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Stephen, this “experiment” is a brilliant way to bring literature to life. Kudos on another great contribution from Ralston College!

@bobkhan1809

3 жыл бұрын

I agree with my whole heart. Thank you for sharing this time with us Dr. Blackwood.

I’m about as far from a Tolstoy scholar as a human can get. However, I really enjoyed this conversation. It made me think a lot about myself. Thank you very much :-). Much gratitude to you both

I am grateful for the opportunity to explore classic literature from the perspective of serious scholars.

@ThirdEyePsychology

3 жыл бұрын

Yes me too. This is such an amazing opportunity.

Thank you so much for this. I listened to the audiobook and was glad to have access to this insightful discussion. I first read this story in my early twenties - it is a very different experience in middle age but well worth the effort. I look forward very much to exploring the content you put out so generously into the world.

Thank you, it is so wonderful to listen to your discussion with Dr Orwin. I love it when great thinkers of the past and present meet through the exploration of literature. Thank you for keeping alive such treasures which have the power to enrich the soul, heart and mind>

Please post more of such literary analysis!

I was blessed to decide this was the time I should read this book. Great dialogue.

Amazing chat. Also led me down a path of reading some great books I would never have read otherwise. Cheers and thank you!

Great discussion. I look forward to the next one!

Brilliant! Thank you

This was an excellent dialogue; however, Tolstoy was a Christian, even though of his own flavor, and Ivan's journey is also towards forgiveness so he can meet his Creator and die in peace, which is a fundamentally human experience. He is confessing at the end to himself that he is making his family "miserable," which reminds us of a Christian's last rites and desire to forgive and be forgiven. The words "It is finished!" come from the Bible and the allusion to death being no more may have to do with the mind, but also with Christ's trampling over death. Ivan looks fearlessly at his terror of death, and confidently says, "What death?" because he only sees the light and then exclaims, "What joy!" when seeing the "light" or Christ/God. And so forth, since the entire last scene is extremely loaded with Christian symbolism. Interesting that none of this was mentioned, especially since this novella was written after Tolstoy's conversion, as the speaker mentioned. Nonetheless, the dialogue was quite enlightening, so thank you very much!

This is amazing! Making these available to us general public types is perfect! Hope you do much more of them. Notes from underground, brothers karamazov, crime and punishment, the stranger, the plague hopefully to come!

This discussion was great. When Ivan's legs are raised, or, lifted, by his servant, it was my impression that a great weight was lifted off Ivan; firstly, a physical weight relieving pressure & pain, then, secondly, the psychological weight of questioning his beliefs about his life and his fears about the unknowns of death. This raising of his legs gives him a temporary reprieve. Thank you.

Brilliant brilliant brilliant discussion. I feel well fed.

Thank you for fleshing out the story. Thoroughly enjoyed your reading of this classic, Mr. Blackwood. Tolstoy definitely took me on a tour of the interior topography of Ivan Ilyich. And there is found commonality in humanity facing mortality. Dr. Orwin tries hard in minimizing the Christian view, but I see it as a great argument for the Christian faith that answers all Tolstoy’s important questions on life and death.

I happened to take Dr. Orwin's advice and read 'Master and Man' by Tolstoy. To anyone reading this, to anyone who values the lessons that can be learned from stories, please consider taking the time to read that story. The only word I have to describe the truth and beauty of it is metanoia--it's a work of truly lordly caliber.

@williambaker5600

10 ай бұрын

Metanoia -- what a fantastic word! A new one for me

Thank you both for this.

I love this series! Thanks for redescovering these stories.

THANK YOU. WONDERFUL.

Do more of these podcast series!!’

Thanks for the enlightening commentary

I sense that Ivan's illness first started with his preoccupation with himself and his power that began to unravel with his fall. The injury was too minor to be more than psychosomatic and that everything was no longer going as planned. As Ivan's command and control of his life was thwarted by this little injury and his uncaring doctor, his opium prescription progressed to addiction, which accelerated the loss of his control and health. With no connection to his family or any real friends, his life further unraveled and left him only with time to think about his life and self-inflicted alienation. Opium doesn't put you to sleep - short of a fatal dose, you nod off but are usually quite conscious. Aside from constipation and loss of appetite, such an addiction would give him time for introspection, which has provided introspection for my own life. If not for Ivan, I might've been lost as well - and maybe I'm not yet saved, but Ivan has bought me some time to understand what's important in my own life before all is lost.

