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The Death of Ivan Ilych, Large-Print Edition
by
Leo Tolstoy
By the time he dies, Ivan Ilych has come to understand the worthlessness of his life. Paradoxically, this elevates him above the common man, who avoids the reality of death and the effort it takes to make life worthwhile. In Tolstoy's own words, "Ivan Ilyich's life had been . . . most ordinary and therefore most terrible." Newly designed and typeset in a modern 5...more
Paperback, 120 pages
Published
August 3rd 2006
by Waking Lion Press
(first published 1886)
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You are transported to the world of Ivan and walk with him to his last moments at deaths door. A story of the terror of death and Ivan's fear of dying, his concern and sorrow for his families witnessing of his howling and decline. Suffering realizes joy of youth and memories of the best of days, while he is in this process of death the solitude brings him to doors of gone memories of happiness. How our daily trappings take us away from finer and truer happier moments of life, a time lost so val...more
I think this is the deepest story I've ever read. Tolstoy masterfully tells the story of the life, death, and suffering of Ivan Ilyich, and in the process forces his reader to inwardly reflect on their own life, death, and accomplishments. Tolstoy mainly draws a portrait of the empty life of Ivan Ilyich filled with relationships devoid of any real bond, and weaves this in with Ivan Ilyich's personal suffering and anguish as he reflects on the materialistic life he led. Tolstoy really challenges ...more
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Pobre Ivan Ilich. Se le fué la vida en nada y se dió cuenta un momento antes de morir.
Porque se entera de que todo ha sido una mentira, qué puede ser más terrible que eso? Es de una tristeza profunda y cansada, llena de desilusión y de tiempo perdido.
Se enferma sin darse cuenta, pensando que estaba viviendo una vida ideal.
Cada paso que damos nos acerca a un acierto, o a un error.
Le cuesta aceptar que “no ha vivido su vida como debía”, porque es como decir que...more
Porque se entera de que todo ha sido una mentira, qué puede ser más terrible que eso? Es de una tristeza profunda y cansada, llena de desilusión y de tiempo perdido.
Se enferma sin darse cuenta, pensando que estaba viviendo una vida ideal.
Cada paso que damos nos acerca a un acierto, o a un error.
Le cuesta aceptar que “no ha vivido su vida como debía”, porque es como decir que...more
I have seldom read literature where authors can get into a person's head quite the way Leo Tolstoy does. I read, "The Death of Ivan Illych" with the ever present sense of dread. Even so, I could not put it down. I am amazed at the kind of detail Tolstoy delivered - even with such a short story.
I typically like longer novels but, "The Death of Ivan Illych" took only what was necessary to tell the story.
The great, Western American writer, Wallace Stegner...more
I typically like longer novels but, "The Death of Ivan Illych" took only what was necessary to tell the story.
The great, Western American writer, Wallace Stegner...more
Después de la hazaña que supuso leer 'Guerra y paz', con tantas digresiones e irse por las ramas y batallitas del abuelo cebolleta, me ha sorprendido ver que Tolstoi es capaz también de escribir un relato al que no le falta ni sobra nada, con los elementos justos, con un principio de economía envidiable. Y al ser tan corto y conciso, es aún más duro y efectivo.
Dado el título, supongo que no spoilearé a nadie si cuento que el libro empieza con el entierro de Ivan Ilich. Vemos como ni ...more
Dado el título, supongo que no spoilearé a nadie si cuento que el libro empieza con el entierro de Ivan Ilich. Vemos como ni ...more
Each time I reread Tolstoy’s little novella, The Death of Ivan Ilych, I read it differently. As a college student I read it as a description of an experience for someone elderly, an experience distant, almost unreal, so far in the future as to be strange, almost surreal. Reading it again during my years as a practicing physician, I was impressed by Tolstoy’s perceptiveness of the stages of grieving, the writings of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross being then all the rage, and how my patients had similar ...more
With "Master/Man" and "Ivan," Tolstoy's batting an unanticipated perfect 1.000 in the newly rehabilitated Anheuser-Busch Jonathan Stadium.
(Unanticipated because I'd assumed it would always be Fyodor for me.)
Does this mean it's time to tackle Anna K.?
After that, should I also consider reading Leo Tolstoy's great novel, Anna Karenina?
...
