A Fully Glossed Russian Text of “The Death of Ivan Ilich” with Explanatory and Interpretive Annotations
Chapter 4
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- Tolstoy uses the Russian equivalent of "mood" ("raspolozhenie duxa," lit., "disposition of spirit") to indicate that a physical symptom may be a sign of spiritual distress. In this way it is suggested that Ivan Ilich's physical illness is actually a symbol of his spiritual distress, the "consciousness" of which is only now, once his ideal of life has finally been reached, beginning to make itself known to him. ↵
- The first few paragraphs of chapter four present Ivan Ilich as experiencing symptoms very similar to those exhibited by Praskovya Fyodorovna when she was pregnant: the well-known "morning sickness" in pregnancy is reflected in Ivan Ilich's difficulties with taking food and the strange taste in his mouth; the increasing sense of pressure and weight in the abdomen is also common to both experiences. Most striking of all is the common behavior patterns of the two, the sudden outbursts, the demands, and the vulgar scenes. As though to point up these similarities the text reports that Praskovya Fyodorovna asserts, with her usual exaggeration, that Ivan Ilich had always had a "terrible character," and that it had needed all her good nature to put up with it for twenty years (i.e., since the time of her first pregnancy). The text continues by noting that "what was true was that now their quarrels were started by him" (thereby suggesting a comparison with those quarrels of twenty years before which were started by her). In this way the onset of Ivan Ilich's illness, which culminates in his death, is linked to the onset of pregnancy, which culminates in the birth of new life. ↵
- This is the first of several phrases and incidents in the novel that can be understood as allusions to the story of the death by crucifixion of Jesus as reported in the New Testament. This set of motifs in the story is discussed by various scholars, including the present author ("A Note on the Miracle Motifs in the Later Works of Lev Tolstoi." In The Supernatural in Slavic and Baltic Literatures: Essays in Honor of Victor Terras, 191-99. Columbus, Ohio: Slavica Publishers, 1988). The presence of these allusions in the text is challenging, because the miracle of the Resurrection--that people are saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus--was explicitly denied by Tolstoy in his study of the Gospels (e.g., in The Gospel in Brief, A Harmonization and Translation of the Four Gospels, and What I Believe). I will indicate these allusions as such as the text progresses. ↵
- Note the explicit comparison which the text offers between the cold and impersonal treatment Ivan Ilich receives from the doctors and that which he himself accorded to those whom he encountered in his own official capacity. A strict reading of the Russian text says that the behavior of the doctor toward him as patient was "the very same as that which he knew in himself in court." A few lines later we read: "It was all just as it was in the law courts. The doctor put on just the same air towards him as he himself put on towards an accused person." The text is so emphatic and unambiguous on this point that the reader must conclude that it is important to come to the conclusion that Ivan Ilich's life has been just as much a sham and just as disconnected from the real life and real concerns of individual people as the doctors' lives are now shown to be. ↵
- The Russian text has it that "it was not a question about the life of Ivan Ilich." The suggestion seems to be that the doctors are not concerned about the life of their patient, but only about the identification of his illness. The distinction between health and illness now asserts itself at the expense of the distinction between life and death. In one sense, then, the novel has two levels of concern. On one level we are offered the story of Ivan Ilich's progress from health to illness to death; on another level we are dealing with a concern about the proper distinction between life and death. The first, and more superficial, level invites a three-part structuring of the narrative, the other a two-part structuring. It is one of the compositional distinctions of The Death of Ivan Ilich that Tolstoy has enabled the simultaneous co-existence of these two patterns of organization. ↵
- Note that Ivan Ilich has now changed from a patient to a man on trial as the comparison between the doctor's office and the court has now been realized. The Russian word "podsudimyj" ("defendant; an accused") etymologically means "subject to judgement"; this reminds us of the indications in Chapter One that it would be the reader's role to judge of the life of Ivan Ilich. ↵
