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This is the sentence I've got problems with. It's a bit dated translation but I believe one of the suggestions I listed below is applicable here.

"What was it had happened to work this revolution in him?"

(these are definitions from Google dictionary)

1. bring into a specified emotional state. "Harold had worked himself into a minor rage" 2. produce as a result. "with a dash of blusher here and there, you can work miracles"

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  • Which one do you think works better, and why?
    – randomhead
    Commented Sep 29, 2021 at 17:07
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    Understand work here as cause [to come about. The subject ("him") has experienced some kind of metaphoric "revolution" (i.e. - a massive change, perhaps alluding to a 180° "half-turn" so he's metaphorically "facing" in the opposite direction to before). The sentence asks what might have happened to cause that change.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 29, 2021 at 17:16
  • Not the question, but the phrasing "what was it had happened" could be replaced by "what had happened".
    – Jack O'Flaherty
    Commented Sep 29, 2021 at 17:18
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    Crime and Punishment again. Work used this way was quite common in the 19th Century - e.g. I knew a wicked man but God worked a great change in him. This is the 1913 translation I think?
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Sep 29, 2021 at 18:45

1 Answer 1

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The second definition ("produce as a result") fits the meaning here.

The word "cause" would also work here, and have the same meaning:

What was it had happened to cause this revolution in him?

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