[Coughs]
Hello?
[Clears throat.]
Is this thing on or what?
(Hey there, Schmoopy.)
(Unanticipated because I'd assumed it would always be Fyodor for me.)
Does this mean it's time to tackle Anna K.?
After that, should I also consider reading Leo Tolstoy's great novel, Anna Karenina?
...
[Coughs]
Hello?
[Clears throat.]
Is this thing on or what?
(Hey there, Schmoopy.)
Wow is my first expression upon having finished my first Tolstoy- his novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich, which the Russian master wrote after a religious conversion. Tolstoy is a master of fine details and resplendent subtlety. The work is a meditation on the human condition as Tolstoy saw it, tinged by Christian asceticism, in the case of the title character and all those around him who have succumbed to the spiritual decay of living in monochromatic conformity with the values and the superficia...more
The characters in this story didn't have that Tolstoy/Dostoevsky hook in their motivation that slapped me in the face (hook...slapping in the face... perhaps I mixed my metaphors...). It probably wasn't the point. Ivan Ilych, the character and not the book, was almost too simple for me but perhaps it was Tolstoy's intent. He again attacks the hypocrisy and shallowness of the Russian Europeanized culture. Except in this case it is the major thrust of the book as opposed to one of his many ele...more
Al cerrar el libro sentí unas ganas tremendas de ser mejor persona. De esforzarme por ser quien quiero ser, y sobre todo de juzgar con más ternura a mis padres.
At my grandfather's wake, my father walked me to his casket and blanketed my grandfather's crossed hands with his own. He looked down to me with soaked eye-sockets and a serene grin and said, "They're so cold." During the remainder of the wake, I watched my grandmother, aunts and uncles greet guests and cordially accept condolences in a neatly organized line while the children played, diverting themselves from an interminable boredom from which they wouldn't dare ask to be relieved.
...more
Tolstoy's brief novella 'Death of Ivan Ilyich' is one of the most compact and brilliant meditations on the meaning of death in literature. Tolstoy's breathtaking naturalism is truly miraculous. Ivan Ilyich is respectful administrator who is dying a painful death from a malignant tumor. Much as Kafka would later do in 'The Metamorphosis,' the dying man's suffering is nothing more than an annoyance for his friends and family. He spirals into a decline of intense suffering as he must stare into the...more
Bree
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Somebody who is too happy with their life and want's to be depressed
Seriously, I don't get the hype about Tolstoy. I read this book and hated pretty much every minute of it, even when I was trying my damnedest to like it. It was just so damn pedestrian. Some wealthy guy that realizes on his deathbed that his half-assed life pursuing money and position and being married to a woman he can barely stand was a waste. He idolizes the simple peasant who is the only person who is kind to him as he dies and realizes what a better life this poor noble man had than him...more
There are about 10 works of literature that I think about almost on a daily basis. This novella is one of them. Tolstoy pens a story about the basics of life and does so with a satirical yet understated tone. We meet a man who is bogged down in the pettiness of day-to-day cares until the spectre of death hangs over him, causing him to question the meaning of life, the meaning of his life. In this novella, time and space constrict to leave the title character stripped of all the vanities that d...more
I liked and disliked this novella at the same time... on the one hand, the majority of characters are not painted favorably at ALL (I think Ivan is a total hypochondriac once he finds out he's dying), but on the other hand--they are SO human that their thoughts and actions hit pretty close to home. There is a constant struggle between the life everyone wants to live and the reality that we are never really content with ourselves and what we have. Although this was written like 125 years ago, w...more
Another one of those times when my brain said I should be reading classics and I listened. I can't even recall the main plot of this book, but I think the point was that bureaucracy sucks (the life out of you).
I know, not very helpful, but like anyone needs a review of freakin' Tolstoy or anything. That's what those big books of literary criticism are for. Try your library.
I know, not very helpful, but like anyone needs a review of freakin' Tolstoy or anything. That's what those big books of literary criticism are for. Try your library.
A morte de Ivan Iliitch é uma obra de Lev Tolstoi, o famoso escritor russo autor de Guerra e Paz e de Anna Karénina.
Este é um livro pequeno. São cerca de100 páginas que contam a estória de Ivan Iliitch, juiz russo que depois de ter atingido uma alta posição na sua carreira acaba por ficar doente e na sequência dessa doença morrer.
