The Death of Ivan Ilyich

A short, powerful meditation on death and its power to transform our perspective on life. The Death of Ivan Ilyich explores the inner development of a man on his death bead, following a typical if dissatisfying 'middle-class' life. I accessed this as an audiobook; Davies was great.

This is one of those magnificent works that one must read several times, at different stages of life. Now that I'm in my mid-fifties -- Tolstoy's age when he wrote it -- I understand it in a new and more profound way. The book concerns nothing less than the meaning of life, and the meaning of death. The only other work of short fiction that handles such an ambitious topic so well and so movingly is, I think, James Joyce's "The Dead." Both stories end on a generous and uplifting note, after having stripped brutally bear all the lies we tell ourselves.As I re-read Tolstoy's books later in life, I appreciate more and more his great brevity. That may sound strange considering the length of such books as "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina." But even those books are written in short chapters that each accomplish a remarkable amount. Ivan Ilyich is beautifully crafted. The story is powerfully told the old fashioned way -- as a narrative, but punctuated by spare yet all-the-more-effective dialogue.The version I "read" was the CD, with Prebble doing a very good job as a reader. The translation is from Constance Garnett -- the much criticized, but serviceable old Victorian. This format worked well and allowed me to relish the story.Tolstoy is able to grab hold of the reader and shake out all the lies and self-deceptions. By middle age, we structure our lives around conveniences and compromise, and delude ourselves into thinking we are immortal and actually control our fates. We've lost the grim passion of the adolescent confronting the concept of mortality for the first time -- and living an examined life with true feelings.A great book which should be re-read and then read again.