CRITICISM OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND LEGAL DISCOURSE IN THE NOVEL “RESURRECTION” BY L.N. TOLSTOY

Abstract

The article aims to demonstrate how Leo Tolstoy’s rejection of legal science and the institution of the court affected his descriptions of judicial procedure and legal language in the novel “Resurrection”. The article presents biographical information that influenced Tolstoy’s attitude toward the court: the writer’s fateful trial of the former officer Shabunin, his participation in court sessions at the Tula District Court and his open letters (“Letter to a Student on Law”). As a consequence, Tolstoy became an implacable opponent of the judicial system. The novel “Resurrection” can be interpreted as an indictment of modern legal proceedings. Legal proceedings, according to the writer, are merely a reproduction of form, divorced from content. To express this idea Tolstoy’s key technique is to depict symbolic rituals and forms of legal language through “ostranenie”. The study concludes that Tolstoy was searching for a simple, self-evident language, which he saw in the famous line from the Gospel (“Resist not evil”) opposed to intricate legal language.