Clear all
Work #1157 · Late

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy
1886 · Russian
Novella · Russian literature / Christian-anarchist literature

Tolstoy's 1886 novella — the dying magistrate Ivan Ilyich and the failure of conventional life

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Late)
Time · Extent Finite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Variable
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Passive
Observer · Number Singular
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Variable
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Variable
Information · Personal Conservation Variable
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

The narrative time of Ivan Ilyich's dying weeks.

Space

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

The Russian-Imperial professional-bourgeois household and bedroom of the dying magistrate.

Matter

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

The dying body of Ivan Ilyich whose decline the novella traces.

Observer

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Ivan Ilyich as participant-observer of his own dying.

Energy

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

The fading-bodily energies of the dying man.

Information

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

The narrative-philosophical content of the novella.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

The Death of Ivan Ilyich has been universally canonical — major influence on Heidegger's Being and Time, on existentialist literature, on the modern hospice movement.