Death of Ivan Ilych (The Art of the Novella)
Contributors: Ian Dreiblatt (Translator)
Publisher: Melville House Publishing
Published: April 2008
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 128
ISBN-13: 9781933633541
Subjects: Classics; Literary; Short Stories (single author); Fiction / Classics; Fiction; Literature - Classics / Criticism; Literature: Classics
Description: There is no explanation. Here in a vibrant new translation, the tale of a judge who slowly comes to understand that his illness is fatal was inspired by Tolstoy's observation at his local train station of hundreds of shackled prisoners being sent off to Siberia, many for petty crimes. When he learned that the sentencing judge had died, Tolstoy was roused to consider the judge's thoughts during his final days--a study on the acceptance of mortality only deepened by the death, during its writing, of one of Tolstoy's own young children.