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The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories (Penguin Classics) Paperback – November 7, 1989

by Leo Tolstoy (Author), Rosemary Edmonds (Translator, Introduction)

3 customer reviews

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The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a masterly meditation on life and death, recounting the physical decline and spiritual awakening of a worldly, successful man who is faced with his own mortality. Only in his last agonizing moments does Ivan Ilyich finally confront his true nature, and gain the forgiveness of his wife and son for his cruelty towards them.

The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)

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Product Details

Series: Penguin Classics
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Penguin Classics (November 7, 1989)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0140445080
ISBN-13: 978-0140445084
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,228,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9688 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories & Anthologies > Anthologies
- #10375 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Criticism & Theory
- #17067 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories & Anthologies > Short Stories

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"Gentlemen!" he exclaimed, "Ivan Ilyich is dead!"

By John Sollami on July 2, 2007

Format: Paperback

Navigating through all the cultural debris coming at us in the year 2007 is no easy task. New hot novelists, must-see flicks, terrific new musical groups, new new new. Yet, here is a story that's over 120 years old, but it speaks right now to the core of our humanity. What does it mean to be alive? What is death? What is pain? What does it mean to be good? What is love? And what is God? This short novel asks these questions again and again, but not as a didactic, philosophical exercise. Instead, Tolstoy weaves these eternal questions into the fabric of a human life, a life that is so plausible and simple that it could easily be yours or mine.

Ivan Ilych is a seemingly good man who makes reasonable choices. He follows the rules. He has faults. He has responsibilities. His marriage begins with promise and slowly slips into unromantic routine. He has a childhood which he remembers well. He is a father. He has friends. He finds meaning in his work. Then he gets sick, not all at once, but slowly. We watch him slowly dissolve as the pain bears down on him relentlessly. The doctors are useless. His wife is a nuisance. His children are irrelevant. No one understands. He becomes isolated and lonely except for one simple servant who selflessly cares for him. What is this death, Ivan asks again and again. Why me, he asks. Has my life been a lie? Have I led a bad life? How can I be free of all this misery? Perhaps none of this is really happening to me.

So Tolstoy, the great, mighty Tolstoy, examines every angle of the dying man's psyche, until finally Tolstoy reaches into the spiritual depths of the man. Is there redemption? Is there release?

One must read this masterpiece from this great artistic genius to fully appreciate Tolstoy's mortal and spiritual depths, and in doing so, perhaps we will better appreciate our own.

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Happily Ever After...

By Tracy H. Slagter on June 15, 2001

Format: Paperback

One of the most amazing things about Tolstoy's work is its consistency -- from Anna Karenina, to War and Peace, to the Kreutzer Sonata, and now to this Penguin Classics collection of stories, all of his writing is spectacular. If you are contemplating reading one of his large works but are unsure about undertaking such a task, this collection of short stories might be all the convincing you need. It is a great glimpse into the complexity and humanity present in all of Tolstoy's work.
Many have commented on "Ivan Ilyich," but I thought "Happily Ever After" also warranted attention. It is the simplest and cleanest of his short stories, and a wonderful comment on marriage and family life. I read it two times in a row, just because it was such a beautiful story of a starry-eyed girl forced to grow into a more sensible view of love and romance. It is a story about how wild young love settles in to a contented life, revealing all of the twists and temptations along the way.
A note on the Penguin Classics version of Tolstoy's work: Rosemary Edmonds is a superior translator, and I believe she has translated all of Tolstoy's work for Penguin. Perhaps I'm just finicky, but Tolstoy does not flow as well for me in other translations. I suggest that if you start reading Tolstoy with one translator, you should stick with that same translator as you read more of his work. It may sound nit-picky, but it makes a difference. In this regard, I cannot recommend Rosemary Edmonds highly enough.