Name: The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Confession
ISBN: 9780871404268

Leo Tolstoy

In "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," a middle-aged judge falls gravely ill and is shinned by his materialistic family; and in "Confession," Tolstoy charts his own religious evolution from his rejection of the Orthodox Church to his embrace of spirituality.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Confession

Jordan Navarrette

[Review is only of The Death of Ivan Ilyich.]
The Death of Ivan Ilyich is in some ways unpleasant, but wonderfully so.

I read The Death of Ivan Ilyich (by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Peter Carson) in response to No Reply Press circulating a prospectus that featured what sounded like a beautiful, letterpress version (and possibly the first fine press version ever) of this novella. I believe that the edition is now fully subscribed, but if you love this novella you should keep your eye on the secondary market later this year. Ultimately, I elected not to purchase a copy for budgetary reasons, but I was glad to have been given a reason to read this excellent, albeit depressing, work.

In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy tells of the life and death of a judge in the Russian Court of Justice. While Ivan interacts with his wife, his family, his friends, and his physicians, the true actions occurs internally, as Ivan struggles to understand and accept what is happening to him—and why.

Tolstoy presents the reader with a very truthful—and, as such, somewhat grim—depiction of human pain, the banality of easy living, and humanity’s inability to come to grips with mortality (both its own and that of others). Reading Ivan Ilyich can be an uncomfortable experience to the extent you see his own thoughts reflected in him, or fear that you, too, are living an unexamined life that will leave no mark on the world. But it can be good to feel that fear, if it means you haven’t fully succumbed to apathy.

I hope that No Reply makes their translation publicly available after publication, as I would very much love to read their take on it. 4.5 stars out of 5.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Confession

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