Readers' Comments: Leo Tolstoy

Re: Leo Tolstoy

Listen in RealAudio as Edgar Whan, Marilyn Atlas, and Peter Heidtmann discuss "Master and Man" and "The Death of Ivan Ilych" by Leo Tolstoy. Or read the transcripts the old-fashioned way. Join the discussion here. Note that the comments are automatically added to the guestbook page and later copied and pasted to this page. And please listen to the Tolstoy question and answer session in Real Audio.

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My family and I read and discuss Raymond Carver and Tolstoy regularly. Ivan Ilych is a man who has succeeded in his career, has a healthy family, etc. Most people look up to such men... doctors, lawyers, and judges. Ivan, however, has ignored thinking about and working on his relationships, which are sick in much the same way we find in some of Carver's stories. Carver, however, depicts characters unlike Ivan, in that they not only have no positive control over their relationships, but they also are failures in more superficial things like their careers (with a few minor exceptions). All such failures nag at most anyone on a regular basis, and it is my hope that reading and discussing such issues can help us come to a better understanding of what it is to live a good life. This would allow us, unlike Ivan, to learn to live before we die.
Sean Walsh <spwalsh@med.unc.edu>
Chapel Hill, NC USA - Wednesday, July 23, 1997 at 02:22:06 (EDT)

Well, I promised myself I wouldn't read the Tolstoy stories, having only managed to drag myself through Anna Karenina via brute force, but somehow . . . Ivan Ilych wasn't THAT bad. {grin} I have a very hard time getting into the characters, the way Tolstoy writes them. And the idea of of the man on his deathbed regretting spending so much time on worldly matters seemed too preachy.

On the other hand . . . there were moments when I genuinely had sympathy for how isolated these people were and of course in particular how isolated and afraid Ivan was. Reminded me of "Touched by an Angel" (if that's not sacrilege to the true scholars among us {grin}), which I cry over practically every week. When push comes to shove, we are all so isolated, so needy, so yearning for comfort.

Relating to the idea of community . . . just about everyone in Ivan Ilych seemed to belong to *society*, but not to a *community*.

I just started "The Bluest Eye", and am really enjoying it. Having had so much fun looking at nature imagery in Hurston's book, I was struck that practically the first thing we saw in "The Bluest Eye" was a nature image! Seemed to mean something very different though. Hurston seemed to glory nature as an ideal state to strive towards, while (in the few pages I've read) "the outdoors" for Morrison's characters is something cruel and to be feared. Even the example of the marigolds, whose blooming was to be seen as a good omen to aid them, was actually an example of feeling hurt and thwarted by nature.
Rachel <allegria@his.com>
USA - Sunday, October 05, 1997 at 23:47:48 (EDT)

I'm quite surprised from listening to your radio show, in particular Ivan Ilych , that no one commented on the struggle between the self and the community. It seemed to me that this was the theme in the story. Ivan followed all the social conventions of the day only to realize that all his ideals were based on materialism. His redemption came when he finally adopted the virtues of unconditional love and forgiveness. It was then that he realized the self and became a member of the community. Did you notice that I have not referred to god or Jesus?
Mark Russell
Armstrong, BC Canada - Wednesday, November 19, 1997 at 03:19:14 (EST)

I need some help in doing my analysis of "The Death of Ivan Ilych." Can somebody help me????
Ximena Salazar <salazar@imparcial.com.mx>
Hermosillo, Son Mexico - Tuesday, November 25, 1997 at 22:57:53 (EST)

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