In the last two days of his own life, Peter Carson completed these new translations of The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Confession before he succumbed to cancer in January 2013. Carson, the eminent British publisher, editor, and translator who, in the words of his author Mary Beard, had probably more influence on the literary landscape of England] over the past fifty years than any other single person, must have seen the irony of translating Ilyich, Tolstoy s profound meditation on death and loss, but he pressed on regardless, apparently refusing to be distracted by the parallel of literature...