The original title of the work is Mr. from San Francisco. Analysis of the work "The gentleman from San Francisco" (Bunin)

- a city that grew out of the "Good Grass".
The administrative center of the county of the same name is located in western California. The largest commercial, financial and industrial city in the American West. The epicenter of the "gold rush" of the 19th century. The capital of all informal youth movements of the 20th century.

San Francisco. What enthusiastic epithets were awarded to him! Beautiful, dazzling, mysterious ... Experts say: San Francisco is the most picturesque city in America. Solid and reliable, with many banks and corporations, and at the same time free and rebellious. He is praised by the staunch romantic Jack London as "the world's home for romantic adventures." And Robert Stevenson remarked: “This is the city of Gold, into which the adventurers are carried by all the winds of the heavens. I am amazed that the charm of a thousand and one nights has become a reality in the lifetime of one generation. "

San Francisco is not very big by American standards. Bounded by the ocean and natural terrain, it covers an area of ​​122 sq. kilometers. And in terms of population (730 thousand), it is not among the ten most major cities U.S.A. But nevertheless, with the suburbs of the Santa Clara Valley and the city of San Jose San Francisco forms a huge metropolis (6.3 million people). Silicon Valley, where engineers and programmers work and new "high" technologies are created, is just within its borders. The US Electronics Industry Center produces a fifth of the world's electronics.

The city is located at the very tip of the peninsula and is surrounded on three sides by the ocean. But the resort of San Francisco can be called conditionally. It is washed by the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean. A thick fog envelops the city every night, and cool sea breezes disperse it only in the morning. There is no cold winter here, but there is no real hot summer chips either. Temperatures throughout the year are kept within + 20 ° C. Mark Twain said about the local weather: "The coldest winter in my life was in the summer in San Francisco." Romantics call San Francisco the city of eternal spring, and skeptics call eternal autumn.
"Frisco", "City", "City by the Bay" - these are the nicknames the Americans gave to their favorite. And if California in America is called the "Golden State", then San Francisco can be called the "Golden City". Much in it, one way or another, reminds of a noble metal. The Golden Gate Bay, the bridge that connects the peninsula with the mainland, is the Golden Gate. The beautiful city park is also called the Golden Gate.

But do not forget that the history of the city began much earlier than the time of the "gold rush". The first, in 1542, were the ships of the Portuguese Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who served the Spanish crown. In 1579 the famous English pirate F. Drake sailed along these shores. But the first settlement was founded only in 1775, when Spanish sailors discovered a bay with a convenient bay. They founded in this place the fort of Presido and the village of Yerba-Buepa, which means "Good grass". It is from this "Good Grass" that the future city actually grew. Later, tireless Spanish missionaries built a church, which was named after St. Francis of Aziz. In 1848, Mexico lost the war with the United States and handed over to them the upper part of California, which also contained a small seaside village. The Americans began to call the town the same as the church - San Francisco.
The city is counting its prosperity on August 19, 1848. It was on that day that the New York newspaper "Herald" published a sensational report: a gold deposit was discovered in California, on the Sacramento River. This information was later confirmed by US President James Knox Polk. From that time on, settlers began to arrive in a small town with a population of five hundred in search of happiness. In 1849 the city was inhabited by more than 10,000 adventurers, and in 1850 there were already a hundred thousand. It was not only the Americans who came here for good luck. Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Greeks, Filipinos, Scandinavians, Mexicans, this is not a complete list of nationalities. All of them settled in their communities around the city, forming a kind of conglomerate. Now, traveling around San Francisco, you can get to amazing corners where residents sacredly preserve the traditions of their native places.

Chinatown is San Francisco's Chinatown. It is one of the largest Chinese settlements outside Asia with over 60 thousand people, and the largest in America. Passing the streets of the quarter, you plunge into the unique atmosphere of the Chinese city - numerous buildings in the form of pagodas, ethnic restaurants, souvenir shops. All inscriptions on cafes and shops are duplicated in Chinese and made in an oriental style, and the houses of residents are painted in colors that, according to legends, should bring good luck to their owners. Red gives happiness, green - longevity, yellow promises to the owner good fortune and black is money.

