Review
Book Description
Product Description
The Death of Ivan Ilyich is one of the masterpieces of Tolstoy's late fiction and the first major fictional work to be published by the author after his crisis and conversion to Christianity. The story of the life and death at the age of forty-five, of a high court prosecutor in 19th-century Russia, it is an intense and moving examination of loss and the possibilities of redemption, in which Tolstoy explores the dichotomy between the artificial and the authentic life.The nine other stories in this new collection include 'Hadji Murat' which has been described by Harold Bloom as 'the best story in the world' and 'The Devil', a tale of sexual obsession based on Tolstoy's own relationship with a married peasant woman on his estate in the years before his marriage.
Magnificently translated by the acclaimed translating team behind War and Peace, this new volume captures the richness and immediacy of Tolstoy's language and reveals the author as a passionate moral guide, an unflinching seeker of truth, and a creator of enduring and universal art.
From the Back Cover
FROM THE AWARD-WINNING TRANSLATORS OF CRIME AND PUNISHMENT AND WAR AND PEACE
The Death of Ivan Ilyich is one of the masterpieces of Tolstoy's late fiction and the first major fictional work to be published by the author after his crisis and conversion to Christianity. The story of the life and death at the age of forty-five, of a high court prosecutor in 19th-century Russia, it is an intense and moving examination of loss and the possibilities of redemption, in which Tolstoy explores the dichotomy between the artificial and the authentic life.The nine other stories in this new collection include 'Hadji Murat' which has been described by Harold Bloom as 'the best story in the world' and 'The Devil', a tale of sexual obsession based on Tolstoy's own relationship with a married peasant woman on his estate in the years before his marriage.
Magnificently translated by the acclaimed translating team behind War and Peace, this new volume captures the richness and immediacy of Tolstoy's language and reveals the author as a passionate moral guide, an unflinching seeker of truth, and a creator of enduring and universal art.
'Tolstoy's prose is majestic, his pace measured, his characters unflinchingly true to life, his message bleak' Guardian
About the Author
Leo Tolstoy was born in central Russia on 9 September 1828.In 1852 he published his first work, the autobiographical Childhood. He served in the army during the Crimean War and his Sevastopol Sketches (1855-6) are based on his experiences. His two most popular masterpieces are War and Peace (1864-69) and Anna Karenina (1875-8). He died in 20 November 1910.
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have been nominated for the PEN-Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize three times and have won it twice. They live in Paris.
