To introduce our next literary study , Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych", today I provided biographical information about Tolstoy's life, his major works, his religious conversion. From there, I discussed the similarities between Tolstoy's religious convictions and Thoreau's rejection of conformity and materialism. I noted how Tolstoy, while Russian, was a contemporary of Thoreau , and while Thoreau encouraged individuality and a rejection of societal expectations, Tolstoy urged a rejection of propriety as evidenced by upper class values, manners, and beliefs. We discussed how Tolstoy renounced his wealth and property in order to achieve a higher plane of morality , again similar to Thoreau's view that obsession with material wealth and values obfuscated life's purpose and meaning. Last, to assist in comprehension , I provided some definitions of the French idioms and Russian terms contained in the opening chapters. We briefly discussed essay writing which we will continue next week. For homework ,due Monday read chapters 1 and 2.