"The story of Ivan Ilyich's life was of the simplest, most ordinary and therefore the most terrible.
"He had been a member of the Cort of Justice and died at the age of forty-five. He was the son of an official whose career in Petersburg in various ministries and departments had been such as leads men to positions from which, by reason of their long service and the official rank they have attained, they cannot be discharged, although it is obvious that they are unfit to perform any useful duty, and for whom, therefore, posts are created, which though fictitious carry salaries from six to ten thousand roubles that are not fictitious and on which they go on living to an advanced age."*
(I was going to put a political cartoon up above it, but I just realized I've never like political cartoons all that much)
What a terrifying thing to find in a short story. What's more terrifying? That this is a real staple of human productivity. The list of examples is staggering. The process of dealing with it is soul-crushing.
-kev-rock-racy
*From: Tolstoy, Leo (1886). The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Penguin Red Classic edition, 2006
PS. My sister is a beautiful bride if such a thing ever was.
No comments:
Post a Comment