The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories

These seven powerful stories reflect Tolstoy’s profound meditation on mortality and the human condition, each examining the inevitability of death from unique perspectives.

In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy delivers a heartrending exploration of a man confronting his approaching death and grappling with the haunting question: why must a virtuous life end prematurely? Polikushka tells the tragic tale of a wayward drunk whose desperate chance to redeem himself ends in disaster. Three Deaths offers a poetic contrast between the final moments of an aristocrat, a peasant, and a tree, highlighting the universality of death. In The Forged Coupon, a seemingly small act of wrongdoing sets off a chain reaction of escalating violence and moral decay. Finally, through three vivid soldier stories—After the Ball, The Wood-Felling, and The Raid—Tolstoy exposes the harsh realities and brutalities of military life.

Together, these narratives form a compelling portrait of life, death, and the moral complexities in between.