A estória começa precisamente com a morte de Iliitch e o júbilo por partes de muitos dos seus colegas inferiores com a possibilidade de ascender na carreira...more
Este é um livro pequeno. São cerca de100 páginas que contam a estória de Ivan Iliitch, juiz russo que depois de ter atingido uma alta posição na sua carreira acaba por ficar doente e na sequência dessa doença morrer.
A estória começa precisamente com a morte de Iliitch e o júbilo por partes de muitos dos seus colegas inferiores com a possibilidade de ascender na carreira...more
In this novella, Tolstoy tells the story of Ivan Ilych, a man whose life has been profoundly correct and yet without meaning. As Ilych's end approaches, this realization hits him hard, and he has to grapple with the emptiness of his life as well as the certainty of his impending death. Although I understood what Tolstoy was trying to do, I felt like he really just kept hitting me over the head with the various themes. It was just a bit too simplistic--from the beginning, it was obvious what the ...more
In regards to its narrative, "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" is familiar and predictable. From the title, we understand what to expect. However, there is something more to Tolstoy's tale here. Social and moral commentary is definitely a big one, but what struck me in particular was the use of distancing, the use of engagement and disengagement to reel us in and to emphasize Ivan's existential burden. Ivan's tale begins with death, which complements the final few pages very well. And as he b...more
The first time I read it I didn't like it so much. But when re-reading It seemed to be so much better. I am not sure if it is because I didn't have strong expectations about it's depth, if I could see something that I didn't the first time or because second time I read it in Russian which made it so much better.
It does make one think. The realization and shock of Ivan Ilych when he is facing his own death is pretty interesting. We all know that we will die, yet we don't really believe it until i...more
It does make one think. The realization and shock of Ivan Ilych when he is facing his own death is pretty interesting. We all know that we will die, yet we don't really believe it until i...more
Not "perfect" but the ambition of this effort is admirable.
Some things that hinder this novella are the preachy tone that begins to slip in in the last section, the needless repetition of certain scenes, and the slight treatment of Ilych's early years.
The preachy tone doesn't batter the reader over the head but it does give only one "answer" to the Question of Life, and all but claims it to be the one and only answer. Going in, I knew some things about T...more
Some things that hinder this novella are the preachy tone that begins to slip in in the last section, the needless repetition of certain scenes, and the slight treatment of Ilych's early years.
The preachy tone doesn't batter the reader over the head but it does give only one "answer" to the Question of Life, and all but claims it to be the one and only answer. Going in, I knew some things about T...more
For a short story, this novella really packs a punch!
I first discovered this book while reading Alain de Botton's 'Status Anxiety'. Like so many today, Ivan Ilych was obsessed with status, fashion, climbing social ladders, and generally looking 'all together' to those around. Consequently, his life was full of soulless encounters and meaningless relationships. When he starts dying from an unnamed illness, he begins the harrowing process of questioning his life and his realized state of spi...more
I first discovered this book while reading Alain de Botton's 'Status Anxiety'. Like so many today, Ivan Ilych was obsessed with status, fashion, climbing social ladders, and generally looking 'all together' to those around. Consequently, his life was full of soulless encounters and meaningless relationships. When he starts dying from an unnamed illness, he begins the harrowing process of questioning his life and his realized state of spi...more
Leo Tolstoy is an interesting character in history. I've read his book The Kingdom of God Is Within You and enjoyed it, all things (his theology, for one) considered.
This book is even better. For one, it is a short, easy read. You can literally read it in one sitting. Two, there is little to nothing to disagree with and everything to agree with.
Somehow, Tolstoy takes a character, Ivan Ilych, whom (if you know anything about Tolstoy's political philosophy) you should hate--as...more
This book is even better. For one, it is a short, easy read. You can literally read it in one sitting. Two, there is little to nothing to disagree with and everything to agree with.
