They Put the Wrong Russian Author in my Existentialism Classes
I used to think Tolstoy was my favourite writer but I've not read nearly enough of his work to say that. I can say he's my favourite Russian writer. And I can say that I think this is an existentialist masterpiece, surpassing the acclaim given to Dostoevsky in that regard.
Ivan displays a perfect lack of authenticity, falling through his superficial life. He acts his part in society, he even acts it well, using his life and trials to obscure deeper realities and more important questions. He has fun sure, and struggles hard like many to do what is expected of him. Yet Ivan purposefully avoids the fact of his death until it imposes itself upon him, evading the key question "there is no explanation, agony, death .... what for?" until the bitter, lonely end. 'We must all face death alone' yet maybe we can do that better prepared, with greater compassion and grace.
Ivan lives selfishly and shallowly until a final act of compassion for his family, maybe the only one he ever makes. He takes the sacrament to help his wife's suffering not his own, and recognises the love of his boy, feels his sorrow for him, knowing that it is better that he dies now for them. This act for others not himself actually eases his passing, in mind if not in body.
The avoidance of the fact of your death, a ubiquitous modern mindset, or being-unto-death as Heidegger may term it, is displayed by Ivan, but even more concretely by his acquaintance Peter Ivanovich. Peter, after a terrifying few moments contemplating that this may happen to him, consoles himself with the fact that it happened to Ivan and that he has no need to worry, immediately switching back to mundane everyday thoughts. This rationalisation and repression is played out for Ivan over the months of his impending doom, he knows yet he searches for cures, always avoiding the facts and not acting to change his life in a meaningful way.
It is maybe here that some people lose Tolstoy. I can see the argument for the importance of (some) Christian ideals in his work, living for others, especially the ones you love and finding a higher purpose. These ideals need not be Christian in my mind, Meaning being created by humans and their social relations. Indeed, modern secular science has decent evidence that living for others, having a purpose and strong social connections are all clear predictors of longevity - it is good for us physically not just spiritually as Tolstoy is driving at here. They could be directly linked of course. I think Tolstoy can be read ambiguously here, spirituality is more personal and more universal than religion in my mind.
There are also wonderful studies of how psychedelic assisted therapy for terminally ill patients eases passing. The key drivers are a connectedness with a larger universe, and a deeper sense of meaning for their lives. We should remember, we are all born terminally ill. Ivan made only superficial connections even with his family, and his life's meaning was transparently meaningless to him before his end, wasted chasing 'trifles'.
It's Tolstoy, so there are moments of brilliant writing, one section riffing of Newton's laws of gravitation but in relation to death "an inverse ratio to the square to the distance of death' when describing the feeling of life passing faster an faster jumped out at me. I have felt that even at my 36 years. Modern science can even measure it.
I immediately went to read Dostoevsky, only 'Notes from Underground' - not the ideal companion piece to this. But I can't shake the feeling that Tolstoy towers over him. Not just for the grand works, but even in more modernist novellas like this. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4846517333?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Oh one last thing, so short! Haha from the man of "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" refreshing.