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Zusatztext “Excellent. . . . The duo has managed to convey the rather simple elegance of Tolstoy’s prose.” — The New Criterion “[Tolstoy’s] late style is leaner! his forms more spare! but this is also the economy of achieved mastery. He does more with less! and the Tolstoyan sounds! instantly recognizable! are still there. . . . [Pevear and Volokhonsky’s] new version is more flexible! individuated! immediate.” — The Nation “ The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories is a great collection well translated. As a lover of Tolstoy’s work! one couldn’t ask for more! and I can’t recommend it highly enough.” —André Alexis! The Globe and Mail Informationen zum Autor Leo Tolstoy Klappentext A vibrant translation of Tolstoy's most important short fiction by the award-winning translators of War and Peace. Here are eleven masterful stories from the mature author, some autobiographical, others moral parables, and all told with the evocative power that was Tolstoy's alone. They include "The Prisoner of the Caucasus," inspired by Tolstoy's own experiences as a soldier in the Chechen War, "Hadji Murat," the novella Harold Bloom called "the best story in the world," "The Devil," a fascinating tale of sexual obsession, and the celebrated "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," an intense and moving examination of death and the possibilities of redemption. Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation captures the richness, immediacy, and multiplicity of Tolstoy's language, and reveals the author as a passionate moral guide, an unflinching seeker of truth, and ultimately, a creator of enduring and universal art.CHAPTER 1 In the large building housing the Law Courts, during a recess in the Melvinsky proceedings, members of the court and the public prosecutor met in the office of Ivan Egorovich Shebek, where the conversation turned on the celebrated Krasov case. Fyodor Vasilyevich vehemently denied that it was subject to their jurisdiction, Ivan Egorovich clung to his own view, while Pyotr Ivanovich, who had taken no part in the dispute from the outset, glanced through a copy of the News that had just been delivered. "Gentlemen!" he said. "Ivan Ilyich is dead." "Really?" "Here, read this," he said to Fyodor Vasilyevich, handing him the fresh issue, still smelling of printer's ink. Framed in black was the following announcement: "With profound sorrow Praskovya Fyodorovna Golovina informs relatives and acquaintances that her beloved husband, Ivan Ilyich Golovin, Member of the Court of Justice, passed away on the 4th of February, 1882. The funeral will be held on Friday at one o'clock." Ivan Ilyich had been a colleague of the gentlemen assembled here and they had all been fond of him. He had been ill for some weeks and his disease was said to be incurable. His post had been kept open for him, but it had been speculated that in the event of his death Alekseev might be appointed to his place and either Vinnikov or Shtabel succeed Alekseev. And so the first thought that occurred to each of the gentlemen in this office, learning of Ivan Ilyich's death, was what effect it would have on their own transfers and promotions or those of their acquaintances. "Now I'm sure to get Shtabel's post or Vinnikov's," thought Fyodor Vasilyevich. "It was promised to me long ago, and the promotion will mean an increase of eight hundred rubles in salary plus an allowance for office expenses." "I must put in a request to have my brother-in-law transferred from Kaluga," thought Pyotr Ivanovich. "My wife will be very happy. Now she won't be able to say I never do anything for her family." "I had a feeling he'd never get over it," said Pyotr Ivanovich. "Sad." "What, exactly, was the matter with him?" "The doctors couldn't decide. That is, they decided, but in different ways. When I last saw him...
