starts with a boy modifying a coupon to falsely increase its value; this starts a chain of events that leads a man to murder a woman at the end of Part I and to obtain redemption through religion in Part II. Also known in English as "The False Coupon" [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"] or "The Counterfeit Note" or "The Forged Banknote". [Kent Jones, "L'Argent" London (1999) BFI Publishing, p. 24] It has been translated to English by Sir Charles Theodore Hagbert Wright. [Christian (1978), p. 640]

"The Forged Coupon" is very short compared to Tolstoy's more famous works, the "compression and tautness of the narrative are unparalleled in Tolstoy's literary output, with the possible exception of "Hadji-Murat"." [David McDuff, "Translator's Introduction" for Leo Tolstoy, "The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories" (1985) Penguin Books, p. 23]

Robert Bresson used Part I as the basis for his film "L'Argent", transposing the action from Russia of yesterday to France of his day.

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