Describing the history of San Francisco, one cannot but touch upon the "Russian question" in North America. One of the 42 hills on which the city is located is called the Russian Hill. Here in the middle of the XIX century. the graves of Russian fur seal hunters who worked for the Russian-American Company were discovered. And not far from the holy fool, if you go north along Freeway No. 1, there are the restored remains of the wooden fortress Fort Ross, founded by Russian settlers in 1812. It is sad to realize that it was from the Russians that the enterprising American Sutter bought the land on which gold was found for the first time eight years after the sale. Now "Russian quarters" are located in the Richmond area. Russians, like other ethnic groups of emigrants, try to preserve their identity. There are Russian restaurants, Russian cinemas showing exclusively Russian cinema, Russian newspapers, many of which are delivered from Moscow.

California attracts Americans themselves with its own lifestyle, so unlike other states. Not only emigrants from abroad move here, internal immigration is strong here. The incredible mixing of races and peoples in the city has created an extraordinary freedom of morals and tolerance for someone else's way of life. For her free inhabitants, there are absolutely no strict Puritan traditions. The bars of the city have become legendary. The weakness of local residents for strong drinks was emphasized by "Mr. San Francisco" - Herb Kane, a famous local historian who devoted his entire life to studying his city: "San Francisco learned to drink in the days of the gold rush and has been improving in this quality all his life." And in the 50-60s of the XX century. San Francisco became the capital of a world counterculture that challenged the morals and tastes of the world of well-fed and narrow-minded people.

Young rebels Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg created the Beat Generation philosophy in the 1950s and its new values, among which motorcycle, alcohol, poetry and jazz come first. You can go to City Light, where Allen Ginsberg read "Howl". Or visit "Lights big city"In North Beach, the former headquarters of the beatniks. It is now one of the richest and most interesting bookstores in the United States.
Hayit Ashbury is the area of ​​San Francisco from which a generation of hippies came to roam the world. Compared to the more aggressive beatniks, the "flower children" preferred passing cars, drugs, oriental teachings and rock. The hippies staged their half-million Summer of Love here in 1967, the culmination of their movement. Now the area for tourists has been put into museum order. One of its attractions is the wildly colored psychedelic bus, on which Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was brought to a cult following by the Hollywood Czech Miklash Foreman.

Here was born one of the symbols of free America - the famous jeans. Levi Straus' work pants for gold miners have become the iconic clothing of the rebellious generation. The mainstream fashion for them came with the beatniks, from the Hollywood images of James Dean and Marlon Brando. Against the background of all the twists and turns, the history of this clothing is very indicative. She was working, then rebellious, and now average American or a European cannot imagine his life without comfortable everyday trousers.
San Francisco is still one of the world leaders in a non-standard attitude to life. The city is the most famous center of the movement for civil rights sexual minorities. On Christopher Street, seven-color flags are hung in the windows of many houses so that no one doubts sexual orientation their inhabitants.

San Francisco is located in a seismically dangerous and not - under it is the San Andreas Crevice. Now Oma "behaves" relatively calmly - 100 pushes a month with a force of less than 1 point. In modern homes, such small tremors are almost imperceptible. You notice them only when the paintings on the walls periodically change their position. But there were times when the element showed itself in all its power. Strong earthquakes were noted here in 1812 and 1865. From 1849 to 1852, San Francisco experienced major earthquake fires six times. In 1906 it was almost completely destroyed by a strong earthquake and a large fire that followed. But the city was always rebuilt. It is no coincidence that its coat of arms is decorated with the legendary Phoenix bird, which is reborn not from ashes, but from a ring of flame. After the last destruction, the restoration proceeded at a truly "Stakhanovist" pace. Already in 1915, San Francisco was rebuilt so much that it was able to host international exhibition Panama International.
The city's aspiration for constant development is characterized by the fact that during the Great Depression, when the United States was going through its hard times, the brilliant project, which has now become the symbol of San Francisco, was implemented - the Golden Gate Bridge. This is one of the longest (total length - 2730 m, central span - 1280 m) and beautiful bridges in the world. It spreads across the bay and connects the city to the mainland. It has six lanes of car traffic, and there are two walking paths for hikers. Looking down from the bridge, at the fog swirling below, there is a fantastic feeling of flight. The romantic image of the bridge and the strait of the same name was glorified by Jack London: “The Golden Gate really gilded in the rays of the setting sun, and beyond them the immense expanses of the Pacific Ocean opened up. Behind them is the Pacific Ocean, China, Japan, India, and ... the Coral Islands. You can sail through the Golden Gate wherever you want, to Australia, to Africa, to the seal rookeries, to the North Pole, to Cape Horn. "

