The Death Of Ivan Ilych: "He in his madness prays for storms, and dreams that storms will bring him peace."

By Leo Tolstoy

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (9th September 1828 – 20th November 1910) was born into a well known Russian family of nobility who was brought up by relatives following his parents death when he was very young. Described by his teachers at university as “unable and unwilling to learn” he abandoned all formal education and after running up gambling debts joined the army with his older brother. Here he started writing and had a moral and spiritual awakening that transformed him from the privileged aristocrat to a social reformer leading the life of an ascetic peasant. Later still, his interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus made him a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. His writings on non violence were to have a profound impact on Gandhi and Martin Luther King. “The Death of Ivan Ilych" is a masterpiece on death and dying. The principal character, a judge in St Petersburg, is described as “an intelligent, polished, lively, and agreeable man.” His life is good and there is no place for him to face his own mortality but after a minor health problem, he has to face his death and inevitably his life. Tolstoy is widely considered to be one of the greatest novelists of all time and in reading this compelling and powerful book it is clear why.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Word To The Wise
• Release date: Aug 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781780007885

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is the author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Family Happiness, and other classics of Russian literature.

Book preview

Leo Tolstoy - The Death of Ivan Ilych

Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude

Includes a detailed and unique biography of the author

I

During an interval in the Melvinski trial in the large building of the Law Courts the members and public prosecutor met in Ivan Egorovich Shebek's private room, where the conversation turned on the celebrated Krasovski case. Fedor Vasilievich warmly maintained that it was not subject to their jurisdiction, Ivan Egorovich maintained the contrary, while Peter Ivanovich, not having entered into the discussion at the start, took no part in it but looked through the ‘Gazette’ which had just been handed in.

Gentlemen, he said, Ivan Ilych has died!

You don't say so!

Here, read it yourself, replied Peter Ivanovich, handing Fedor Vasilievich the paper still damp from the press. Surrounded by a black border were the words: Praskovya Fedorovna Golovina, with profound sorrow, informs relatives and friends of the demise of her beloved husband Ivan Ilych Golovin, Member of the Court of Justice, which occurred on February the 4th of this year 1882. the funeral will take place on Friday at one o'clock in the afternoon.

Ivan Ilych had been a colleague of the gentlemen present and was liked by them all. He had been ill for some weeks with an illness said to be incurable. His post had been kept open for him, but there had been conjectures that in case of his death Alexeev might receive his appointment, and that either Vinnikov or Shtabel would succeed Alexeev. So on receiving the news of Ivan Ilych's death the first thought of each of the gentlemen in that private room was of the changes and promotions it might occasion among themselves or their acquaintances.

I shall be sure to get Shtabel's place or Vinnikov's, thought Fedor Vasilievich. I was promised that long ago, and the promotion means an extra eight hundred rubles a year for me besides the allowance.

Now I must apply for my brother-in-law's transfer from Kaluga, thought Peter Ivanovich. My wife will be very glad, and then she won't be able to say that I never do anything for her relations.

I thought he would never leave his bed again, said Peter Ivanovich aloud. It's very sad.

But what really was the matter with him?

The doctors couldn't say, at least they could, but each of them said something different. When last I saw him I though he was getting better.

And I haven't been to see him since the holidays. I always meant to go.

Had he any property?

I think his wife had a little but something quiet trifling.

We shall have to go to see her, but they live so terribly far away.

Far away from you, you mean. Everything's far away from your place.

You see, he never can forgive my living on the other side of the river, said Peter Ivanovich, smiling at Shebek. Then, still talking of the distances between different parts of the city, they returned to the Court.

Besides considerations as to the possible transfers and promotions likely to result from Ivan Ilych's death, the mere fact of the death of a near acquaintance aroused, as usual, in all who heard of it the complacent feeling that, it is he who is dead and not I.

Each one thought or felt, Well, he's dead but I'm alive! But the more intimate of Ivan Ilych's acquaintances, his so-called friends, could not help thinking also that they would now have to fulfil the very tiresome demands of propriety by attending the funeral service and paying a visit of condolence to the widow.