Somehow, Tolstoy takes a character, Ivan Ilych, whom (if you know anything about Tolstoy's political philosophy) you should hate--as...more
In the West, twentieth century habits surrounding our entering and leaving the world are determined by these exits and entrances no longer taking place in the home but in the hospital. When children were born and parents died in the actual marriage bed, where first and last cries were heard in the very same room, where the first things looked at were often the last things seen, where the corpse lay where the lover's body moved, when the entire intimacy of life from start to finish was confined ...more
Epiphany at the Reaper’s Encroach
The short story by Leo Tolstoy, "The Death of Ivan Ilych" chronicles the life and death of Ivan Ilych. The story starts with the announcement to Ivan Ilych’s co-workers that he has die but their concern is only how the death may result in promotions and they are happy it is not them who have died. Ivan’s friend Peter finds this same attitude when he goes to Ivan's home for the wake. Ivan's widow, Praskovya Fedorovna wants to know how she can ...more
The short story by Leo Tolstoy, "The Death of Ivan Ilych" chronicles the life and death of Ivan Ilych. The story starts with the announcement to Ivan Ilych’s co-workers that he has die but their concern is only how the death may result in promotions and they are happy it is not them who have died. Ivan’s friend Peter finds this same attitude when he goes to Ivan's home for the wake. Ivan's widow, Praskovya Fedorovna wants to know how she can ...more
"Pity me as I wish to be pitied."
That is the plea of the tortured protagonist in this brilliant 1886 novella that has been credited with launching the modern-day hospice movement.
Tolstoy was born in 1828 into Czarist Russia’s landed gentry. Though orphaned at a young age, he enjoyed the typical privileges wealth and title afforded—passive income, summers in the country, and enrollment at Kazan University. But it was later, after dropping out of school and joinin...more
That is the plea of the tortured protagonist in this brilliant 1886 novella that has been credited with launching the modern-day hospice movement.
Tolstoy was born in 1828 into Czarist Russia’s landed gentry. Though orphaned at a young age, he enjoyed the typical privileges wealth and title afforded—passive income, summers in the country, and enrollment at Kazan University. But it was later, after dropping out of school and joinin...more
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The story recounts the life and death of Ivan Ilyich, a high court judge in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. Following a minor accident, Ilyich begins to develop a strange taste in his mouth, and an ache in his side. He visits several doctors, but vague and varied explanations offer trivial support. Slowly, and painfully, Ilyich begins to accept the grave nature of his condition, and in the process, is plagued by self-pity and regret, coupled with a deep bitterness toward his famil...more
Death of Ivan Ilych" is one of the best short stories I have ever read and should be crowned as a ‘masterpiece’ if it has not gained that title yet. Tolstoy examines the issue of death and dying, of retrospection on one's life, of social relationships, and of the strengths and weaknesses of human beings.
The story begins with the funeral service of Ivan Ilyich. Several of his colleagues are there out of necessity more than want. They think how better it was that he should die ...more
The story begins with the funeral service of Ivan Ilyich. Several of his colleagues are there out of necessity more than want. They think how better it was that he should die ...more
VJ
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Tolstoy fans, thanatologists, human beings
Recommended to VJ by:
Akira Kurosawa
Shelves:
fiction,
kindle-edition
I am reading this story because it was Akira Kurosawa's inspiration for his film Ikiru.
Sometimes I think my fascination with death and her accoutrements is odd, and then I read a story like that of Ivan Ilych and know that I am not odd, just considering a topic that many would rather avoid.
Such was Ivan Ilych's way. He didn't consider death and the meaning of life until it was too late. He had an epiphany about the meaning of life two hours before he died, and that seeme...more
Sometimes I think my fascination with death and her accoutrements is odd, and then I read a story like that of Ivan Ilych and know that I am not odd, just considering a topic that many would rather avoid.
Such was Ivan Ilych's way. He didn't consider death and the meaning of life until it was too late. He had an epiphany about the meaning of life two hours before he died, and that seeme...more
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also: Lew Tolstoj, Lew Tolstoi, Leon Tolstoi, Leo Tolstoi
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й), commonly referred to in English as Leo (Lyof, Lyoff) Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. He was the most influential member of the aristocratic Tolstoy f...more
More about Leo Tolstoy...
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й), commonly referred to in English as Leo (Lyof, Lyoff) Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. He was the most influential member of the aristocratic Tolstoy f...more
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“He in his madness prays for storms, and dreams that storms will bring him peace”
—
24 people liked it
“He sought his former accustomed fear of death and did not find it. "Where is it? What death?" There was no fear because there was no death.
In place of death there was light.”
—
4 people liked it
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In place of death there was light.”
