The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories
by Leo Tolstoy
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The Death of Ivan Illych and Other Stories, by Elizabeth Gaskell, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: - New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars - Biographies of the authors - Chronologies of contemporary show more historical, biographical, and cultural events - Footnotes and endnotes - Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work - Comments by other famous authors - Study questions to challenge the readers viewpoints and expectations - Bibliographies for further reading - Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences-biographical, historical, and literary-to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works. Chief among Tolstoy's shorter works is The Death of Ivan Ilych, a masterful meditation on the act of dying. The first major fictional work published by Tolstoy after a mid-life psychological crisis, this novella reflects the author's struggle to find meaning in life, a challenge Tolstoy resolved by developing a religious philosophy based on brotherly love, mutual support, and charity. These guiding principles are the dominant moral themes in The Death of Ivan Ilych, an account of the spiritual conversion of a judge-an ordinary, unthinking, vulgar man-in the face of his terrible fear about death. Also included in this volume are Family Happiness, an early work that traces the arc of a marriage; The Kreutzer Sonata, a frank tale of sexual love that shocked readers when it first appeared; and Hadji Murád, Tolstoy's final masterpiece about power politics, intrigue, and colonial conquest. David Goldfarb teaches Polish, Russian, and Comparative Literature at Barnard College and Columbia University. He has written about Witold Gombrowicz, Bruno Schulz, Zbigniew Herbert, Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, Mikhail Lermontov, and Nikolai Gogol. show lessTags
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The chronology of this is wonderful. It begins with the end, making the reader question why we should care, and then builds up, creating this flawed but sympathetic character going through life crises most of us can empathize with, before...A phenomenal ending that couldn't have gone any other way.
A great collection from a master prose stylist. These stories are part of why I love to read.
this is a book i tried to read many years ago...i only made it halfway through the first story ("Family Happiness") before i quit and decided i hated it...so i just gave it another chance and made it through this time...which was a good thing, i guess...i still didn't like "Family Happiness" but the other three stories ("The Death and Ivan Ilych," "The Kreutzer Sonata," and "Master and Man") were pretty good...i gave it 3.5 stars, and if it weren't for the one story dragging it down i might've given it 4 stars...
Includes Family Happiness, The Death of Ivan Illych, The Kreutzer Sonata, and Master and Man. Together they present a soulful look at 19th century Russia and explore the ideas of love, sacrifice, redemption and eudaimonia.
Wonderful how the Russian translates to English and still reads smoothly.
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Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in Russia. He is usually referred to as Leo Tolstoy. He was a Russian author who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. Leo Tolstoy is best known for his novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877). Tolstoy's fiction includes dozens of short stories and several show more novellas such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Family Happiness, and Hadji Murad. He also wrote plays and numerous philosophical essays. Tolstoy had a profound moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870's which he outlined in his work, A Confession. His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. His ideas of nonviolent resistance which he shared in his works The Kingdom of God is Within You, had a profund impact on figures such as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. On September 23, 1862 Tolstoy married Sophia Andreevna Behrs. She was the daughter of a court physician. They had 13 children, eight of whom survived childhood. Their early married life allowed Tolstoy much freedom to compose War and Peace and Anna Karenina with his wife acting as his secretary and proofreader. The Tolstoy family left Russia in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union. Leo Tolstoy's relatives and descendants moved to Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the United States. Tolstoy died of pneumonia at Astapovo train station, after a day's rail journey south on November 20, 1910 at the age of 82. (Bowker Author Biography) Count Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 on the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana in the Tula province. He married in 1862 & was the father of 13 children. Tolstoy managed the estate of Yasnaya Polyana & ran its peasant schools, while writing his great novels, "War & Peace" (1869) & "Anna Karenina" (1877). He died in 1910. (Publisher Provided) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories
- Original publication date
- 1859: Family Happiness; 1886: The Death of Ivan Ilych; 1889: The Kreutzer Sonata; 1895: Master and Man
- First words
- FAMILY HAPPINESS: We were in mourning for my mother, who had died in the autumn, and we spent the whole winter in the country- Katya, Sonya, and I.
THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYCH: Inside the great building of the Law Courts, during the interval in the hearing of the Melvinsky case, the members of the judicial council and the public prosecutor were gathered together in the priva... (show all)te room of Ivan Yegorovich Shebek, and the conversation turned upon the celebrated Krasovsky case.
THE KREUTZER SONATA: It was early spring.
HADJI MURAD: I was returning home by the fields. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)FAMILY HAPPINESS: With that day ended my love-story with my husband, the old feeling became a precious memory never to return; but the new feeling for love for my children and the father of my children laid the foundation of another life, happy in quite a different way, which I am still living upto the present moment. 1859.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYCH: He drew in a breath, stopped midway in the breath, stretched and died.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)THE KREUTZER SONATA: "Yes, good-by - Prostite," said he, repeating the very word with which he had closed his tale.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)HADJI MURAD: It was of this death that I was reminded by the crushed thistle in the midst of the ploughed field. - Original language
- Russian
- Disambiguation notice
- Contents: The Death of Ivan Ilych, Family Happiness, The Kreutzer Sonata, and Master and Man
Contents: The death of Ivan Ilych ; The forged coupon ; After the dance ; My dream; There are no guilty people ; The young Tsar
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- Popularity
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- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (4.05)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Italian, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 24
