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Available
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Publication
Penguin Classics (2016), Edition: UK ed., 128 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML: Hailed as one of the world's masterpieces of psychological realism, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high-court judge who has never given the inevitability of his death so much as a passing thought. But one day death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise he is brought face-to-face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth? The first part of the story portrays Ivan Ilyich's colleagues and family after he has died as they discuss the effect of his death on their careers and fortunes. In the second part, Tolstoy reveals the life of the man whose death seems so trivial. The perfect bureaucrat, Ilyich treasured his orderly domestic and office routine. Diagnosed with an incurable illness, he at first denies the truth but is influenced by the simple acceptance of his servant boy, and he comes to embrace the boy's belief that death is natural and not shameful. He comforts himself with happy memories of childhood and gradually realizes that he has ignored all his inner yearnings as he tried to do what was expected of him. Will Ilyich be able to come to terms with himself before his life ebbs away? This short novel was the artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's own life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction. A thoroughly absorbing glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation..… (more)
Media reviews
The light ridicule with which it commences and the black horror in which it terminates... are alike suggestive of the Thackeray of Russia.
User reviews
LibraryThing member AndrewBlackman
A man dies slowly and in great agony. He ponders the meaning of life, and this increases his anguish: even worse than the physical pain of a slow, lingering death is the spiritual anguish of realising he has wasted his life.
Tolstoy's main target here is dishonesty and hypocrisy. This is established
Then Tolstoy takes us on a quick tour back through Ivan Ilyich's life, showing us that he also participated fully in this dishonesty, concerning himself with appearances and advancement. In every decision, even marriage, he is heavily influenced by what other people will think. With each promotion in his career as a judge, he attains more power and money, but it's never enough. At each stage he simply spends more money imitating people higher in the social scale than he is, and wanting to attain that next level. It's not coincidental that he sustains his fatal injury while climbing a ladder to show a workman exactly how he wants a new curtain to be hung. The novel is saturated with vanity, pettiness and materialism, and they cause Ivan Ilyich's spiritual and physical death.
Long before Kubler-Ross, Tolstoy hit on the stages of grief in the character Ivan Ilyich. He goes through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, although not always in that order. He often swings violently between the different emotions, depending on his own state of mind and on outside events like a doctor getting his hopes up.
The only examples of honesty in the book are in children (both Ivan Ilyich's own childhood and his young son Vassya) and in the character of Gerassim, the butler's assistant. Vassya and Gerassim don't lie to him or see him as an inconvenience - they display simple human affection and love for him.
Indeed, love seems to be what Tolstoy is saying life is all about - not romantic love necessarily, but a broader kind of love for your fellow human beings and for God. This is what was missing from Ivan Ilyich's life as he immersed himself in petty advancement and the acquisition of meaningless accoutrements. This deathbed revelation at first causes him great agony as he rages against all the lost time, but in the end it's what allows him to find peace.
Tolstoy's main target here is dishonesty and hypocrisy. This is established
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from the opening scene, when Ivan Ilyich's death is announced, and the reaction of his colleagues is to think about how this will affect their promotion chances, while speaking the usual lines about it being a "sad business" and so on. Even his widow, Praskovya Fiodorovna, is more concerned about herself than her dead husband: after telling a mourner about his three days and nights of incessant screaming, she says "Oh, what I have gone through!" Then she tries to find out how she can increase the government pension money due to her from her husband's death.Then Tolstoy takes us on a quick tour back through Ivan Ilyich's life, showing us that he also participated fully in this dishonesty, concerning himself with appearances and advancement. In every decision, even marriage, he is heavily influenced by what other people will think. With each promotion in his career as a judge, he attains more power and money, but it's never enough. At each stage he simply spends more money imitating people higher in the social scale than he is, and wanting to attain that next level. It's not coincidental that he sustains his fatal injury while climbing a ladder to show a workman exactly how he wants a new curtain to be hung. The novel is saturated with vanity, pettiness and materialism, and they cause Ivan Ilyich's spiritual and physical death.
