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The Case of Ivan Ilyitch

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Robert N. Wilson
Robert N. Wilson
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 3210, Hamilton Hall, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599–3210, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Leo Tolstoy's short story, The Death of Ivan Ilyitch, is considered as a case history of a seriously flawed life and a consequently inept coping with death. Never having truly lived fully, never having been committed to passionate love or work, Ilyitch in his dying review finds his experience absurdly empty. His death comes to be seen as superficial and meaningless, like his life. It is suggested that people need to be educated for life's failures and death's inevitability.

Keywords

illnesscase historyfiction
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 1995 , pp. 115 - 124
Copyright
Copyright Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

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5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

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