SOURCE: Patterson, David. “The Life of Ivan Il'ich.” Thought 65, no. 257 (June 1990): 143-54.

In the following essay, Patterson maintains that “Ivan's difficulty lies not in saying yes to death but in distinguishing between life and death, that is, in perceiving the substance of spiritual life.”

In an article on Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Il'ich, Gary Jahn asserts that “there are, in fact, few stories whose intended meaning is so abundantly clear” (237). But, judging from the varied reaction to the tale, nothing could be so abundantly false. Indeed, Jahn's article itself represents a misunderstanding of the work. Mistakenly supposing that Tolstoy sets out first to frighten and then to reconcile the reader with death, Jahn's concern is whether or not the piece is artistically successful. Not only is his point in valid, since his initial premise is wrongheaded, but any response to this text on a strictly aesthetic...