Resurrection

Prince Dmitri Ivanich Nekhlyudov begins his day in luxury. Reclining in a fine linen nightshirt, he smokes and sorts through a stack of correspondence beside a silver coffee service. One letter is from Princess Mary Korchagina, a wealthy young woman who hopes to marry him. She reminds him of his jury duty and teases him for failing to visit—clearly expecting a proposal. The suggestion irritates him. He is currently having an affair with a married woman, Mary Vasilyevna, and has no intention of marrying anyone.

As he sorts through the rest of his mail, Nekhlyudov finds a letter from Mary Vasilyevna’s husband. Though he briefly feels a jolt of panic, the letter turns out to be a mundane request to attend a meeting about land management. Another letter, from his steward, informs him about financial matters and suggests a more profitable but ethically troubling change to the management of his estate. The steward’s recommendation forces Nekhlyudov to confront an unresolved conflict within himself: in his youth, he gave away land he inherited because he believed that private land ownership was unjust. Now, older and accustomed to comfort, he quietly clings to the wealth he once renounced on principle.