- The extensive description of Ivan Ilich's relationship with his doctor makes it clear that the doctor is quite unequal both to the treatment of his patient's illness and to the meeting of his emotional needs. The text here states that Ivan Ilich "still" obeyed the doctor's instructions, reminding us of the confusion and apparent incompetence of the doctor and his office described in the preceding paragraph. Even so, Ivan Ilich attempts to continue to follow doctor's orders, apparently hoping that by going through the "proper channels" the desired result of full recovery might be assured. Thus, his first attempts to come to grips with his illness resemble the efforts that he made within the system to seek redress when he was, unfairly as he thought, passed over for promotion. On that occasion following the approved procedure had availed him not at all; his recovery of his appropriate (in his view) position in the service came about almost miraculously, through an entirely unexpected and, from Ivan Il'ch's point of view, extremely fortunate change in the leadership of the ministry. So here in dealing with his illness the prescribed, approved measures will fail to produce recovery; before the end, Ivan Ilich will consider going to a religious shrine to seek a miraculous cure. Even this second major failure of the artificial system of life to which Ivan Ilich is dedicated, however, fails to lead him at once to the obvious conclusion--that his pleasant, seemly, official life is not a real life and offers no help for or protection from the vicissitudes of that real life. At this point Ivan Ilich can still derive some comfort from the thought that he is doing what he is supposed to do and still hoping that this seemly action within the system will produce the desired results. ↵
- Thus, it is suggested that all of his efforts to recover by taking approved steps within the limits of the life which he has developed for himself are just so much self-deception, and the implication of this would naturally be that his life as a whole is just as much a self-deception as his attempts to follow doctor's orders. ↵
- From this passage one might well infer a connection between Ivan Ilich's illness and the episodes of Praskovya Fyodorovna's first pregnancy and his being passed over for promotion at work. All three have in common that they reveal that Ivan Ilich's understanding and expectations of life are entirely faulty and not congruent with life as it actually is. Life is actually not analogous to a game of cards, but Ivan Ilich seems quite unable to understand this! ↵
- Ivan Ilich's underlying belief that vint is a perfect analogue of life is made virtually explicit here. This passage emphasizes yet again the point that the card game, the symbol of Ivan Ilich's life as he has lived it so pleasantly until now, is ridiculously incommensurate with life as it actually is. The further implication is that the pain and the putrid taste in his mouth, the symptoms of his disease, are functioning as symbols of the call away from the false life of the card game and, by implication, toward the true life. In this sense, Ivan Ilich's illness brings him into life as much as it leads him out of it. This apparent confusion can only be resolved by supposing that the text is suggesting that there are two forms of life--one false and the other true. The card game stands for that false life of pleasant superficiality and the other a true life where suffering and illness are real and personal, but so also, potentially, are joy and well-being. ↵
- Here is one of the first signs that Ivan Ilich is at some level aware of the idea that he may be not just sick, but dying. His unanswered question for the doctor, "Is my condition dangerous," hinted at this, but here he feels that something is killing him, and that "something" is the imperfection of his life as he understands it and also his own unrestrainable anger at those imperfections. In this way the text introduces the first subtle suggestion that what is killing him is the life he leads. ↵
- Ivan Ilich means to say that his shilly-shallying over which of the various treatments to follow has come to an end and that he is resolved to stick faithfully to one treatment in order to treat his illness. In other words, he has decided that he is only ill and that the treatment, if followed strictly, will make him well. And yet this thought, "Now it is finished," is phrased so as to foreshadow exactly the words that Ivan Ilich, at the moment of his death in Chapter Twelve, will hear spoken above him: "It is finished." The phrasing suggests that perhaps Ivan Ilich is at this point not just sick, but in fact already as good as dead. We remember his feeling that the little upsets of his life at home and work were "killing" him. This suggestion that Ivan Ilich is already as good as dead, even though he is still alive, will be offered again and again in the next couple of chapters and may well lead to the conclusion that Ivan Ilich's "life" is in fact really a form of death. ↵
- Ivan Ilich means, of course that he will spend no more time considering which of the various treatments to follow. But the reader is becoming more and more familiar with the device of suggestive contrast between the superficial, conventional, contextualized meaning of a statement and its more pointed underlying significance. Here that underlying meaning is "I will stop thinking"; that is, Ivan Ilich resolves to deal with his troubles by abandoning the only mechanism which has any chance of alerting him to the fact that his real illness is that his life, as he has lived it, is no more genuine and substantial than a game of cards. Fortunately for him, Ivan Ilich proves unable to stop thinking. The final four chapters of the novel, in fact, are mainly an extended record of his thoughts, and it is that persistent thinking which finally leads to the resolution of "that which had been besetting him from all sides." ↵
