I see death... and life -- in Literature

Some works of literature seem to appear at the right moments--just when we need them, when we're ready to accept the universal messages of hope, life, and experience. The volumes present different meanings and messages through the years--often seeming to evolve with us, as we pick up experiences (love, laugh, pain and joys). That's we can't tell a book by its cover (the cover is not ALL)--the words are alive; they grow and change with us. Meaning often develops with our perceptions.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a novella first published in 1886. I first read it when I was taking Prof. M. for a World Literature overview course (it's often studied in high school and college classrooms). We read this work in a line with Joyce's "Araby," Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, Marge Piercy's work, Ursula Le Guin, and Oedipus Rex.

Some works seem to enmesh more in my mind as time spans. More works are added into the mix, and the brutal clarity of experience becomes more clear.

In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy addresses the universal questions--the meaning of life and the inevitability of death. He'd counted himself a success, but what does that even mean in those final moments? Here's a passage from The Death of Ivan Ilyich: "'Maybe I did not live as I ought to have done,' it suddenly occurred to him. 'But how could that be, when I did everything properly?' he replied, and immediately dismissed from his mind this, the sole solution of all the riddles of life and death, as something quite impossible."

Take a look at other great quotes from The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and also read a review. What does it all mean after all? Is it worth examining through the lens of literature? Which works have you used for that purpose?