The history of the creation of the bridge is very interesting. People began to think about the need for its construction at the very beginning of the 20th century, when cars appeared in the life of townspeople. The initial estimate for the project was $ 100 million.
The amount was really very substantial, so such projects were not taken seriously. But Joseph Strauss, an experienced engineer, said that the construction would be completed in the amount of 27 million. By the way, the actual estimate did not exceed the promised by much - by 8 million. Construction began in 1933, and in 1937 the bridge was inaugurated. From now on, the city can be accessed directly from the mainland, paying $ 3 per car. And at the entrance to the bridge there is a bronze figure of engineer Joseph Strauss, protecting his brainchild from all kinds of troubles.

In some ways the city is typically American, in others it has its own unique features. Rebuilding several times after the fires, each time it became a little different, reflecting the inclinations and tastes of its architects. The central street of San Francisco is Markst Street. It was drawn by the Irishman Jasper O'Farrell diagonally to the already paved streets, taking as a model the Champs Elysees in Paris. As elsewhere, the city center is decorated with huge skyscrapers made of glass, steel and concrete. For example, the office of the Transamerica corporation, built in 1972, is a pyramidal building, 260 meters high. Or a complex of five skyscrapers - "Embarcodero Center", designed by D. Portman.

The San Francisco Community Center is located in John Marshall Square, named after the carpenter who first discovered gold. The majestic, classical-style gray granite buildings were declared a national landmark in 1978. The building of the City Hall (Town Hall), built in 1915, is also located here, a subject of special pride for the townspeople. The dome of the Town Hall is modeled on the dome of St.Peter's Basilica in Rome, the main catholic church... It is 102 meters high and 4 meters taller than the Washington State Capitol.

Despite its business rhythm, San Francisco disposes to leisurely walks. It is very good to walk here on foot or on special sightseeing trams - cable cars. The city even has a museum dedicated to the citizens' favorite species of Grandsporg. The tram goes up the "humped" streets with the help of steel ropes. Differences in the heights of the hilly terrain are practically not felt here. On the contrary, each new road turn opens another facet of the beautiful city. Almost all of modern San Francisco was built up before 1935. Since the 50s of the XX century. the construction of gelsto in the city, limited by the natural relief of the area, was reduced. In the 90s, a moratorium was declared on the demolition of any buildings. Therefore, houses built in the Victorian style are replaced by buildings in the neoclassical style. Further you can see luxurious Italian mansions and Moorish turrets - the Palace fine arts, community center, Morris store. From the height of the Coit Tower, you can admire the opening panorama of the city with its attractions - Telegraph Hill, Fort San Francisco, Historic ships (historical ships).

There are a lot of museums in the city, and they all differ in variety - from serious academic to interesting everyday ones: Museum of Asian Art, Museum contemporary art, California Palace of the Legion of Honor. Memorial museum painting by M. X. de Young, Historical Museum Wells Farto, Maritime museum, Wine Museum. They exhibit collections of antiques, works of art, including ancient Indian.
There are more than 140 theaters in the city, of which the most famous are the Opera, the Alkazar Theater, the Orpheus Theater, and concert halls- Curran, Little Fox, On Broadway.

San Francisco is a major center for science and education. The most famous educational establishments- University of San Francisco, Department of the University of California, San Francisco State University, Conservatory. It also houses the California Academy of Sciences, founded in 1853. It runs the Morrison Planetarium and the Steinhart Aquarium, which are open to tourists.
A distinctive feature of the city is its streets. Some of them have a slope of up to 35 degrees. Cars park at an acute angle to the sidewalk, otherwise they will roll, despite the most reliable brakes. The steepest and winding street in the world is Lombard Street, which is located on Russian Hill. Laid in the 20s of the XX century, it became one of the symbols of the city and entered the Kish Guinness World Records. The circular slope of the hill gives the street a broken shape. Without zigzags, going downhill would be like moving down the slope of a ski jump. Perhaps without snow.

The rather dense development still provides space for flowers and trees. There are over 130 parks in the city.
Among them is the most and (local "Golden Gate" - National Recreation Area. Powerful green area is the pride of not only the residents of San Francisco. This is the largest urban man-made park in the United States, it covers an area of ​​411 hectares. It is difficult to imagine that such beauty was created on a "bare" place. The park was laid out on a sandy site sea ​​shore... The sand was strengthened with grass, and the territory was fenced off with a rampart from the winds from the Pacific Ocean.
All lakes, waterfalls, green valleys and hills here are created by caring human hands. Walking along the paths of the park (their total length is 43 km), you can go to the Rhododendron Valley, where the most significant collection of these plants in the world is collected, or visit the elegant Japanese Garden with a traditional Japanese house for tea ceremonies, and the feet themselves will lead to the exquisite Garden of Aromas, or the Biblical Garden.

