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Books

The book that Boris should give to all seniors, along with their Freedom Passes

Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich shows we don't think about life until death looms — and the newest translation, by the late Peter Carson, has an intriguing back story

7 December 2013

9:00 AM

7 December 2013

9:00 AM

The Death of Ivan Ilyich & Confession Leo Tolstoy, translated by Peter Carson

W.W. Norton, pp.224, £16.99, ISBN: 9780871404268

The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a story for the older reader. One might go so far as to suggest that local authorities should give ‘seniors’ a copy free with their euphemistically named ‘Freedom Pass’ as a reminder of the longest journey they will ever take. Boris’s memento mori.

Perversely, because it is short and by a writer whose name is better known than his work is read, The Death of Ivan Ilyich routinely appears on ‘Great Books’ courses for the young — to whom the story manifestly does not speak, since the young know they will never die.

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