The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Master and Man

Novella by Leo Tolstoy, published in Russian as Smert Ivana Ilycha in 1886, considered a masterpiece of psychological realism. (The name Ilich is also transliterated Ilitch, Ilych, or Ilyich.) Ivan Ilich s crisis is remarkably similar to that of Tolstoy himself as described in A Confession (1882). The first section of the story portrays Ivan Ilich s colleagues and family after he has died, as they reflect on the significance of his death for their careers and fortunes. In the second section, Tolstoy reveals the life of the man whose death seems so trivial: "Ivan Ilich s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible." The perfect bureaucrat, Ivan Ilich treasures his orderly domestic and official routine. Diagnosed with an incurable illness, he at first denies the truth, but influenced by the simple acceptance of his servant Gerasim, Ivan Ilich comes to embrace the boy s belief that death is natural and not shameful. He comforts himself with happy memories of childhood and gradually realizes that he has ignored all his inner yearnings as he tried to do what was expected of him. By the story s end he is at peace.