What does it mean to have lived a good life?
Ivan Ilyich appears to have everything a respectable man could want: a successful career, a comfortable home, social standing, and a proper family life. But when a mysterious illness forces him to confront his own mortality, the life he has carefully built begins to look very different.
As death draws closer, Ivan is forced to question the choices, ambitions, and conventions that have shaped his existence. Around him, people continue with their ordinary concerns, while only a few are willing to acknowledge the reality of his suffering.
First published in 1886, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is one of Leo Tolstoy’s most powerful and enduring works. Short, intimate, and deeply unsettling, it explores mortality, suffering, loneliness, social conformity, and the possibility of discovering what truly matters when everything else falls away.
For readers interested in Leo Tolstoy, Russian literature, classic literature, existential fiction, death and mortality, philosophy, and timeless literary fiction, this novella remains remarkably relevant.
About this edition
- Title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich
- Author: Leo Tolstoy
- Translation: Louise and Aylmer Maude
- Series: Little Secret Classics
- Language: English
- Published: 2026
