Record Number: 24901

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'[...] the gratuitous atrocity of, say, "Ivan Illyitch"[sic] or the monstrous stupidity of such a thing as "The Kreutzer Sonata" for instance; where an obvious degenerate not worth looking at twice, totally unfitted not only for married life but for any sort of life is presented as a sympathetic victim of some sort of sacred truth that is supposed to live within him.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1902 and 1 Sep 1908

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

unknown
unknown
unknown

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry
'Szlachta', or Polish landed gentry/nobility

Occupation:

Master mariner and author

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Leo Tolstoy

Title:

The Death of Ivan Illyich and other stories

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

probably Constance Garnett's translation published by Heinemann 1902; but see also additional comments.

Provenance

owned
if Garnett's translation then almost certainly a gift from the translator

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

24901

Source:

Print

Author:

Joseph Conrad

Editor:

Karl Frederick R. and Laurence Davies

Title:

The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 4 1908-1911

Place of Publication:

Cambridge

Date of Publication:

1990

Vol:

4

Page:

116

Additional Comments:

Letter from Joseph Conrad to John Galsworthy dated 2-3 September, Someries.

Citation:

Joseph Conrad, Karl Frederick R. and Laurence Davies (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 4 1908-1911, (Cambridge, 1990), 4, p. 116, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=24901, accessed: 09 May 2025

---

Additional Comments:

That Conrad was referring to Garnett's translation is speculative but likely. It is not apparent to which version of the 'Kreutzer Sonata' Conrad is referring as this work was not part of the collection cited above. Constance Garnett did not translate this work but there is a contemporary translation by Leo Wiener published by J.M. Dent in 1904 which includes both 'Ivan Illyich' and 'The Kreutzer Sonata'.