''Strange Life of Ivan Osokin'' (russian: Странная жизнь Ивана Осокина) is a 1915 novel by P. D. Ouspensky. It follows the unsuccessful struggle of Ivan Osokin to correct his mistakes when given a chance to relive his past. The novel serves as a narrative platform for

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...

's theory of ''

eternal recurrence Eternal return (german: Ewige Wiederkunft; also known as eternal recurrence) is a concept that the universe and all existence and energy has been recurring, and will continue to recur in a self similar form an infinite number of times across in ...

''. The conclusion fully anticipates the Fourth Way Philosophy which typified Ouspensky's later works. In particular the final chapter's description of the shocking realization of the mechanical nature of existence, its consequences, and the possibility/responsibility of working in an esoteric school.

Background

The title derives from the experience of Ivan Osokin living and then reliving his life again in exactly the same way but with prior knowledge of his past mistakes the second time. The title is an ironic commentary on this experience.

Plot summary

When the protagonist realizes that he can recall having lived his life before, he decides to try to change it. But he discovers that, because human choices tend to be mechanical, changing the outcome of one's actions is extremely difficult. He realizes that without help breaking his mechanical behavior, he may be doomed to repeat the same mistakes forever.

Characters

* Ivan Osokin, the main character of the novel * The Magician, a minor but important character who makes appearances at the beginning and the end of the novel. A possible reference to Ouspensky's teacher,

George Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, r=Geórgy Ivánovich Gurdzhíev, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪd͡ʑ ɡʊrd͡ʐˈʐɨ(j)ɪf; hy, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև; c. 1 ...

Major themes

A theme of the novel is

eternal return Eternal return (german: Ewige Wiederkunft; also known as eternal recurrence) is a concept that the universe and all existence and energy has been recurring, and will continue to recur in a self similar form an infinite number of times across in ...

Literary significance and reception

Harold Ramis Harold Allen Ramis (; November 21, 1944 – February 24, 2014) was an American actor, comedian, director and writer. His best-known film acting roles were as Egon Spengler in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984) and '' Ghostbusters II'' (1989), and as Russel ...

, who directed ''

Groundhog Day Groundhog Day ( pdc, Grund'sau dåk, , , ; Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from ...

'', found the meaning of ''Strange Life of Ivan Osokin'' similar to the existential dilemma of ''Groundhog Day''. Both works imply that a sober acceptance of personal accountability is necessary in order to effect an increase in the degree of freedom of the individual. Ramis' opinion is printed in the Lindisfarne Books' 2004 edition of ''Strange Life of Ivan Osokin''. A character of the 2022 anime ''

Summer Time Rendering is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuki Tanaka. It was serialized on Shueisha's digital magazine ''Shōnen Jump+'' from October 2017 to February 2021. An anime television series adaptation by OLM aired from April to Se ...

'' refers to the novel to help explain that story's

time loop The time loop or temporal loop is a plot device in fiction whereby characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition. The term "time loop" is sometimes us ...

plot.

Publication history

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

lists 12 editions of the novel.https://www.worldcat.org/title/strange-life-of-ivan-osokin-a-novel/oclc/2223435/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true * 1915, First Edition, Russia, publisher, Pub date ?? ??? 1915 * 1947, Limited Edition (356 copies), UK, Stourton Press, , Pub date ?? Oct 1947 * 1947, First Trade Edition, US, Holmes , , , Pub date ?? ??? 1947, Hardback * 1948, First Edition, UK, Faber & Faber, , Pub date ?? ??? 1948, Hardback * 1947, Lindisfarne Books, US, Paperback

References

{{reflist

External links

Strange Life of Ivan Osokin
at Gurdjieff International Review.

''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

online, November 17, 1947
Strange Life of Ivan Osokin ''Excerpts''
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

1915 Russian novels Books by P. D. Ouspensky