Long before Kubler-Ross, Tolstoy hit on the stages of grief in the character Ivan Ilyich. He goes through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, although not always in that order. He often swings violently between the different emotions, depending on his own state of mind and on outside events like a doctor getting his hopes up.
The only examples of honesty in the book are in children (both Ivan Ilyich's own childhood and his young son Vassya) and in the character of Gerassim, the butler's assistant. Vassya and Gerassim don't lie to him or see him as an inconvenience - they display simple human affection and love for him.
Indeed, love seems to be what Tolstoy is saying life is all about - not romantic love necessarily, but a broader kind of love for your fellow human beings and for God. This is what was missing from Ivan Ilyich's life as he immersed himself in petty advancement and the acquisition of meaningless accoutrements. This deathbed revelation at first causes him great agony as he rages against all the lost time, but in the end it's what allows him to find peace.
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LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
“Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.”
The book opens at the end of the story when a group of judges are informed that Ivan Ilyich has died. These men rather than mourn his passing instead begin to think of the promotions and transfers that the
The story then shifts more than thirty years into the past and picks up with a description of Ivan's life. As a teenager he attends a Law School where he takes on the habits and mannerisms of his contemporaries who are generally of those with high social standing. Ivan becomes a magistrate and marries Praskovya. Everything seems to be going smoothly until Praskovya becomes pregnant. Suddenly Praskovya's behaviour changes and they begin to argue a lot but rather than face it Ivan buries himself in his work and distances himself from his family.
Time passes and Ivan moves up in the ranks and is eventually awarded a higher paying position in St Petersburg where he moves his family to. Whilst decorating the home he bangs his side against the window frame. The injury does not seem serious, but sometime late Ivan begins to experience some discomfort in his left side and an unusual taste in his mouth. The discomfort gradually increases and Ivan decides to see several doctors . However, the doctors all disagree on the nature of the illness and Ivan's physical condition degenerates rapidly.
One night while lying alone in the dark, he is visited by his first thoughts of mortality, and they terrify him. He realizes that his illness is not a question of health or disease, but of life or death. Ivan knows that he is dying, but he is unable to grasp the full implications of his mortality. As his health fails Ivan starts examine his life and begins to question whether or nor it was a good one.
This only a short novella and in many respects quite black in its outlook but is a very harsh look at how people choose to live their lives and whether or not our ambitions and ideals were real or merely artificial. Whether our official and personal lives can and should truly be kept separate.
The book opens at the end of the story when a group of judges are informed that Ivan Ilyich has died. These men rather than mourn his passing instead begin to think of the promotions and transfers that the
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death will mean. That evening, one of the number travels to Ivan's house to attend his funeral. But whilst there becomes bothered by an expression of disapproval and warning on Ivan's face. The story then shifts more than thirty years into the past and picks up with a description of Ivan's life. As a teenager he attends a Law School where he takes on the habits and mannerisms of his contemporaries who are generally of those with high social standing. Ivan becomes a magistrate and marries Praskovya. Everything seems to be going smoothly until Praskovya becomes pregnant. Suddenly Praskovya's behaviour changes and they begin to argue a lot but rather than face it Ivan buries himself in his work and distances himself from his family.
Time passes and Ivan moves up in the ranks and is eventually awarded a higher paying position in St Petersburg where he moves his family to. Whilst decorating the home he bangs his side against the window frame. The injury does not seem serious, but sometime late Ivan begins to experience some discomfort in his left side and an unusual taste in his mouth. The discomfort gradually increases and Ivan decides to see several doctors . However, the doctors all disagree on the nature of the illness and Ivan's physical condition degenerates rapidly.
One night while lying alone in the dark, he is visited by his first thoughts of mortality, and they terrify him. He realizes that his illness is not a question of health or disease, but of life or death. Ivan knows that he is dying, but he is unable to grasp the full implications of his mortality. As his health fails Ivan starts examine his life and begins to question whether or nor it was a good one.
