"The Final Chapter: Terminal Illness in Russian Literature"

In “The Final Chapter: Terminal Illness in Russian literature, 1850–1999,” I investigate the experience of confronting one’s mortality through the prism of terminal illness in the literary works of Realist Russian writers Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Solzhenitsyn, and Ulitskaya. In exploring what it means to die a “good death,” I consider the perspectives of terminally ill patients, their doctors, and their caregivers, arguing that a complete picture of the dying experience depends on the careful examination of each perspective’s understanding of illness. I trace how the idea of a “good death” changes across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and argue that an ideal death is one in which the dying person finds courage and strength to accept their mortality, and one in which their doctors and caregivers respect their patient’s dignity and autonomy. I contend that doctors and caregivers do what is called empathic witnessing of their patient’s illness and practice “attuned care” in order to create a nurturing environment for the dying person to pass away peacefully.