The Death of Ivan Ilych
Leo Tolstoy1886
The most precise short fiction Tolstoy ever wrote — the foundational modern story about the lie of bourgeois life and the truth of dying.
novellaRussianaccessibleshort · ~2.5h
Influence
9.0/10
Popularity
7.0/10
“Ivan Ilyich's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.”
Why It Matters
The most precise short fiction Tolstoy ever wrote — the foundational modern story about the lie of bourgeois life and the truth of dying. Heidegger drew on it for Being and Time; the death-and-dying movement of the 1960s rediscovered it; every generation finds it again. The book that taught Western literature how to write a death scene.
The 
Take
Personal reviewSimple, real, deep, short
Notable Quotes
“What if my whole life has been wrong?”
“In place of death there was light.”