Fedor Vasilievich and Peter Ivanovich had been his nearest acquaintances. Peter Ivanovich had studied law with Ivan Ilych and had considered himself to be under obligations to him.

Having told his wife at dinner-time of Ivan Ilych's death, and of his conjecture that it might be possible to get her brother transferred to their circuit, Peter Ivanovich sacrificed his usual nap, put on his evening clothes and drove to Ivan Ilych's house.

At the entrance stood a carriage and two cabs. Leaning against the wall in the hall downstairs near the cloakstand was a coffin-lid covered with cloth of gold, ornamented with gold cord and tassels, that had been polished up with metal powder. Two ladies in black were taking off their fur cloaks. Peter Ivanovich recognized one of them as Ivan Ilych's sister, but the other was a stranger to him. His colleague Schwartz was just coming downstairs, but on seeing Peter Ivanovich enter he stopped and winked at him, as if to say: Ivan Ilych has made a mess of things, not like you and me.

Schwartz's face with his Piccadilly whiskers, and his slim figure in evening dress, had as usual an air of elegant solemnity which contrasted with the playfulness of his character and had a special piquancy here, or so it seemed to Peter Ivanovich.

Peter Ivanovich allowed the ladies to precede him and slowly followed them upstairs. Schwartz did not come down but remained where he was, and Peter Ivanovich understood that he wanted to arrange where they should play bridge that evening. The ladies went upstairs to the widow's room, and Schwartz with seriously compressed lips but a playful looking his eyes, indicated by a twist of his eyebrows the room to the right where the body lay.

Peter Ivanovich, like everyone else on such occasions, entered feeling uncertain what he would have to do. All he knew was that at such times it is always safe to cross oneself. But he was not quite sure whether one should make obseisances while doing so. He therefore adopted a middle course. On entering the room he began crossing himself and made a slight movement resembling a bow. At the same time, as far as the motion of his head and arm allowed, he surveyed the room. Two young men, apparently nephews, one of whom was a high-school pupil, were leaving the room, crossing themselves as they did so. An old woman was standing motionless, and a lady with strangely arched eyebrows was saying something to her in a whisper. A vigorous, resolute Church Reader, in a frock- coat, was reading something in a loud voice with an expression that precluded any contradiction. The butler's assistant, Gerasim, stepping lightly in front of Peter Ivanovich, was strewing something on the floor. Noticing this, Peter Ivanovich was immediately aware of a faint odour of a decomposing body.

The last time he had called on Ivan Ilych, Peter Ivanovich had seen Gerasim in the study. Ivan Ilych had been particularly fond of him and he was performing the duty of a sick nurse.

Peter Ivanovich continued to make the sign of the cross slightly inclining his head in an intermediate direction between the coffin, the Reader, and the icons on the table in a corner of the room. Afterwards, when it seemed to him that this movement of his arm in crossing himself had gone on too long, he stopped and began to look at the corpse.

The dead man lay, as dead men always lie,

Reviews for The Death Of Ivan Ilych

[ionas_7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There were many good points in Tolstoy's little story, such as the inadequacy of doctors, our focus on becoming persons of power and importance, and our marrying not for love but material reasons.IIvan Ilyich suffered a lot of pain before he died; but the story was not entitled "the illness" or "the pain" of Ivan Ilyich, but "the death of Ivan Ilyich".I found it significant that some time before his death Ivan gained the insight that he had not lived his life correctly; he had been focused on irrelevancies and not the real values of life. He had had promptings from his soul, or God, if you will, about things in his life he should have changed, but these he ignored.He realized now that only his little son whom he had always pitied, loved him. And his servant Gerasim also had compassion for him, but not his wife or others in the family.Ivan had a little medal on his watch chain inscribed "Respice finem" (look to the end). And it is the actual "death" that is significant.Like most people, Ivan had been afraid of death, but as soon as he accepted the pain, he could not find the fear."There was no more fear because there was no more death.""Instead of death there was light, "What joy!" says Ivan.With this story Tolstoy is giving us a crucial message - there is no death, when our body dies, we go into the light.

[fpdc_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[clara53_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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" 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.

[engpunk77 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was one of my favorite stories of all time in 1999. I read it over and over again, thinking it contained and could reveal all the wisdom in the world.