You cannot pass by the romantic Garden of Shakespeare's Flowers. The author of this "literary and botanical" masterpiece is Alice Eastwood. According to experts, she "created a collection full of poetic harmony." There is a wall in the garden, into which are mounted six bronze slabs with 88 quotes from Shakespeare. In the center of the wall there is a safe, which contains a copy of the sculptural portrait of the great playwright, made from a death mask in 1620 by G. Johnson. This rarity (there are only two such portraits) was transferred to the garden from the inhabitants of Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare died.
The Botanical Garden of the California Academy of Sciences is also located on the territory of the park complex. Here, the natural science collection contains more than 500 plant species from all over the world.

Park "Golden Gate" is a favorite resting place for the townspeople. Here you can not only admire nature, but also arrange a festive picnic. Or listen to one of the many concerts organized right below open air... And for roller skaters it is a traditional gathering place. But this park could not contain all the natural attractions of San Francisco. For example, in Sutro Park there is the End of Land ("End of the Earth"), the westernmost point of the continental surface of the Earth in the direction of its rotation around its axis.
If we talk about the nature of the city, one cannot fail to mention the majestic Pacific Ocean, its beaches and embankments. There is a constant surf here. Observing the endless full distance, you renounce everything earthly, from the anxieties and worries of the crazy rhythm of life. On the piers and breakwaters, you can see the seals' rookeries basking in the sun. Residents of the city tell funny stories about how you can face these funny animals in the water "face to face". The beaches are located at Point Reyes, and although the water is fairly cool, there is no shortage of people who want to swim and sunbathe.

The final touch of urban features - local kitchen... Fast food restaurants are not particularly favored by the townspeople. Residents of San Francisco know a lot about the exquisite niche. Here they catch the most delicious crabs in the world, white sturgeon, and Chikun salmon. Fine restaurants on Rybachya Naberezhnaya ns will leave indifferent even the most discerning gourmet.
Yes, San Francisco is one of the most beautiful and distinctive cities in the United States. And Robert Stevenson very correctly said at one time: "San Francisco has only one drawback: it is difficult to leave."

The main idea of ​​the story is the comprehension of the essence of human existence: human life is fragile and perishable, so it becomes disgusting if it lacks authenticity and beauty. First published in 1915 in the collection "Word" in the Russian Empire.

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Hello everyone! Let me remind you that in this section I briefly retell the books I have read. That is, after watching this short story, you will know as much about the book as the person who read it. What is this story about? Yes, about nothing. There lived a rich man and suddenly died. Everything. But, if you dig deeper, then: there are people who are actually dead during their lifetime. And when they die, nothing changes in the world. Like the death of Akaki Akakievich in Gogol's Overcoat. If anyone wants to know in more detail how reclined the main character, watch the plot to the end. This story was written by Ivan Bunin exactly 100 years ago - in 1915. Events take place in the same period. A gentleman from San Francisco (the author even decided not to give him a name) together with his wife and daughter are sailing on the steamer Atlantis to Europe. He is 58 years old and for the first time decided to take a break from work. He has enough dough. But he is rich only in money, not spiritually, because "he did not live (as the author writes), but existed." He had huge plans - in 2 years of travel to visit several cities in Italy, France, to travel to England, Greece, Palestine, Egypt and even to Japan on the way back. At the same time, he definitely wanted during his trip to "play naughty" with young fairies. The steamer arrives at Naples. A family from San Francisco is staying in an expensive hotel. But in December it was cold there, so they go to the island of Capri (this is in the same Italy), where, according to rumors, it is warm and sunny. There are almost no events in the story. It seems that everything is marking time in one place. You read, read and ... fall asleep. A gentleman from San Francisco in the evening before dinner at the hotel decided to go to the reading room to read something. He opened the newspaper and then he suddenly felt bad - he began to choke, wheeze. In general, our gentleman from San Francisco died. His wife and daughter placed his body in a coffin and went back to America. On the same steamer on which they sailed to Europe. Only this time, the gentleman from San Francisco was not on the upper deck among the elite, but lay below - in a dark hold ... That's it. Interesting: Ivan Bunin called our modern "chaise lounges" "longsheses". Quote: “The next two hours were devoted to rest. All decks were then filled with longsheses, on which the travelers lay, covered with blankets, looking at the cloudy sky and at the foamy mounds that flashed overboard, or dozing sweetly "...

