The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy

"Ivan Ilyich's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible."

Ivan Ilyich is a high-court judge who has lived his life exactly as society expected: pursuing career, status, and comfort. But when he is struck by a mysterious, terminal illness, he is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence. As he lies dying in pain, isolated from his shallow family, he realizes that his entire 'decent' life has been a lie.

Tolstoy's novella is one of the most powerful examinations of death in literature. It is a terrifying and ultimately redemptive story about the difference between living authentically and merely existing according to social convention.