The Death of Ivan Illyich, Leo Tolstoy

This short novel was an artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy’s life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction.

A thoroughly absorbing, and, at times, terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation

From Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the best-selling, award-winning translators of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, comes a new, beautifully crafted, and eminently readable translation of Tolstoy’s most important short fiction. With an introduction by Richard Pevear.

This book is paperback.

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“Excellent…. The duo has managed to convey the rather simple elegance of Tolstoy’s prose.” —The New Criterion

“[Tolstoy’s] late style is leaner, his forms more spare, but this is also the economy of achieved mastery. He does more with less, and the Tolstoyan sounds, instantly recognizable, are still there…. [Pevear and Volokhonsky’s] new version is more flexible, individuated, immediate.” —The Nation

“The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories is a great collection well translated. As a lover of Tolstoy’s work, one couldn’t ask for more, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.” —André Alexis, The Globe and Mail