This only a short novella and in many respects quite black in its outlook but is a very harsh look at how people choose to live their lives and whether or not our ambitions and ideals were real or merely artificial. Whether our official and personal lives can and should truly be kept separate.
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LibraryThing member TheBookJunky
It is the epitome of a true classic. It is timeless. It is as immediately relevant now as it was when it was published 130 years ago.
Here is the unexamined Life, with its strivings, hypocrisies, bargains, illusions upon illusions, and its screens stopping thoughts of Death.
Then Life is introduced
This is why I read.
Here is the unexamined Life, with its strivings, hypocrisies, bargains, illusions upon illusions, and its screens stopping thoughts of Death.
Then Life is introduced
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to Death. The screens are relentlessly stripped away, revealing…nothing? “There is no explanation! Agony, death… .What for?”This is why I read.
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LibraryThing member Clara53
In this short novella Tolstoy ingeniously unmasks the raw emotions and the puzzled lamentations of one Ivan Ilyich, a typical personage of his time, as he lies dying while suffering physical and mental agony (the latter being as excruciating as the former), trying to grasp the seeming "unfairness"
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of his position and finally arriving at some startling realizations about his life. The surrounding characters come under harsh light as they hover around the dying man and reveal their most unattractive human traits, and Ivan Ilyich is finally able to see through the veil of human hypocrisy. Not an upbeat story in the least. But one with a pretty clever insight into human nature. It also does point to the unrelenting frailty of life. Show Less
LibraryThing member SirRoger
Ivan Ilyich Golovin is a lawyer and is used to exercising his authority in all technical, proprietary matters of the law when hearing witnesses or defendants in court. His marriage is no longer a happy one, and he avoids familial situations whenever they interfere with his interests. One day, while
This book (novella) (story) is not much more than a hundred pages, and is a compelling meditation on death. As we would expect from Tolstoy, however, it is also a criticism of the falseness of society at the time, who refuse to recognize death, but keep on leading their empty lives. In this way it serves as a gentle cautionary tale, provoking the reader to reflect on the state of his own life, to ask himself by what principles he lives, and would he be ready if called to meet Death himself.
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remodeling his new St. Petersburg apartment before the arrival of his family, he falls from a ladder and sustains a bruise on his side from a window handle. The pain, instead of going away, steadily worsens, and Ivan Ilyich's health deteriorates. The doctors can bring no useful insight, and all around him either insist he'll soon be better or think to themselves that at least it isn't them. Ivan Ilyich, left alone in his repulsive sickness, comes to a realization of the falseness of his life and the lives of everyone he knows. He tries to come to terms with Death and to be prepared when it comes. This book (novella) (story) is not much more than a hundred pages, and is a compelling meditation on death. As we would expect from Tolstoy, however, it is also a criticism of the falseness of society at the time, who refuse to recognize death, but keep on leading their empty lives. In this way it serves as a gentle cautionary tale, provoking the reader to reflect on the state of his own life, to ask himself by what principles he lives, and would he be ready if called to meet Death himself.
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LibraryThing member MissWoodhouse1816
This classic novella was chosen by my university as their pick for The Big Read- a national reading event in North America sponsored by grants from the Nation Endowment for the Arts. Additionally, it was my first real essay into Russian literature.
The novella begins, aptly, with the death of Ivan
After briefly covering his death, the story turns to Ivan's life, which it terms as most simple...and most horrifying. We learn that Ivan skimmed through most of his life in a fairly ordinary way: grow up, go to school, have father set up a career, sow some wild oats, find a girl, marry, raise a family, get promoted, buy a house, decorate the house. It is decorating the house in fact that starts the grim chain of events. In trying to show the drapier how to hang curtains, Ivan slips off the ladder and bumps his side against a knob. Seemingly no real harm is done, just a small bruise.
