"The Death Of Ivan Ilyich" by Leo Tolstoy

1.25.22 & 1.26.22

We know, upon reading the opening of “The Death Of Ivan Ilyich,” that Ivan Ilyich has already died. The narration is omniscient, and because of this, we know that Ivan’s peers, all gathered in Ivan Yegorovich Shebek’s office, first learn about Ilyich’s death in the Gazette, and that their first thoughts are: how will my position change in the courts? Who will be promoted to where? This omniscient narration appears to take no moral stance, as its perspective shifts to one gentleman to another as he internally considers the benefits he will reap through Ilyich’s death and how to best leverage the oncoming changes, yet what is the narration choosing to show us first?

That these men, descending upon Ilyich’s death like ghouls, are the first thing the reader encounters in this novella is part of the narration, too. But as we’ll come to find out, they’re no different than Ilyich himself. Can we blame them, is the question. And if we blame them for their ghoulishness then do we also blame Ily…