The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories

"The death of Ivan Ilyich" revolves around a man in his 40s who has spent his life climbing the social ladder in Russia. Barely tolerant of his wife and generally indifferent to the other people around him, Ivan has a minor accident hanging curtains in a new apartment. As his life slowly and painfully spirals toward death, Ivan struggles immensely against what he perceives as an unfair fate. Only in the end does he see how he might have lived differently and authentically. In the other stories, loss and death are deeply explored.