History of creation

According to Bunin, the writing of the story was facilitated by the cover of Thomas Mann's story “Death in Venice” accidentally seen in the summer of 1915 in Moscow in the window of a bookstore in Moscow: in early September 1915, while visiting a cousin in the Oryol province, “ For some reason I remembered this book and the sudden death of an American who came to Capri, to the hotel "Quisisana", where we lived that year, and immediately decided to write "Death on Capri", which I did in four days - not hurrying, calmly, in tune with the autumn calmness of gray and already rather short and fresh days and silence in the estate ... Of course, I crossed out the title "Death on Capri" as soon as I wrote the first line: "Sir from San Francisco ..." And San Francisco, and everything else (except that some American really died after dinner at "Kvisisan") I invented ... "Death in Venice" I read in Moscow only at the end of autumn. This is a very unpleasant book.» .

Summary

From the point of view of composition, the narrative can be divided into two unequal parts: the journey of the gentleman from San Francisco on the ship Atlantis to the shores of Italy and the return journey of the ship Atlantis to the shores of the United States with the body of the gentleman in a coffin in the hold of the steamer. The description of the gentleman's journey to Capri is carried out in a dry, aloof language; the master himself has no name, he is faceless in his desire to buy the delights of real life with the available riches. One of the brightest symbols in this part of the story is dancing couple hired actors who portray genuine passion in the dance. In a hotel in Capri, the master dies unexpectedly, losing not only his life, but all the privileges of a rich man, becoming a burden for everyone around him, from the hotel owner, who opposes the coffin to remain in his apartment, to his own family, which does not know what to do with the master's body. The description of the natural world, the world of poor people on the island of Capri, is kept alive, complete symbolic images language and therefore stands out against the background of the general stylistics of the work. At the end of the story, the body of the master returns home, to the grave, to the shores of the New World, on the same ship that with great honor carried him to the Old World, but now his body lies in a tarred coffin at the bottom of the hold, and on the ship in light, shining a crowded ball is going on in the halls with chandeliers.

Reviews of contemporaries

After the release of the story, periodicals praised it. Thus, the critic A. Derman wrote in the journal Russkaya Mysl in 1916: “ More than ten years separates us from the end of Chekhov's work, and during this period, if we exclude what was made public after Leo Tolstoy's death, did not appear in Russian artwork, equal in strength and significance to the story "The gentleman from San Francisco" ... How did the artist evolve? On the scale of his feelings ... With a kind of solemn and righteous sadness, the artist painted a large image of a huge evil - an image of sin in which the life of a modern urban man with an old heart proceeds, and the reader feels here not only legality, but also justice and beauty of the author's coldness to your hero ..."The magazine" Russian wealth "from 1917 gave a more restrained response:" The story is good, but it suffers from its shortcomings, as the French say. The opposition between the superficial brilliance of our modern culture and its insignificance in the face of death is expressed in the story with exciting force, but it exhausts it to the bottom ... »

"If you are going to San Francisco, do not forget to weave some flowers in your hair" - words from famous song Scott Mackenzie, who has been unofficial anthem San Francisco. Personalize this city as the capital of the hippie movement and progressive youth.

State: California

Foundation date: 1776, city from 1850

Population: 852 469 people

Nickname: Frisco, Foggy City, West Paris

San Francisco - scenic sunny city located on a peninsula between the bay of the same name and the Pacific Ocean. Numerous attractions of San Francisco attract a huge number of tourists to the city, which only is the largest park in the United States, the most beautiful Golden Gate Bridge in the country and Alcatraz prison. The oldest cable car runs through the city's compact streets, and Lombard Street is considered the most curved street in the world.

Lombard Street

Alcatraz prison

San Francisco is considered a trendsetter of cultural innovation and experimentation, the home of the 1950s beat generation, the center of the 1960s counterculture, a hotbed of political protest and the center of the American gay community. The population of San Francisco is represented by the most diverse ethnic groups in the United States.

Today, San Francisco is home to a huge number of advanced high-tech companies, providing jobs for thousands of people in this densely populated region.