[thecrow2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[martinbodek · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[palaverofbirds · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[johncouke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Powerful, powerful book about the range of emotions the main character goes through as he learns that his time on earth is dwindling quickly.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The thoughts and feelings of a man towards his family and those around him as he gets progressively more ill and is then dying from a wasting disease that sounds like cancer. The opening chapters are quite light-hearted with some ruefully amusing reflections on marriage and attitudes towards ones career, but then the mood becomes much darker and he ends being cynical about his family, seeing them as wishing his death to come sooner so they can be free of the burden of caring for him. A short story but one with a lot to say about the human condition and by no means necessarily tied to its Russian background.

[datrappert · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[lukespapa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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. 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.

[sanctispiritus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent, soulful book in the vein of The Trial, and Crime and Punishment. Vladimir Nabokov sums my views of this Novella quite well.In his lectures on Russian Literature Russian born Novelist and critic Vladimir Nabokov argues that, for Tolstoy, a sinful life is (such as Ivan's was), moral death. Therefore death, the return of the soul to God is, for Tolstoy, moral life . To quote Nabokov: "The Tolstoyan formula is: Ivan lived a bad life and since the bad life is nothing but the death of the soul, then Ivan lived a living death; and since beyond death is God's living light, then Ivan died into a new life- Life with a capital L."(Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich: Lectures On Russain Literature pg.237: Harcourt Edition)

[drfp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very well written novella by Tolstoy. I was worried after "Anna Karenina" Tolstoy might have lost his way as he became older. However this was much more like the Tolstoy I remember from "War and Peace". A very affecting study of one man's life and death.

[cestovatela · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[reneepaule · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nice. Very nice short story. A lot of self-reflection, which is right up my street, as it were.

[pocketmermaid · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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, 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!

[mahallett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

a good story of a dying man. good introduction

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A brilliant short work. He captured the psychology of a dying man and those around him with a great deal of thoroughness. The end of Illych had him questioning so many of the silly societal mores which he had self-imposed, but in the end, his resignation to the peaceful pull of death put the angst behind him. Wonderfully written.

[nielch · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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 that there was nothing. I was very disappointed and wonder what I was supposed to get from the book.

[quibee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful from the start, where a colleague goes to the main character's funeral out of a sense of duty and the small inner dialogues and inner calculations that go on about Iván Ilyich's death, back through the (rather vapid) life of Ivan.Wonderful writing.

[jakebornheimer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bought and read this book over the weekend in Montreal. I was really enchanted by the portrayal of Ivan's decline and death, being so detailed. I really empathize with his struggle to understand death as a thing that truly applies to / effects him. The descriptive quality (as noted by many other readers) of Tolstoy's prose was readily apparent, and I enjoyed it immensely. For sure, this is one that begs to be re-read. I'm especially interested in revisiting the 1st chapter, which is from the perspective of his "friends" who, greedy for his social position, callously snub his funeral and bereaved wife. Highly recommended for those interested in getting into Russian lit since it is so short and sweet.

[fuzzy_patters · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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 better in the future.

[laphenix · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked the concept, but quickly grew bored.

[amelish · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[thebookjunky · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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 to Death. The screens are relentlessly stripped away, revealing…nothing? “There is no explanation! Agony, death… .What for?”
This is why I read.

[marsap_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[pegmcdaniel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The subject of this short classic is the process of dying and finally, acceptance of death. It's a look into the mind of a dying man who had lived an ordinary life as a high-court judge, had a family and friends, and had not given much thought about dying some day. After being ill for a long time, he realizes that he will never get well again and uses the time to reflect and question how well he lived his life. Was it meaningful? He struggles with redemption and forgiveness as all of us would in his situation.I felt it was depressing about Ivan's agonizing end. The novel was written in 1886 and was easy to read. Leo Tolstoy put lots of meaning into a short novel and gave me plenty to think about.

[patronus11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Word I wasn't expecting to read in this bleak masterpiece: pasties. (Hugh Alpin translator, UK's Hesperus Press)

[bunwat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[trilliams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Two spoilers: Ivan dies, and this book is great.