VIRGINIA QUARTERLY REVIEW.

White sheer fabric floating over water at night. Photo by Reuben Wu.

The Way of All Flesh

By William Giraldi

On Tolstoy and Mortality

212 RECENT BOOKS it does, and for Leo Tolstoy’s character Ivan Ily - ich, dying is a protracted process that assumes just as much importance as living— a process that indeed takes meaning away from or gives it to the life lived. Who but Vladimir Nabokov, in his peerless Lectures on Russian Literature , could have no - ticed that “Ilyich” is pronounced ill - itch — “the ills and itches of mortal life.” Nabokov was clear in pointing out that Tolstoy’s famous no - vella is not about Ivan’s death, but about hi

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Issue: Winter 2014 / Volume 90/1

Published: January 6, 2014

William Giraldi

William Giraldi is the author of three novels, one memoir, and a collection of literary criticism. His new memoir, Pure Jersey (Liveright), is forthcoming. He is master lecturer in the Writing Program at Boston University.

The Way of All Flesh

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