The coastline of San Francisco stretches for almost 50 kilometers, so the city's climate can be attributed to the Mediterranean. Most of the precipitation falls here from November to March. Since San Francisco is surrounded on three sides by water, hallmark this area is foggy, which often looms over the city from the Pacific Ocean.

History of San Francisco

The human footprint on this earth dates back to the XX millennium BC.

The Spanish conquistadors who discovered California did not know about the existence of this peninsula for two centuries, since the fog approaching from the Pacific Ocean hid the peninsula from prying eyes. The first Europeans to discover this land were explorers traveling in a small group in 1769 from Mexico to Canada, led by Sergeant José Ortega. After 7 years, a small town was founded here - Yerba Buena. Later, the city received its modern name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi.

For more than half a century, this place was not given much importance, but the situation changed dramatically after the discovery of a gold mine here in 1848. The California Gold Rush sparked the rapid expansion of San Francisco. Thousands of gold prospectors who came to California in search of their fortune subsequently took root in the region. However, the gold rush drew not only wealth to the city, but also a wave of lawlessness. On the territory of San Francisco, gang groups began to form, open gambling establishments and brothels. In 1850, San Francisco was granted city status, after which local residents began to form vigilance groups to cleanse the city of criminals and restore order.

After the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, San Francisco continued its development. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the city's population was more than a third of a million people. That all changed at the beginning of the 20th century, when the people of San Francisco experienced the greatest catastrophe in the history of the city. On April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake struck San Francisco that killed more than 500 people. Ten square kilometers of the city were razed to the ground. The fires caused by the earthquake could not be extinguished for three days. Nevertheless, the residents of San Francisco survived and rebuilt the city on their own, as well as with the help of donations from other states. By 1915, the restored city hosted the world's first exhibition dedicated to the completion of the Panama Canal.

The first half of the twentieth century was a period of development of the city's infrastructure. In 1913, a dam was built on the Tuoloumne River in the Hatch Valley of Hatchi Canyon, 1936 - the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco and Oakland was completed, and a year later, the world was introduced to the famous Golden Gate Bridge, which became business card not only San Francisco, but the entire United States.

With the growth of industry, emigrants began to arrive in the city. In 1930, San Francisco saw a massive movers 'strike that became the largest workers' uprising in US history.

With the outbreak of World War II, the city's industry became even more powerful. This period also saw the forced relocation of several thousand Japanese Americans, residents of San Francisco, to internment camps.

In the 1960s and 70s, San Francisco became a center for youth counterculture, a major student protest site against the Vietnam War, and a center for advocacy for the rights of sexual minorities.

1979 was remembered for the high-profile assassination of the mayor of San Francisco - George Muscon, the first openly gay - the head of the city. In the same year, San Francisco's first female mayor, Diane Feinstein, was elected.

In 1989, San Francisco residents experienced another powerful earthquake. However, despite this, in the next decade, the city made huge steps in its development: state institutions were renovated, a museum of modern art, a main library and an art center were built.

Working in San Francisco

Due to its location, San Francisco has been the most important port center in California throughout its history. The main branches of the country's leading banks are located on the territory of San Francisco, Insurance companies, Pacific stock Exchange, a division of the Federal Reserve System and mint USA.

Since the metropolitan area of ​​San Francisco is part of the Silicon Valley, the IT and biotechnology industries are highly developed in the city and its suburbs. Hundreds of the world's leading high-tech companies with offices in this region attract tens of thousands of IT professionals from all over the world.

Sports in San Francisco

San Francisco is represented by teams major leagues in all popular sports in the United States:

• Baseball (MLB) - San Francisco Giants
• Football (NFL) - San Francisco Niners (49ers)
• Basketball (NBA) - Golden State Warriors

Park Golden Gate

Founded in the 1870s, Golden Gate Park is the largest urban park in the United States. The total area of ​​the park is 412 hectares. The park has many gardens, artificial lakes, waterfalls, nature reserves, beaches, campgrounds, 43 km of walking paths, 12 km of horse riding trails. This park receives over 13 million visitors annually.

San Francisco Tourism

Despite the huge number of high-tech companies located in San Francisco, tourism is the main branch of the city's economy. Natural beauty San Francisco, a mild climate and a large number of attractions, annually attracts more than 17 million tourists to the city. San Francisco is one of the ten most convenient cities in North America for a variety of conferences, exhibitions and trainings, which also attracts considerable amount visitors.

