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/lit/ - Literature

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16818649 No.16818649 [Reply] [Original]

>more profound than almost all fiction combined
most not honest enough to admit it but it's true

>> No.16818653

>>16818649
it's so fucking good

>> No.16818801

I keep on getting reminded to read this, I'll get around to it eventually

>> No.16818810

>>16818801
get it on audiobook and go for a long walk with a nice view

>> No.16818814

>>16818649
This one hit my dad with depression and I believe he never recovers from reading it.

>> No.16818827

this is what Stoner could've been if it were actually good
>Stoner: protagonist cuck whose life is a failure; copes by imagining himself a camusian absurd hero who displayed "radical bravery" in his battle with the world.
>Ivan Ilyitch: life is a failure; faces the truth about his sinful life & undergoes spiritual awakening. Finds redemption when his soul returns to God.

>> No.16818828

>>16818814
he should read it again and so should you

>> No.16818843

>>16818828
Why? It's plenty depressing the first time around. I think the older you get, the worse reading that story affects you

>> No.16818858

>>16818843
not if you take the message of it to live the life you truly want, and that it's never too late to start and change your mindset, even if it's moments before death

>> No.16818909

>>16818649
It’s Tolstoy’s best work undoubtedly. The only time he comes close to Dostoyevsky’s soul

>> No.16818996

>>16818858
That's a very optimistic reading. The main character didn't live his best all his life but he was a good husband, a good father and a good member of society. His death however is stupidly mundane and shows how little someone can care about their most loved one, even though they love them dearly. The wife and the daughter can't spend their whole life grieving for his death, they have his life to live and and he only had his to grieve. In the end the ultimate message is no matter how well you live you'll end up regret it all and suffer when you see the inevitable death coming. Knowing that beforehand doesn't help. You can live like a hippie in the wood and tell yourself you have lived your best life with no regret. But when the time comes and death is before us, we are all miserable just the same.

>> No.16819026

>>16818649
I'm reading family happiness rn, then gonna read this one.

>> No.16819058

>>16818996
>In the end the ultimate message is no matter how well you live you'll end up regret it
that's LITERALLY not AT ALL what the message of the book is you brain-dead zoomer.

>> No.16819153

>>16819058
Calling someone a brain dead zoomer doesn't make your opinion very respectable. But do tell, what do you think is the CORRECT reading of this piece of literature?

>> No.16819176

>>16818996
You should read Either/Or by Kierkegaard if you have the time. It deals with this regret.

>> No.16819210

>>16819153
Nabokov summarized it pretty well
>The Tolstoyan formula is: Ivan lived a bad life and since the bad life is nothing but the death of the soul, then Ivan lived a living death; and since beyond death is God's living light, then Ivan died into a new life – Life with a capital L

>> No.16819265

>>16819210
Makes sense given the religious theme in Tolstoy work. But that doesn't make it less depressing for people who haven't completely made the leap of faith.

>> No.16819505

>>16818649
Best translation?

>> No.16819533
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16819533

>>16818649
>literally the In The End of literature.