Tolstoy: "The Death of Ivan Ilyic‪h‬"

“There was no deceiving himself: something terrible, new, and more important than anything before in his life, was taking place within him of which he alone was aware.”

In this first episode of a new series, Stephen Blackwood reads Leo Tolstoy’s classic novella, ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich.’ A masterful text from one of history’s great writers, it tells the story of a man whose fatal illness forces him to confront the shallow assumptions of his life and the slowly encroaching, inevitable reality of death. ‘Ivan Ilyich’ is a timeless meditation on the fundamental content of life: finding purpose, loving others, and understanding our finitude.

The translation Blackwood is reading from—easily found online, if you'd like to follow along—is by Louise and Aylmer Maude.

Timeline

• 0:00​ - Intro
• 6:19​ - Chapter 1
• 27:02​ - Chapter 2
• 45:47​ - Chapter 3
• 1:02:45​ - Chapter 4
• 1:19:29​ - Chapter 5
• 1:29:25​ - Chapter 6
• 1:36:46​ - Chapter 7
• 1:47:08​ - Chapter 8
• 2:02:46​ - Chapter 9
• 2:09:29​ - Chapter 10
• 2:14:47​ - Chapter 11
• 2:21:28​ - Chapter 12

Image:  Sir Hubert von Herkomer, The Dying Monarch, Funtensee, 1884, Yale Center for British Art.