Yet that bruise leads him to his death. First he can't taste and enjoy food, then he can't focus on playing cards. Doctor after doctor try various treatments, but all for naught. He steadily declines, becoming more and more angry, frightened, and unreasonable. As the end draws near, he begins screaming- three days and nights he screams.
Finally, he has two hours left to live. He stops screaming, stops fighting, and faces his death. it is in this moment that he finally finds peace- perhaps for the first time in his life. He thinks back and sees that his life was not all that it could or should have been, but he knows he can rectify that. Looking at those around him, he sees the pain that his illness is causing them. As he sees this, he realizes that his pain is hard to feel, that it is no longer dominating his mind and soul. He can no longer see death, and instead Ivan sees the joy and light ahead of him- and so he dies.
I really enjoyed the story. Tolstoy masterfully begins by putting you in no doubt of the end so the focus is completely on the journey to death. It is undeniably depressing, but the end has a beauty and serenity to it that justifies the whole novella.
The novella begins, aptly, with the death of Ivan
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Ilyich, a 45 year old judge in St. Petersburg. His coworkers receive the news, and though they seem to be saddened by the event they also are very concerned over who will get promoted to where in order to fill Ivan's vacancy. One close friend of Ivan's, Peter, drags himself reluctantly to the funeral, only to be grilled by the not-so-grieving widow over Ivan's pension. He finally escapes, and wanders off to play bridge and rid his mind of the death.After briefly covering his death, the story turns to Ivan's life, which it terms as most simple...and most horrifying. We learn that Ivan skimmed through most of his life in a fairly ordinary way: grow up, go to school, have father set up a career, sow some wild oats, find a girl, marry, raise a family, get promoted, buy a house, decorate the house. It is decorating the house in fact that starts the grim chain of events. In trying to show the drapier how to hang curtains, Ivan slips off the ladder and bumps his side against a knob. Seemingly no real harm is done, just a small bruise.
Yet that bruise leads him to his death. First he can't taste and enjoy food, then he can't focus on playing cards. Doctor after doctor try various treatments, but all for naught. He steadily declines, becoming more and more angry, frightened, and unreasonable. As the end draws near, he begins screaming- three days and nights he screams.
Finally, he has two hours left to live. He stops screaming, stops fighting, and faces his death. it is in this moment that he finally finds peace- perhaps for the first time in his life. He thinks back and sees that his life was not all that it could or should have been, but he knows he can rectify that. Looking at those around him, he sees the pain that his illness is causing them. As he sees this, he realizes that his pain is hard to feel, that it is no longer dominating his mind and soul. He can no longer see death, and instead Ivan sees the joy and light ahead of him- and so he dies.
I really enjoyed the story. Tolstoy masterfully begins by putting you in no doubt of the end so the focus is completely on the journey to death. It is undeniably depressing, but the end has a beauty and serenity to it that justifies the whole novella.
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LibraryThing member ReneePaule
Nice. Very nice short story. A lot of self-reflection, which is right up my street, as it were.
LibraryThing member marsap
The story begins with three friends and colleagues of a man named Ivan Ilych learning of his death. No one seems deeply affected by this, but one of them, Peter Ivanovich, goes to the wake at Ivan's house that night out of a sense of obligation. From there Tolstoy allows us to view Ilych’s life
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and his subsequent death, a wasted and meaningless life. In addition we become witness to the hypocrisy and the pointlessness of the lives of those around him—except for his young butler—who has an understanding of life and death that Ilych does not. What is particular tragic about this novella is the loneliness and isolation and the feeling that the life that Ilych has lived was meaningless—worse than death. This book allows us to explore how we live our lives, what is important in that life—and what is a “good life.” 3 out of 5 stars. Show Less
LibraryThing member FPdC
This book is the portuguese translation of the russian original Смерть Ивана Ильпча. This is a terrible book. Admittedly a masterpiece, but a terrible work nevertheless: the portrait of a high level judge's life from the moment he discovers he has an incurable illness until his
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innescapable death. One probably needs a genius of Tolstoy's stature to be able to produce such a portrait, at once engaging and depressing, of human suffering and decay. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheCrow2
The book is nothing more about than the life and death of an ordinary everyday man but Tolstoy was able to write this almost like a poem, beautifully and emotionally.