- It has been noted that references to the passion of Jesus are to be found in this text. This paragraph has two of them: the Russian words "sovershalos'" and "koncheno" are the equivalents to the words of Jesus from the cross which English-language Bibles translate as "It is finished" (John 19:30). "Sovershilos'" is the word established for this use in the Russian Orthodox Church in Tolstoy's time; "koncheno" is the word used by Tolstoy in his own translation (in the early 1880s) of the Gospels in "Soedinenie i perevod chetyrex evangelij" ("Harmonization and Translation of the Four Gospels") ↵
- It is noteworthy that it is Schwartz--the person who is most vibrantly alive--is most irritating to Ivan Ilich. A bit later we will find that another character--the servant Gerasim--possesses this same "aliveness," as shown by his perfect teeth, his unfailing energy, and his springy step, and yet Gerasim has quite the opposite effect on Ivan Ilich. He is comforted by Gerasim, and only by Gerasim, rather than irritated by him. We wonder: what is the difference between Schwartz's "aliveness" and Gerasim's. Perhaps it is that Schwartz's life is "playful" (lit., like a game) and comme il faut (conventional, artificial) and therefore unreal, an illusion, just as Ivan Ilich's life had always been "ten years ago," before he got sick. The logic of this is oblique and deeply buried, but its effect is to suggest that Ivan Ilich's life as he has known it is not really life at all, and it is sickness that is showing this to him. ↵
Everyone was healthy
(It) was impossible to call ill health
that Ivan Ilich would say sometimes
that he has a strange taste in (his) mouth
and something wrong in the left side of his abdomen
But (it) happened that this wrongness began to increase
and to go over not into pain yet
but into a consciousness of a constant burden in (his) side
and into a bad mood (lit., disposition of spirit)
This bad mood, growing ever stronger and stronger
began to spoil the pleasantness of the graceful (lit., easy, light) and decorous life which had been established in the household of the Golovins
Husband and wife began more and more often to quarrel
and soon the easiness and pleasantness had fallen away
and with hard work was maintained only the decorousness
Scenes again became more frequent
Again were left only islands, and (very) few of those
on which husband and wife could come together without an explosion
And Praskovya Fyodorovna now not without basis would say
that her husband has a difficult (lit., heavy) character
With the characteristic-of-her habit of exaggerating she would say
that such a terrible character had always been (there)
that it is required (to show) her kindness
in order to bear this for twenty years
The truth was that the quarrels were now started by him
His pangs began always right before dinner
and often, just when he was beginning to eat, during the soup (course)
Now he would notice that something of the dishware was spoiled
now the food was not right
now (his) son had put his elbow on the table
now his daughter's hairdo
And in everything he blamed Praskovya Fyodorovna
Praskovya Fyodorovna at first would object and speak to him unpleasantly (lit., say to him unpleasantnesses)
but he once or twice during the beginning of dinner came into such a rage
that she understood that this is a diseased condition
which is evoked in him by the taking of food
and (she) resigned herself; (she) no longer would object, and only hastened to eat (her) dinner
Praskovya Fyodorovna considered (lit., put to herself) her restraint as a great merit
Having decided that her husband has a terrible character and has made a misfortune of her life
she began to pity herself
And the more she pitied herself
the more (she) hated (her) husband
She began to wish that he would die
but (she) could not wish that
because then there would be no salary
And this still more irritated her against him
She considered herself frightfully unhappy
just for the reason that even his death could not save her
and she was irritated, (she) concealed this, and this concealed irritation of hers strengthened his irritation
After one (such) scene
in which Ivan Ilich had been particularly unjust
and after which he too in explaining said
that he is just irritable
but that this is from the disease
she said to him that if he is sick then it is necessary to be cured
and (she) demanded from him that he would go to a celebrated doctor
He went
Everything was as he expected
everything was just as (it) always happens
Both the waiting, and the affected, doctorly self-importance, familiar to him
the very same which he knew in himself in court
and the tapping (i.e., palpating), and the listening
