Telepathic Judas ~ Ivan

Lev Tolstoi

In Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Marquez’s Death Constant Beyond Love tackle the topic of mortality and death in two completely separate ways; Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich seeks to find spiritual enlightenment within the process of death, whilst Marquez’s Death Constant Beyond Love is simply lays out the struggle to find human connection and the uselessness to create this connection and legacy in the merciless face of death. Both stories revolve the idea that a man is trying to make up for an emotionally and spiritually devoid life towards the end of their life; Ivan Ilyich is able to find spiritual solace whilst he his mentored and allowed to vent to his young caretaker, whilst the protagonist in Death Constant Beyond Love tries to find solace in his impending death through love however, both the love is an unjust love and he dies with nothing changed except for his reputation ruined. Whilst both stories relate heavily and are about mortality, they both remain essentially agnostic towards what they are describing. Death Constant Beyond Love lays out the events within the story and only remarks on the protagonist's reputation is ruined in the eye’s other characters, whilst The Death of Ivan Ilyich does not go into the titular character Ivan Ilyich’s spiritual change upon his death, Tolstoy only deals with Ivan Ilyich’s spiritual conversion through the dialogue that occurs in the novella. Both main characters of The Death of Ivan Ilyich and the protagonist in Death Constant Beyond Love are very similar, both are male, both work for some form of administration (Death Constant’s protagonist is a politician and Ivan Ilyich is a Counselman), and both are going through an end of life crisis – both stories revolve around the idea that nothing matters besides death or at least that’s the crisis that is posed in front of the two protagonists, the date of their death is drawing near and the protagonists are unable to stop their eventual deaths. Death Constant Beyond Love’s protagonist ignores his death as long as he can, but only caves to the idea of holding onto to someone to share a connection and leave a lasting mark upon on the world, however, this is futile in the face of inevitable death. The Death of Ivan Ilyich finds it’s protagonist (Ivan Ilyich), as seeking spiritual comfort in his last moments, he has been working all his life and comes to the conclusion that he needs to find salvation as he has worked hard in his life for things he will be unable to take in the afterlife, and Ivan Ilyich finds this in the final moments at the end of the novella. Overall, both stories tackle death, mortality, and spiritual comfort in very different ways – One is optimistic and one is cynical, however, both are able to articulate the ever mounting fear and reactions that happen to individuals when faced with the realization of their mortality, and the closing of their life.

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