LibraryThing member datrappert
Blow by blow account of the thoughts of Ivan Ilych as he lays dying, wallowing in his own misery and self-pity and ruminating over the meaningless of his life. As usual, I can't really get inside the Russian mindset, and the only really effective parts of the book for me are some of Tolstoy's
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observations about home decorating (seriously). I'm sure I will think about this from time to time, however; and when I find my self on MY death bed, I won't be reading Tolstoy. Show Less
LibraryThing member pocketmermaid
I read this for my World Lit II class. Actually, I read it twice. I read two different translations, because I wasn't satisfied with the one that was in my text book. I found another, and I liked it a lot better. Translation does make a difference.
Poor Ivan Ilyich. I wasn't too crazy about this,
Poor Ivan Ilyich. I wasn't too crazy about this,
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but I understand its importance in literature. So many writers that came later have been influenced by this little novel! It's amazing how Tolstoy was able to capture all these emotions of human suffering and dying. I gave it three stars because it wasn't really all that life-changing or inspirational to me personally, but I'm glad to have read it. Twice, even! Show Less
LibraryThing member JohnCouke
Powerful, powerful book about the range of emotions the main character goes through as he learns that his time on earth is dwindling quickly.
LibraryThing member fuzzy_patters
A Russian judge finds the meaning of life through death and struggles with the reality of his own mortality. I was quite taken aback by the relevance of this work even today. I found myself on numerous occasions pondering whether I have lived my own life the right way and what I can do to live
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better in the future. Show Less
LibraryThing member CharlesSwann
The hand of genous Tolstoy transformed a story of a death of one ordinary man into a story we cannot easily forget. Having read this book, the film director Akira Kurosawa was inspired to make a film about a death of one ordinary man, which was called 'Ikiru'.
LibraryThing member nielch
this book was supposed to be a bout a man's review of his life and his relationship with God. At the end of the book I was still wondering what he'd really learned from all of this. There was no grand revelation for me. I do think he realized what his family should have meant to him, but other than
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that there was nothing. I was very disappointed and wonder what I was supposed to get from the book. Show Less
LibraryThing member cestovatela
Leo Tolstoy examines death up close. The story went exactly where I expected it to: old man regrets follies of life on deathbed and turns religious. I felt like this was more a fable or morality tale than a real showcase of human emotions.
LibraryThing member AnnaLiss
This is a classic book discussing the difference between life and death and a substantial way of living versus a frivolous way of living. In the frivolous way of living, life is materialistic and self-centered. In the substantial way of living, life includes real emotion such as remorse and
The climax of the story is when Ivan Ilyich asks God or empty space why he has been suffering. He actually stops and listens for an answer and gets one. It is simply, "becuase". And that is enough of an answer for Ivan Ilyich. Tolstoy is answering the question that most people ask about suffering with the simple answer of "because". He does not make excuses, does not try to reason it out. He simply states that there is suffering because. I think this is very profound.
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sympathy. The climax of the story is when Ivan Ilyich asks God or empty space why he has been suffering. He actually stops and listens for an answer and gets one. It is simply, "becuase". And that is enough of an answer for Ivan Ilyich. Tolstoy is answering the question that most people ask about suffering with the simple answer of "because". He does not make excuses, does not try to reason it out. He simply states that there is suffering because. I think this is very profound.