and the questions, which demand determined in advance and, evidently, unnecessary answers
and the significant expression, which suggested
that you, it says, only submit yourself to us
and we will arrange everything
among us (it) is well known and indubitable how to arrange everything
everything in the same way for every person, whomever (you) wish
Everything was just the same as in court
As he in court adopted (a certain) expression above (i.e., while looking down on) the accused
just so above (i.e., while looking down on) him the celebrated doctor also adopted (that) expression
The doctor said, such-and-such and such-and-such indicates
that you have inside such-and-such and such-and-such
but if this will not be confirmed by tests of such-and-such and such-and-such
then in your case it is necessary to suppose such-and-such and such-and-such
If on the other hand to suppose such-and-such
then . . . and so forth
For Ivan Ilich only one question was important
is his position dangerous or not
But the doctor ignored that out-of-place question
From the point of view of the doctor
this question was pointless and not subject to discussion
only the weighing up of probabilities existed
of a floating kidney, of chronic catarrh, and of diseases of the blind gut (i.e., of the appendix)
It was not a question of the life of Ivan Ilich
but there was (rather) an argument between a floating kidney and a blind gut
And this argument the doctor resolved in a brilliant fashion before the eyes of (i.e., in such a way that it was obvious to) Ivan Ilich in favor of the blind gut
having made the qualification that a test of the urine may give new indications
and that then (i.e., in that case) the matter will be re-examined
All this was point-for-point the very same
that Ivan Ilich himself had done a thousand times above the accused (i.e., the judge in court sits on a dais elevated above the others in the room) in just such a brilliant manner
Just as brilliantly did the doctor make his summing up and triumphantly, even gaily, having looked (down) over his glasses at the accused
From the summing up of the doctor Ivan Ilich drew the conclusion
that it is bad for him (i.e., that it looks bad for him) and that for him, for the doctor, and let's suppose also for everyone (else) it makes no difference (lit., it is all the same), but for him (i.e., for Ivan Ilich) it is bad
And this conclusion painfully struck Ivan Ilich
having evoked in him a feeling of great pity for himself
and (a feeling) of great malice against that indifferent-to-such-an-important-question doctor
But he said nothing
and (he) got up, put money on the table, and, having sighed, said
We, the ill, probably often ask (lit., make) you out-of-place questions
said he
In general, is this a dangerous illness or not
The doctor sternly looked at him with one eye through his glasses
as if saying
defendant, if you will not remain (with)in the bounds of the questions being put to you
I will be forced to make arrangement(s) for the removal of you from the courtroom
I have already told you that which (I) considered necessary and proper
said the doctor
(Anything) further will be shown by the test
And the doctor bowed
Ivan Ilich went out slowly
mournfully (he) got (lit., sat down) into the sleigh and set off (for) home
The whole road (home) he without ceasing went over everything that the doctor had said
trying to translate all these confusing, unclear scientific words into simple language
and to read in them an answer to the question
is it bad, is it very bad for me, or is it still nothing
And to him (it) seemed that the sense of everything said by the doctor was this
that (it) is very bad
Everything seemed sad to Ivan Ilich (out) on the streets
The cab drivers were sad
the buildings are sad, the passers-by, the shops are sad
And the pain, the dull, gnawing pain, not for a second ceasing
(it) seemed (the pain), in connection with the unclear speeches of the doctor, received a different, more serious significance
Ivan Ilich with a new, heavy feeling now paid heed to it (i.e., to the pain)
He arrived home and began to tell (his) wife
(His) wife heard him out, but in the middle of his story the daughter came in in a hat
she was ready to go out with (her) mother
She with an effort sat down nearby to listen to this boring stuff
but (she) didn't hold out for long
and (her) mother didn't (manage to) listen to all of it (either)
Well, I am very glad, said the wife
so now you watch it, take your medicine exactly (as prescribed)
Give me the prescription, I'll send Gerasim to the pharmacy
And she went to put on her coat (lit., get dressed)
He hadn't drawn a breath while she was in the room
and sighed heavily when she had gone out
Well so what, said he
Maybe it really is still nothing
He began to take medicine
to fulfill the doctor's directions, which changed in accordance with the test of the urine
But just at this point it happened
that in this test and in that which was supposed to follow it some kind of confusion emerged
(It) was not possible to get to (i.e., to get in touch with) the doctor himself
and it turned out (that) what was happening was not what the doctor told him
