The End

"The Death of Ivan Ilyich"

Before we launch in: I got the sweetest, funniest message from Joy Williams in response to my idiotic mistake. Which just goes to show that, sometimes, yes, great writing does come from a great (generous, kind, forgiving) nature.

Thank you, Joy, for your work and your example.

By now, we should all have read The Death of Ivan Ilyich through to the ending.

And what an ending it is.

Again: so much to say about this story but I think what I’ll do here is lay out a few things for us to think about, and then I’ll look forward to reading your comments about the whole story and, especially, how the ending hit you.

Also in the comments, please feel free to ask questions about the story, that you’d like to see me, and us, take up next week – even if it’s just making the case for a closer discussion of a certain passage or idea.

I used to do a version of this when teaching the Russian stories at Syracuse: just stand at the chalkboard, logging the student’s questions, especially about things that struck them as unclear or confusing, or places where they found themselves moved, or which captured their attention technically, or made them excited about their own work.

The theory is, if it caught your eye, there’s something there for you – something worth digging at, for the benefit of your work.