Considered one of the greatest literary achievements of the 19th century,
The Death of Ivan Ilyitch
by Leo Tolstoy rocks the reader out of his smug self-assurance that he is 'living as he ought.' Having accomplished this, the next question is raised: "If I certainly know that I have not lived as I have ought, and I certainly know that I will die tomorrow, with no time to make amends, what possible hope for me is left?" Astute readers will understand that we are all Ivan. His dilemma is our own. A Russian author, Tolstoy published
in 1886. This edition of the novella carefully re-creates the 1902 translation by Constance Garnett, which was the primary avenue by which this masterpiece became known to the English-speaking world for many decades.