One of the most unique features of San Francisco is the clustering of different ethnic neighborhoods. The most famous of which is Chinatown - the largest Chinese region outside of Asia. Chinatown is home to many oriental bazaars, temples, and restaurants.

Images of San Francisco's landmarks can often be found on postcards or wallpaper on desktop monitors. This sunny city will surely surprise you with a change in its geography - winding streets and green hills, will delight you with bright colors of parks and squares, a variety of vegetation and the gentleness of the surf. Plunging into the atmosphere of San Francisco, it will seem to you that life here flows in the eternal stream of carnival.

Date of writing: Date of first publication:

October 1915

"The gentleman from San Francisco"- the story of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. It is a parable that tells about the insignificance of wealth and power in the face of death. The main idea of ​​the story is the comprehension of the essence of human existence: human life is fragile and perishable, so it becomes disgusting if it lacks authenticity and beauty. First published in 1915 in the collection "Word" in the Russian Empire.

History of creation

According to Bunin, the writing of the story was facilitated by the cover of Thomas Mann's story “Death in Venice” accidentally seen in the summer of 1915 in Moscow in the window of a bookstore: in early September 1915, while visiting a cousin in the Oryol province, “ For some reason I remembered this book and the sudden death of an American who came to Capri, to the hotel "Quisisana", where we lived that year, and immediately decided to write "Death on Capri", which I did in four days - not hurrying, calmly, in tune with the autumn calmness of gray and already rather short and fresh days and the silence in the estate ... Of course, I crossed out the title "Death on Capri" as soon as I wrote the first line: "Mister from San Francisco ..." And San Francisco, and everything else (except that some American actually died after dinner at the Quisisan) I invented ... I read Death in Venice in Moscow only at the end of autumn. This is a very unpleasant book.» .

Summary

From the point of view of composition, the narrative can be divided into two unequal parts: the journey of the gentleman from San Francisco on the ship Atlantis to the shores of Italy and the return journey of the ship Atlantis to the shores of the United States with the body of the gentleman in a coffin in the hold of the steamer. The description of the gentleman's journey to Capri is carried out in a dry, aloof language; the master himself has no name, he is faceless in his desire to buy the delights of real life with the available riches. One of the most striking symbols in this part of the story is a dancing pair of hired actors, depicting genuine passion in the dance. In a hotel in Capri, the master dies unexpectedly, losing not only his life, but all the privileges of a rich man, becoming a burden for everyone around him, from the hotel owner, who opposes the coffin to remain in his apartment, to his own family, which does not know what to do with the master's body. The description of the natural world, the world of poor people on the island of Capri is carried out in a living language, full of symbolic images, and therefore stands out against the background of the general stylistics of the work. At the end of the story, the body of the master returns home, to the grave, to the shores of the New World, on the same ship that with great honor carried him to the Old World, but now his body lies in a tarred coffin at the bottom of the hold, and on the ship in light, shining a crowded ball is going on in the halls with chandeliers.

Reviews of contemporaries

After the release of the story, periodicals praised it. Thus, the critic A. Derman wrote in the journal Russkaya Mysl in 1916: “ More than ten years separates us from the end of Chekhov's work, and during this period, if we exclude what was made public after the death of L.N. “… How did the artist evolve? On the scale of his feelings ... With a kind of solemn and righteous sadness, the artist painted a large image of a huge evil - an image of sin in which the life of a modern urban man with an old heart proceeds, and the reader feels here not only legality, but also justice and beauty of the author's coldness to your hero ..."The magazine" Russian wealth "from 1917 gave a more restrained response:" The story is good, but it suffers from its shortcomings, as the French say. The opposition between the superficial brilliance of our modern culture and its insignificance in the face of death is expressed in the story with exciting force, but it exhausts it to the bottom ... »

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Bibliography

• I. Bunin. Collected works, volume 4. - Moscow: Fiction, 1966. - S. 483-488 (notes to that).
• Baboreko A.K. Bunin Series "ZhZL" - M .: Molodaya gvardiya, 457 p., 2004
• Ichin Cornelia, Yovanovic Milivoje. Notes on literary sources"The gentleman from San Francisco" I. Bunin // Ichin Cornelia, Yovanovic Milivoje. Elegiac excavations. - Belgrade: Publishing House of the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, 2005. - P. 117-143. - ISBN 86-80267-84-8.

