Ep. 11 - Tolstoy: The Death of Ivan Ilyich
The Ralston College Podcast
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The Impossibility of Death
In the depth of his heart, Ivan Yilij knew he was dying. He simply did not and could not grasp it. The syllogism that Kies is a man, men are mortal, therefore Kies is mortal had always seemed to him correct as applied to Kies but certainly not as applied to himself. But he was not Kies, not an abstract man, but a creature quite separate from all others. It cannot be that I ought to die, that would be too terrible. Such was his feeling. If I had to die like Kies, I would have known it was so. An inner voice would have told me so, but there was nothing of the sword
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