Either he forgot (something), or (he) got it wrong, or (he) was hiding something from him
But Ivan Ilich even so fulfilled the instructions exactly
and in this fulfillment (he) found consolation for the first little while
The main occupation of Ivan Ilich from the time of his visit to the doctor
became the exact fulfillment of the doctor's directions
regarding hygiene and the taking of medicines and paying attention to his pain, to all the functions of (his) organism
The main interests of Ivan Ilich became people's illnesses and people's health
When(ever) in his presence (people) talked about sick people, about (those who) had died, about (those who) had recovered
particularly about such an illness which resembled his own
he, trying to conceal his agitation
would pay close attention, would ask questions, and would apply (what he heard) to his own illness
The pain did not decrease
but Ivan Ilich made an effort over himself
in order to force himself to think that he is better
and he could fool himself
as long as nothing upset him
But as soon as (there) would occur an unpleasantness with (his) wife, a failure at the office, bad cards at vint
so immediately he would feel the full strength of his illness
(It) used to be, he would bear with these failures
expecting that very soon (I) will fix up (whatever is) bad
(I) will struggle, (I) will persist until I succeed (lit., I will wait until success), a grand slam
Now, however, every failure (i.e., anything that failed to be just what he thought it should) would seem to be the last straw (lit., would mow him down) and would plunge (him) into despair
He would tell himself
here I have just begun to get better (lit., to make myself right) and the medicine has already begun to act
and here is this damned misfortune or unpleasantness
and he would be mad at the misfortune or at the people who had done him the unpleasantnesses and (who) are killing him
and (he) would feel that this anger (lit., sense of malice) is killing him
but he couldn't hold back from it
(It) would seem (it) should have been clear to him
that this bitter animosity of his against circumstances and people is strengthening his illness
and that therefore for him (it) is necessary not to pay attention to unpleasant happenstances
but he made a completely opposite judgement
he would say that he needed calm
(he) watched out for everything that would disturb this calm
and at every smallest disturbance (he) would become irritated (lit., would come into (a state of) irritation)
(It) worsened his position that he read medical books and consulted doctors
The worsening (of his condition) went along so gradually (lit., evenly)
that he was able to fool himself
comparing one day with the next (there) was little difference
But when he consulted the doctors
then it seemed to him that (his illness) is getting worse (lit., going to the worse) and even very quickly
And despite this he was constantly consulting doctors
In this month he visited another celebrity
(this) other celebrity said almost the same (thing) as the first
but (he, the celebrity) posed the questions differently
And the consultation with this celebrity only intensified the doubt and fear of Ivan Ilich
A friend of his friend--a very good doctor
that (one) in still (another) completely different way diagnosed (his) illness
and despite the fact that (he) promised recovery
with his questions and suppositions (he) still more confused Ivan Ilich and strengthened his doubt
A homeopath in still another way diagnosed the illness and gave (him) medicine
and Ivan Ilich, secretly from everyone, took it for about a week
But after a week not having felt (any) relief
and having lost confidence both in (his) former treatments and in this (new one)
(he) became still more depressed (lit., came into still more sorrow)
Once a lady acquaintance was telling him about healing by (wonderworking) icons
Ivan Ilich found himself at (such a point)
that he listened attentively and was giving credence to the actuality of the fact (i.e., taking the idea of healing icons seriously)
This occurrence frightened him
Have I really gotten so mentally weak
said he to himself
Nonsense
(It's) all foolishness
(I) must not give way to hypochondria
but, having selected one physician
(I must) strictly hold myself to his treatment
That is just what I shall do
Now (it) is finished
(I) will stop thinking (about it) and until summer (I) will strictly fulfill the treatment
And there (it) will be obvious
Now is the end to these waverings
It was easy to say this
but impossible to fulfill (it)
The pain in (his) side always wore him down
always was as if getting stronger
(the pain) was becoming constant, the taste in (his) mouth was becoming ever more strange
to him (it) seemed that (there) came a smell of something repulsive out of his mouth
and (his) appetite and (his physical) strength grew ever weaker
(It) was impossible to fool himself
something frightful, new, and so significant, than which (anything) more significant had never happened to (lit., been with) Ivan Ilich in (his) life
(something frightful, etc.) was accomplishing itself in him
And he alone knew about this