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LibraryThing member MartinBodek
I spotted this on a friend's shelf, borrowed it, and read it in an afternoon. I found it to be an interesting - and arrestingly short - contemplation of the end of life and life's worth/value. The introduction was extremely helpful in understanding the context of Tolstoy's complete antithesis
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regard for life in comparison with his character. I'm not exactly sure why this stands out for historians as a unique book of its kind, as the introduction reveals and reminds that other such literature exists, perhaps better. A good first experience with the author nonetheless. Show Less
LibraryThing member lukespapa
The minute we are born we are compelled to live. Ironically it is also the minute we begin the dying process. While some spend their lives obsessed with (the fear of) dying, others, like Tolstoy’s Ivan Ilyich have never given it a second thought. Death is an inconvenience that happens to others.
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But when Ivan falls ill at 45 and understands his time on earth is short he tries to reconcile his life’s choices and realize the absurdity and futility of it all. With his mortality looming, despondent and in agony, Ivan has an epiphany; as death finally announces itself to him, it then ceased to exist. Now that’s a simple but powerful concept worth contemplating. A masterpiece novella, this one is worth everybody’s time and consideration. Show Less
LibraryThing member amelish
Oh non-Gothic, gothic horror. Oh sweaty relief. (ew)
I wish I'd been a writing sort in high school--the books I read then were arguably more interesting than the ones I read now, brief Michael Crichton preoccupation excepted.
I wish I'd been a writing sort in high school--the books I read then were arguably more interesting than the ones I read now, brief Michael Crichton preoccupation excepted.
LibraryThing member KimMR
This is the story of the life and - as the title indicates - the death of an ordinary man. Ivan Ilych is not a particularly likeable character, nor are his wife and children, nor the colleagues who also appear in the narrative. And yet, the story of Ivan's death is powerful and moving, simply but
I've spent the past few months acutely aware of mortality. A close friend died suddenly a few months ago. Two other women I know well have inoperable cancer. My mother is frail and elderly and every time I see her I know I may never see her alive again. That sense of being surrounded by death in life is something that all of us face as we age.
Talking about dying and death is not something we do much of in our society, even though it is something which occurs every moment of every day. Reading this book, as short as it is, brings the reader face to face with that perience. No matter how ordinary a person, no matter how ordinary their life, each death is unique - an extraordinary experience for the person concerned.
This is not easy reading, but it is something to read and remember.
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exquisitely told. Ivan's anger, his fear, his resentment are all unflinchingly described. I've spent the past few months acutely aware of mortality. A close friend died suddenly a few months ago. Two other women I know well have inoperable cancer. My mother is frail and elderly and every time I see her I know I may never see her alive again. That sense of being surrounded by death in life is something that all of us face as we age.
Talking about dying and death is not something we do much of in our society, even though it is something which occurs every moment of every day. Reading this book, as short as it is, brings the reader face to face with that perience. No matter how ordinary a person, no matter how ordinary their life, each death is unique - an extraordinary experience for the person concerned.
This is not easy reading, but it is something to read and remember.
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LibraryThing member patronus11
Word I wasn't expecting to read in this bleak masterpiece: pasties. (Hugh Alpin translator, UK's Hesperus Press)
LibraryThing member bunwat
This is why Tolstoy is one of the greats. Because his work reads on multiple levels, and because his characters are never caricatures just there to hold a spear or prop up some scenery.
On one level this is the story of the life and death of a not particularly likeable functionary. On another its an
So much going on in such a small space.
On one level this is the story of the life and death of a not particularly likeable functionary. On another its an
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indictment of a particular society in a particular time, in which isolation from and indifference to others are the price of privilege and comfort and how a man loses himself in that devil's bargain. On another its a story of how we all tend to lose sight of the important things in life in the process of living it. On another it is the story of how even a not particularly likeable functionary is still a human being, with the fears and feelings and loves and losses that we all share as part of our common humanity. So much going on in such a small space.
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LibraryThing member palaverofbirds
I wish I'd gotten one of the many collections of Tolstoy's novellas rather than just The Death... I would recommend you do so yourself if you're interested in this great Russian writer.
Awards
Language
Original language
Russian
Original publication date
1886
Physical description
128 p.; 6.32 inches
ISBN
0241251761 / 9780241251768