Chapter 2 - The Death

Summary

This chapter examines Tolstoy’s treatment of mortality – from his earliest published works to his last, and in letters, diaries, and conversations – as a long preparation for his own death. It draws especially from his later period, when he drew nearer to death and became increasingly focused on it, often reminding those around him, and his reading public, of their need to do the same. Thus, while Tolstoy anticipated death as a personal sacrament, he also created a context for the public to consider his passing as a collective examination of his values. The chapter concludes with Tolstoy’s death at Astapovo railway station in 1910, where he attempted to meet his own expectations for this moment within the spectacle created by a public bent on treating it as its own rite of passage.