This was wonderful. Please do more classic literature.

Absolutely loved it! (suggestion: Perhaps do the same with "The Stranger" by Camus since it kind of describes the opposite life to Ivan ILyich)

At 1:23:32 they mention Tolstoy acknowledging "a transcendent being" who would know what Ivan meant. If Tolstoy was a Christian, wouldn't he be referencing the Christian God he believed in?

1:13:03 I completely disagree with Donna Orwin when she states that Ivan Ilyich is rejecting himself. True compassion happens when you accept yourself! Ivan is able to feel compassion at the point where he has embraced not only his pain but also the negativity, hatred and condescension he had up to that point been feeling towards those around him. He is completely accepting, allowing that what is happening to him to unfold and he is thereby arriving at a point of wholeness. He is merging with what he had been viewing as being external to himself, what he had been perceiving as "other". By accepting everything, his fear of death, the futility of holding on to outdated belief systems and societal norms, and his own resentment of the truth, he has finally and magically found it. Dr. Stephen Blackwood's comments are rarely specific, mostly generic and superficial, and he appears to be struggling to get an emotional grip on the story. His comments give the impression of someone who cannot truly get in touch with his own feelings but he nevertheless tries to describe something in the story that he does not truly understand. Donna Orwin appears combative in the face of Blackwell's tiresome assertions while herself overlooking truly important angles of this story.

@solarwind907

12 күн бұрын

Suggestion: buy yourself a mirror.

If I like a book the I must read it three times, read War and Peace thrice!! ♥️

I grew up on rock... what is that bit of music in the beginning?

@morganmayfair4755

2 жыл бұрын

Oh... Fantasia 1940, I think 👍thanks tons

@GardenFootCreature

9 ай бұрын

@@morganmayfair4755it is fugue in d minor by J.S. bachc

52:10 - Of course the weight of the story focuses on his death. It's the title.

To find a yet said of Ballots that only may or may operating on systemic difficulty... All beliefs simplex alike##. I aggregate.

Mental gymnastics to avoid reference to Jesus Christ!

@johnchappell4492

3 жыл бұрын

Who? I don't recall that character in the book.

@christinezaslavsky647

3 жыл бұрын

@@johnchappell4492 Gerasim is a Chiat-like character in his humility and self sacrifice. (Phil 2)

@christinezaslavsky647

3 жыл бұрын

He is the catalyst to Ivan finally becoming able to admit that his own control /self justification is a sham. The end is all about resurrection to life, at death. I must reread it to note all the allusions to the Savior. John, I appreciate the comment and take it constructively. I will certainly take it with me to my next reading and better substantiate my opinion with text references.

Is this really so crazy? Guy dies and realizes that the culture that dictaced his life made him feel unfulfilled and he would do it differently if he could.

Count Tolstoy never worked a single day in his whole life but he considers himself to be a judge of the poor sufferer. Let him test many months of increasing pain of unknown cause that slowly but surely kills him. See what he would think of his own life, and there plenty of things to regret and repent. So instead of repenting himself and spending his days in prayer, giving all his wealth to the poor and go to a monastery he makes himself into a bestseller guru thanks to his great writing ability and on his way makes an honest civil servant suffer in front of the whole world for nothing. Yes, he knows how to describe a scene but I don't think he has any idea what is going on in a mind of intelligent and hard-working person like his Ivan Ilyich. Notice his Russo-philic mind. The only guy who does make a big deal of the dead body, an insensible happy fella has a German name Sholtz. Not a single Russian in Tolstoy's mind can "fall that low". What's the problem with a widow wanting to know about financial help options? The man was dying for a very long time and everyone who understood it must have wished his sooner relief from the suffering. She wept over her long time unloved living dead husband enough and it was the time to think of living. Yes, as it happens to many his choice of a wife was not great and thus he is alone for most of his life. As for dying - every single one of as dies alone. Gerasim is a serf peasant taken by his owner to serve at home. He loves his owners more than anybody else and his devoted preoccupation is in finding ways to serve them better and satisfy their desires. He is a young healthy and kind-hearted lad. Tolstoy owned hundreds of lads like him. Nothing mysterious, just not belonging to our times in the West. I can't avoid a thought how lucky Tolstoy was not live in Russia for another 15 years after 1910 and see what the "gerasims" were doing.