The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

"The dreadful, terrible act of his dying, he saw, was reduced by all those around him to the level of an accidental unpleasantness, partly an indecency (something like dealing with a man who comes into a drawing room spreading a bad smell), in the name of that very "decency" he had served all his life; he saw that no one would feel sorry for him, because no one even wanted to understand his situation."

Summary:
Written eight years after the publication of Anna Karenina—a time during which, despite the global success of his novels, Leo Tolstoy renounced fiction in favor of religious and philosophical tracts—The Death of Ivan Ilyich represents perhaps the most keenly realized melding of Tolstoy’s spirituality with his artistic skills.

Here in a vibrant new translation, the tale of a judge who slowly comes to understand that his illness is fatal was inspired by Tolstoy’s observation at his local train station of hundreds of shackled prisoners being sent off to Siberia, many for petty crimes. When he learned that the sentencing judge had died, Tolstoy was roused to consider the judge’s thoughts during his final days—a study on the acceptance of mortality only deepened by the death, during its writing, of one of Tolstoy’s own young children.

The final result is a magisterial story, both chilling and beguiling in the fullness of its empathy, its quotidian detail, and the beauty of its prose, and is, as many have claimed it to be, one of the most moving novellas ever written. (from Melville House)

My thoughts:
This is such an interestingly structured novella. It begins with the announcement of Ivan Ilyich's death, and then goes back in time to re-examine his life - marriage, career, and the months leading up to his death. During this journey, we are privy to Ivan Ilyich's innermost thoughts and struggles.

"...the most important thing for Ivan Ilyich was that no one pitied him as he wanted to be pitied: there were moments after prolonged suffering, when Ivan Ilyich wanted most of all,  however embarrassed he would have been to admit it, to be pitied by someone like a sick child. He wanted to be caressed, kissed, wept  over, as children are caressed and comforted. He knew that he was an important judge, that he had a graying beard, and that therefore it was impossible; but he wanted it all the same."

This is a stunningly beautiful portrait of suffering and death. I found myself marveling at Tolstoy's writing (and Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation) in passage after passage. He is obviously one deep thinker! Although I really liked Anna Karenina and several of his short stories, I wouldn't exactly classify myself as a fan. However, The Death of Ivan Ilyich makes me long to conquer War & Peace. Perhaps I should settle for The Devil first.

My rating:

Final Word:
Translation is key. If it weren't for Pevear and Volokhonsky, I might never read the Russians.

Deliciously Deceitful or Simply Misunderstood?

"My dear Alicia, of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a Man of his age!---just old enough to be formal, ungovernable and to have the Gout--too old to be agreeable and too young to die."

Publisher's Summary:

This high-spirited tale, told through an exchange of letters, is unique in Jane Austen's small body of work. It is the story of Lady Susan, a brilliant, beautiful and morally reprehensible coquette who delights in making men fall in love with her, deceiving their wives into friendship and even tormenting her own daughter, cruelly bending her to her will.

Austen clearly delighted in her wicked heroine - tracing Lady Susan's maneuverings to remarry yet continue on with her lover, and to marry off her young daughter, with great wit, zest and unfailing panache.  (from Melville House)

My thoughts:

There's nothing quite like discovering a new work by a favorite author, and while

Lady Susan

may be considered one of Jane Austen's minor works, her wit and wisdom shine through on every page.

Lady Susan Vernon is a classic Austen villain. You never know what will appear in her next missive. It could be something like the outrageous quote above, or you may find a small pearl of wisdom.

"...where there is a disposition to dislike a motive will never be wanting"

Epistolary novels have long been a personal favorite, and it's no surprise to find Jane's execution simply masterful.  My sole complaint is that the book was too short. The letters ran out long before my interest in their subjects.

My rating:

Links to more Art of the Novella challenge posts are here.

Tuesday Intro: The Death of Ivan Ilych

"In the big building of the law courts, during a break in hearing the case of the Melvinskys. the members and the prosecutor met in Ivan Yegorovich Shebek's office, and the conversation turned to the famous Krasovsky case. Fyodor Vassilievich became heated demonstrating non-jurisdiction, Ivan Yegorovich stood his ground; as for Pyotr Ivanovich, not having entered into the argument in the beginning, he took no part in it and was looking through the just-delivered Gazette.
"Gentlemen," he said, "Ivan Ilyich is dead!'
"Can it be?"
"Here, read it," he said to Fyodor Vassilievich, handing him the paper still smelling of fresh ink.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich
by Leo Tolstoy

Today I'm starting book number two for The Art Of The Novella Challenge.  I read The Death of Ivan Ilych in college,  but have no memory of it. I wonder if it will start to sound familiar soon...

Tuesday Intros is hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea.

The Gap Year by Sarah Bird

It's a strange thing, isn't it? We raise our children with the hope (and expectation) that they will one day become independent and self-sufficient. Yet when the time finally comes for them to leave the nest, it's hard to let go. But let go, we must. Our bond evolves as we strive toward a new relationship with our "grown-up" kids.

The Gap Year, by Sarah Bird, chronicles this journey for one mother and daughter in a unique, creative, and ultimately satisfying manner. Cam Lightsey has always had a close relationship with her daughter Aubrey. Years ago, Cam's husband left to join a wacky religious cult and it's been just the two of them ever since. However, tensions rise as Aubrey's scheduled college departure looms. It soon become abundantly clear Aubrey's immediate plans do not include college.

