The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories

Wow! Just in case War and Peace and Anna Karenina were not impressive enough, Tolstoy adds "The Death of Ivan Ilyich."
The writing is magnificent, largely because the two translators do such a superb job of rendering the original Russian into English that resonates with a 21st century reader. I have often found that books written in languages others than my own are difficult to read, but his volume reads smoothly and comfortably.
Even though I have read the two aforementioned books by Tolstoy, I was still blown away by his ability to create such a marvelous book. Here, Ivan Ilyich is the lead selection in a collection of other Tolstoy works and I found most of them excellent, providing deep insights into human nature. (The last show more selection, "Hadji Murat," did not seem as polished or complex as the others selections, and I felt more like I was reading Zane Grey or Louis L'Amour than Tolstoy).
I still cannot get over the deep insights into human nature Tolstoy reveals. His understanding of characters, motives and behaviors exceeds than that of many modern day psychologists. In fact, they could quit reading Freud and Jung and start reading Tolstoy.
My reading goals for the year include reading at least 4 classic of literature, re-reading one or two and reading other classics I have not yet read. I am delighted that I started with this excellent book. It encourages me as a return to reading the classics I have usually found so great in the past. Too long have I known of some classics, like this one, and applied Twain's definition to them: "books everyone talks about but no one reads." This book should change his observation to say: "books everyone reads and then can't stop talking about." show less

It's nice to be reminded every now and then that moralization can be used to make great literature, since our literature is so dominated by the idea that moralizing is always a flaw. Tolstoy appears to have been a natural at moralizing.

Others will not doubt disagree, but I'm willing to argue that the best stories here are precisely those in which the moral of the story (or morality of the author) comes through most clearly: Ivan Ilyich, of course, but also The Kreutzer Sonata, The Devil, Master and Man, Father Sergius, and After the Ball (Alyosha the Pot is also moralizing, but unbearably dull. Alyosha is just good. It's important to the other stories that we see the evil as well as the simple hearts. The Forged Coupon is moralizing, show more but is also a Dostoevsky novel shrunk down to 1/10th of its original size and given a happy ending. No thank you).

The bookending tales set in the Russian borderlands, on the other hand, are rollicking, but not particularly inspiring. I was very disappointed with Hadji Murat, in particular, though it made me want to learn more (something, anything) about the region.

Anything else I have to say will be said better by Tolstoy. Well, almost anything. The Kreutzer Sonata features a wonderful proto-Bernhardian rant, in this case against marriage. I'd love to know if Bernhard had read it, what he thought of it, and if anyone has compared his work with Tolstoy's story. show less

Wow! Just in case War and Peace and Anna Karenina were not impressive enough, Tolstoy adds "The Death of Ivan Ilyich."
The writing is magnificent, largely because the two translators do such a superb job of rendering the original Russian into English that resonates with a 21st century reader. I have often found that books written in languages others than my own are difficult to read, but his volume reads smoothly and comfortably.
Even though I have read the two aforementioned books by Tolstoy, I was still blown away by his ability to create such a marvelous book. Here, Ivan Ilyich is the lead selection in a collection of other Tolstoy works and I found most of them excellent, providing deep insights into human nature. (The last show more selection, "Hadji Murat," did not seem as polished or complex as the others selections, and I felt more like I was reading Zane Grey or Louis L'Amour than Tolstoy).
I still cannot get over the deep insights into human nature Tolstoy reveals. His understanding of characters, motives and behaviors exceeds than that of many modern day psychologists. In fact, they could quit reading Freud and Jung and start reading Tolstoy.
My reading goals for the year include reading at least 4 classic of literature, re-reading one or two and reading other classics I have not yet read. I am delighted that I started with this excellent book. It encourages me as a return to reading the classics I have usually found so great in the past. Too long have I known of some classics, like this one, and applied Twain's definition to them: "books everyone talks about but no one reads." This book should change his observation to say: "books everyone reads and then can't stop talking about." show less

I haven't read this in decades. It reinvigorated my love of Leo Tolstoy.
Maybe, I found it more compelling now as death is closer than it was when I first read it in my early 20's. The emotions feel very authentic…he seems to capture real life.

This is a new translation of some of Tolstoy's shorter works by the noted translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, and I snapped it up both because of my love for "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" and because I've admired the translators' previous work. I am glad I read it, and I really enjoyed some of the stories/novellas, especially "Hadji Murat" (which I'd read before), "the Forged Coupon," and "Master and Man." Some of the other stories I found fascinating, although difficult to relate to, for their intense depiction of sexual desire as a manifestation of the devil, and some written after Tolstoy "got religion" were just too religiously based for me. Nevertheless, as an admirer of Tolstoy, I was glad to get a broader show more picture of his work, although W&P and AK are certainly in another league than many of these stories.

ETA Reading "Hadji Murat" will tell you everything you need to know about Russia's continuing problems with Chechnya, and a lot about western problems in Muslim countries. show less

I enjoyed this book but find it hard to understand. In order for me to understand the stories in this book I have to read them more than once. I have read the story "Death of Ivan Ilyich" at least two or three times now so I understand that one. But I need to re-read the other stories in this book again before I can tell you what they were fully about.