all (of those) surrounding (him), however, did not understand or did not want to understand
and (they) thought that everything in the world is going on as formerly
This very thing above all tormented Ivan Ilich
The members of the household--mainly (his) wife and daughter, who were in a whirlwind (lit., in full swing) of visits
he saw (that they) did not understand anything
(he saw that they) were annoyed at the fact that he is so downcast and demanding, as though he was to blame for this
Although they even tried to hide this
he saw that he is to them a hindrance
but that (his) wife had worked out for herself a certain relationship towards his illness
and (she) held to it no matter (lit., independently from) what(ever) he said and did
This relationship was such (i.e., worked this way)
You know, she would say to acquaintances
Ivan Ilich cannot, as all good people (can), strictly fulfill the prescribed treatment
Today he will take his drops and eats what is prescribed
and (he) will lie down (i.e., go to bed)on time
tomorrow suddenly, if I will overlook (i.e., if I should happen not to check up on him), (he) will forget to take (the drops)
(he) will eat some sturgeon (and it is not prescribed for him), and (he) will even sit at vint until one o'clock (in the morning)
Well, when (was this)
Ivan Ilich will say with annoyance
One time at Peter Ivanovich's
And yesterday with Shebek
All the same I could not sleep from the pain (anyway)
Well whatever may have been the reason (for it)
only in that way you never will get well and (you) are tormenting us
The surface relationship, expressed to others and to him himself, of Praskovya Fyodorovna to the illness of (her) husband was this way
that for this illness Ivan Ilich is to blame, and the whole illness is a new unpleasantness, which he is making for (his) wife
Ivan Ilich sensed that this would come out of her unwillingly
but from that (i.e., even if that was so) (it) was not easier for him
In court Ivan Ilich would notice or thought, that he notices
the same strange relationship to himself
now to him (it) seemed that (people) are looking upon him
as upon a person having soon to vacate his position
now suddenly his friends would start, in a friendly way, joking about his hypochondria
as if that thing, something terrible and dreadful, unheard of
(something) that had gotten under way inside him and without ceasing sucks (at) him and ineluctably draws (him) somewhere
(as if that thing) is the most pleasant object for a joke
Particularly Schwartz (with) his playfulness, liveliness, and comme-il-fautness
(which qualities) reminded Ivan Ilich of himself (as he had been) ten years before
(particularly Schwartz) irritated him
Friends would come over to make up a party (for vint)
(they) would take their seats
The new cards were dealt and limbered up, diamonds were sorted to diamonds, seven of them
(His) partner had bid No Trump and had two diamonds in support
What else (do you want)
(It) should have been fun, lively--a slam
And suddenly Ivan Ilich feels this sucking pain
this taste in (his) mouth
and to him something savage presents itself in that during this (i.e., the pain, the bad taste) he can rejoice in the slam
He looks at Mikhail Mikhailovich, (his) partner, as he (i.e., the partner) knocks on the table with a sanguine hand
and politely and patronizingly restrains himself from gathering up the tricks
and pushes them towards Ivan Ilich, in order to give him the pleasure of collecting them
without (Ivan's) having to trouble himself (too much) by stretching out his arm (too) far
Whatever does he think, that I am so weak that I cannot stretch my arm out (that) far
thinks Ivan Ilich
(he) forgets (what is) trump and trumps his own trick (that is, he wastes a trump on a trick that he has already won) and loses the slam, going down three
and what is more terrible than anything is this that he sees howMikhail Mikhailovich is suffering, and to himself it makes no difference (lit., it is all the same)
And (it) is terrible to think, why it makes no difference to him
All see that it is hard for him and say to him
We can stop (lit., cut (it) short) if you are tired
You (should) rest
Rest
No, he has not gotten tired at all
they play out the rubber
All are gloomy and quiet
Ivan Ilich feels that he has loosed on them this gloom and cannot (do anything) to dissipate it
They have supper and go their separate ways
and Ivan Ilich remains alone with the consciousness that his life is poisoned for him
and is poisoning the life of others
and that this poison is not getting weaker
but ever more and more is penetrating his entire being
And with this consciousness, and also with physical pain, and also with terror
(it) was (still) necessary to lie down in bed and often not to sleep on account of the pain for the greater part of the night
And in the morning (it) was necessary again to get up, to get dressed, to go to court, to talk, to write
and even if not to go, (it was still necessary) to be at home with the very same twenty-four hours in the day, of which every (one) was a torment
And (it) was necessary to live this way, on the edge of perishing, (all) alone
without one person who would understand and feel sorry for him