Told in short alternating chapters, Cam and Aubrey's stories unfold one year apart. Set in the present, the bulk of Cam's chapters take place over several days, while Aubrey's narrative takes us back to the beginning of her senior year. This shift provides the reader with gradually unfolding insight and understanding into the characters.

While the structure sets the book apart and makes it much more than just another novel about mother/daughter relationships, Bird's smart, funny, and thought-provoking prose makes The Gap Year a stand-out.

"Forget anthrax. The greatest chemical threat facing our country today is the hormones delivered to our daughters at puberty." ARC p. 26*

"I read once that it takes fourteen miles for an oil tanker to change course. The same change for mothers and daughters must take a nearly equal number of years. But in all those miles and years there does come one precise moment, one discrete point in an infinite vastness, when you start heading in an entirely new direction."  ARC p.267

"...I experiment with this feeling of being offstage, of not having the leading role in her life. It hurts. College must have been invented to ease parents' pain, an institution devoted to helping everyone separate at the same time." ARC p.279

On a more personal note, my own daughter begins a three week seminar for incoming first year students today. Yesterday we moved her into the dorm, attended the requisite parent program, shed some tears, and came home to face the empty bedroom. This was definitely a case of the right book at the right time for me!

My rating:

* I read an Advance Reading Copy provided by the publisher. Page numbers/quotes in the final copy may be slightly different.

About the author:
Sarah Bird is the author of seven previous novels. She is a columnist for Texas Monthly and has contributed to many other magazines including O, The Oprah Magazine; The New York Times Magazine; Real Simple; and Good Housekeeping. Sarah, the 2010 Johnston Dobie Paisano Fellow, makes her empty nest in Austin, Texas.


The complete tour schedule can be found at TLC Book Tours.

Author Birthday: Guy de Maupassant

From today's Writer's Almanac:

It's the birthday of the great French short-story writer Guy de Maupassant (books by this author), born Henry-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant in Normandy (1850). Mentored by Gustave Flaubert and befriended by Émile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, and Henry James while Maupassant toiled as a lowly government clerk, the French writer joined the ranks of his famous benefactors in 1880 when he published a collection of stories on the Franco-Prussian war. The title story, "Boule de Suif," takes its name from the main character, a prostitute hypocritically shunned by her fellow stagecoach passengers; a literal translation of her nickname is "Ball of Suet" or "Ball of Fat." The name was a compliment — an ample woman was a rarity in that time of hardship — and the portrait was deeply sympathetic.


Maupassant wrote feverishly for the next decade, completing six novels, three travel books, one book of poetry and another of plays, plus the 300 short stories for which he is best remembered. He attained that rarest achievement for a writer: fame and fortune, critical and popular success, all in his own lifetime. And yet his prosperity, complete with a private yacht he named Bel Ami (Good Friend), could not be fully enjoyed. Maupassant felt the first effects of syphilis in his mid-20s; by his late 30s, the disease was progressing to its final stage. His eyesight weakening, his paranoia growing, Maupassant's writing became increasingly dark and preoccupied with madness. After a failed attempt to shoot himself in the head, he stabbed his own throat, and survived only to be locked in an insane asylum. The last entry in his medical report, written shortly before his death at the age of 42, said, "Monsieur de Maupassant is degenerating to an animal state."

He wrote, "A sick thought can devour the body's flesh more than fever or consumption."

And he wrote, "Great minds that are healthy are never considered geniuses, while this sublime qualification is lavished on brains that are often inferior but are slightly touched by madness."

************

Related Short Story Monday Posts on Lakeside Musing:

"Abandoned" by Guy de Maupassant
"Farewell" by Guy de Maupassant
"The Confession" by Guy de Maupassant

I've given in...

... and joined The Art of the Novella Reading Challenge. It's the brainchild of Frances at Nonsuch Book, but has been heartily embraced by Melville House, publisher of the gorgeous thirty-seven volume set (plus five "Duel" Novellas).

Frances plans to read (and drink) her way through all 42 volumes this month. Realizing that the rest us us are not this crazy ambitious, she has set up alternate levels of participation:


Curious – Read 1 novella
Fascinated — Read 3 novellas
Captivated – Read 6 novellas
Passionate — Read 9 novellas
Mesmerized – Read 15 novellas
Obsessed – Read 21 novellas
Fanatical – Read 27 novellas
Unstoppable — Read 33 novellas
Bibliomaniac — Read all 42 novellas


August is a busy month around here. Moving kids to and from internships and colleges will occupy a minimum of three weekends, but at least ten novellas have caught my eye. Since I'm a realist, I'll play it safe and sign up for the "curious" level, while still entertaining hopes of advancing to "fascinated".

An Austen craving had me pulling Lady Susan down from the shelf last night to get things started. Within just a few pages, I read:

"...but where there is a disposition to dislike a motive will never be wanting..."

Jane's wit and wisdom shine though even in her 'minor' works. This is going to be fun...

Melville House is collecting links to all challenge posts here, so stop by and see what everyone is reading.

It's Verity and Ken's Wedding Day!

Verity and Ken are getting married today!  To celebrate, here is a video of Paul Stookey singing "The Wedding Song." Yes, Peter Paul and Mary are oldies (even for me), but no wedding is complete without this traditional favorite.

Congratulations Verity and Ken. I wish you a lifetime of happiness!