Which Tolstoy novella follows the final days of Ivan Ilyich, a high-court judge?

The Death of Ivan Ilyich follows the final days of Ivan Ilyich, a high-court judge.

Tolstoy’s novella begins after Ivan’s death, when colleagues learn the news and think about its practical consequences. The narrative then moves backward to examine his respectable career, marriage, social ambitions, illness, and growing awareness that his life may have been morally empty.

The work was published in 1886 and is widely regarded as one of Tolstoy’s greatest shorter works. Its central concern is not identifying a medical diagnosis but confronting mortality and the difference between social respectability and authentic living.

Ivan’s pain and fear are described with psychological intensity, while the people around him often respond with discomfort or self-interest. The novella’s title is sometimes shortened in conversation, but the complete canonical English title is The Death of Ivan Ilyich.