Leo Tolstoy’s novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, is arguably the most famous of his shorter works.  Published in 1886, it was universally hailed as a masterpiece, a clear-eyed account of Society, societal deceit, family politics and of the almost universal compact among the wealthier classes to ignore the inevitability of death.

Ivan Ilyich is a successful judge, whose shallow existence revolves around comfort, status and propriety; his personal relationships are shallow, selfish and entirely materialistic.  This smug, self-satisfied life is shattered when...