He expects to be awarded the post of presiding judge in a University town, but is passed over for promotion. Infuriated and struck by a keen sense of injustice, Ivan obtains a leave of absence and moves with his family to his brother-in-law's house in the country. Conscious that his salary cannot cover his family's living expenses, Ivan travels to St.
Petersburg to look for a higher paying job. He learns that due to a change in the administration of the Ministry of Justice, a close friend has landed a position of great authority. Ivan is awarded a higher paying position in the city, and informing his family of the good news, Ivan departs alone to buy and furnish a house in preparation for the family's arrival. One day as he is mounting a step-ladder to hang some drapes, he makes a false step and slips, banging his side against the window frame.
The injury is not serious, however, and Ivan is quite pleased with the final appearance of the house. He settles into his new life and acquires a love of bridge.
Ivan begins to experience some discomfort in his left side and an unusual taste in his mouth. The discomfort gradually increases and soon Ivan is both irritable and quarrelsome. The doctors Ivan visits all disagree on the nature of the illness, and Ivan becomes depressed and fearful.
Even cards lose their appeal. Ivan's physical condition degenerates rapidly. One night while lying alone in the dark, he is visited by his first thoughts of mortality, and they terrify him. He realizes that his illness is not a question of health or disease, but of life or death. Praskovya does not understand nor wish to understand her husband's plight, and Ivan can barely suppress his hatred for her.
Ivan knows that he is dying, but he is unable to grasp the full implications of his mortality. He tries to erect screens to block the thought of death from his mind, but death haunts him ceaselessly. In the midst of this suffering, Gerasim, Ivan's peasant servant, enters the scene. Assigned the task of helping Ivan with his excretions, Gerasim soon begins passing the entire night with the dying man.
To ease his pain, Gerasim supports Ivan's legs on his shoulders. More than any other living person, Gerasim provides Ivan with the compassion and honesty that he needs. Ivan's daily routine is monotonous and maddening.
For a while, he gets stuck on the idea that he didn't deserve the suffering he is going through, because he led a good life. But as time progresses, and he finds comfort in the company of his servant boy, Gerasim, he comes to see that there are two separate lives one can lead - the artificial one, which makes people fear death and which is marked by self-interest, and the authentic one, which is marked by compassion.
Written shortly after Tolstoy's religious conversion of the late s, The Death of Ivan Ilych is seen as one of the masterpieces of his late fiction. This book has 42 pages in the PDF version, and was originally published in This is a translation by Louise and Aylmer Maude. Last week, around 20, people downloaded books from my site - 5 people gave donations. These books can take me from 2 to 10 hours to create. I want to keep them free, but need some support to be able to do so. You can also support the site by buying one of the specially curated collections.
During an interval in the Melvinski trial in the large building of the Law Courts the members and public prosecutor met in Ivan Egorovich Shebek's private room, where the conversation turned on the celebrated Krasovski case.
Fedor Vasilievich warmly maintained that it was not subject to their jurisdiction, Ivan Egorovich maintained the contrary, while Peter Ivanovich, not having entered into the discussion at the start, took no part in it but looked through the Gazette which had just been handed in.
Surrounded by a black border were the words: 'Praskovya Fedorovna Golovina, with profound sorrow, informs relatives and friends of the demise of her beloved husband Ivan Ilych Golovin, Member of the Court of Justice, which occurred on February the 4th of this year Ivan Ilych had been a colleague of the gentlemen present and was liked by them all.
He had been ill for some weeks with an illness said to be incurable. His post had been kept open for him, but there had been conjectures that in case of his death Alexeev might receive his appointment, and that either Vinnikov or Shtabel would succeed Alexeev.
So on receiving the news of Ivan Ilych's death the first thought of each of the gentlemen in that private room was of the changes and promotions it might occasion among themselves or their acquaintances.
When last I saw him I thought he was getting better. I always meant to go. This is a masterpiece of Tolstoy's late fiction and many people have different interpretation on its end. The Kreutzer Sonata was published in and immediately censored by the Russian government. The work is related to sexual abstinence.
This is a dual-language book with the Russian text on the left side, and the English text on the right side of each spread. The texts are precisely synchronized. A great book for learning both languages while reading a Russian classic masterpiece.
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