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Fictional prose Poetry Memories

An excerpt characterizing the gentleman of San Francisco

When they drank coffee after lunch, in the living room with the covers removed, Marya Dmitrievna was reported that the carriage was ready, and she stern look, dressed in a ceremonial shawl, in which she made visits, got up and announced that she was going to Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky to explain with him about Natasha.
After Marya Dmitrievna's departure, a milliner from Madame Shalme came to see the Rostovs, and Natasha, closing the door in the living room next to her, very pleased with the entertainment, began trying on new dresses. While she, putting on a bodice that was still sourced on a living thread and still without sleeves, and bending her head, looked in the mirror at how the back was sitting, she heard in the living room the animated sounds of the voices of her father and another, female voice which made her blush. It was Helene's voice. Before Natasha had time to take off the bodice she was trying on, the door opened and Countess Bezukhaya entered the room, beaming with a good-natured and affectionate smile, in a dark purple velvet dress with a high collar.
- Ah, ma delicieuse! [Oh, my darling!] - she said to Natasha, blushing. - Charmante! [Charming!] No, it doesn't look like anything, my dear count, ”she said to Ilya Andreich, who had come in to pick her up. - How to live in Moscow and not go anywhere? No, I will not leave you alone! This evening m lle Georges is reciting at my place and a few will gather; and if you don’t bring your beauties, who are better than m lle Georges, then I don’t want to know you. There is no husband, he went to Tver, otherwise I would have sent him for you. Be sure to come, by all means, at the ninth hour. - She nodded her head to the familiar milliner, who respectfully sat down to her, and sat down on an armchair near the mirror, picturesquely spreading the folds of her velvet dress. She did not stop chatting good-naturedly and cheerfully, incessantly admiring Natasha's beauty. She reviewed and praised her dresses, and praised her new dress en gaz metallique, [in metallic gauze] which she had received from Paris and advised Natasha to do the same.
“However, everything suits you, my dear,” she said.
A smile of pleasure never left Natasha's face. She felt happy and flourishing under the praises of this dear Countess Bezukhova, who had previously seemed to her such an unapproachable and important lady, and who was now so kind to her. Natasha felt cheerful and she felt almost in love with this such a beautiful and such good-natured woman. Helene, for her part, sincerely admired Natasha and wanted to amuse her. Anatole asked her to set him up with Natasha, and for this she came to the Rostovs. The idea of ​​bringing her brother to Natasha amused her.
Despite the fact that before she had been annoyed with Natasha for having recaptured Boris from her in Petersburg, she now did not think about it, and with all her heart, in her own way, wished Natasha well. Leaving the Rostovs, she withdrew her protegee aside.
- Yesterday my brother dined with me - we were dying with laughter - he doesn't eat anything and sighs for you, my dear. Il est fou, mais fou amoureux de vous, ma chere. [He is mad, but mad with love for you, my dear.]
Natasha blushed crimson upon hearing these words.
- How blushing, how blushing, ma delicieuse! [my darling!] - said Helene. - Be sure to come. Si vous aimez quelqu "un, ma delicieuse, ce n" est pas une raison pour se cloitrer. Si meme vous etes promise, je suis sure que votre rromis aurait desire que vous alliez dans le monde en son absence plutot que de deperir d "ennui. [Because you love someone, my dear, you should never live as a nun. Even if you are a bride, I am sure that your fiancé would rather you go out into the world in his absence than die out of boredom.]
“So she knows that I am a bride, so she and her husband, with Pierre, with this fair Pierre, thought Natasha, talked and laughed about it. So it’s nothing. ” And again, under the influence of Helene, what had previously seemed scary seemed simple and natural. “And she is such a grande dame, [an important lady,] so sweet and so she loves me with all her heart, Natasha thought. And why not have fun? " thought Natasha, looking at Helene with wide-eyed surprise.
By dinnertime Marya Dmitrievna returned, silent and serious, obviously defeated by the old prince. She was still too agitated by the confrontation that had taken place to be able to calmly relate the case. To the count's question, she replied that everything was fine and that she would tell tomorrow. Learning about the visit of Countess Bezukhova and the invitation to the evening, Marya Dmitrievna said:
- With Bezukhova, I do not like and would not advise; Well, yes, if you have promised, go and dissipate yourself, ”she added, turning to Natasha.

Count Ilya Andreevich took his girls to Countess Bezukhova. There were quite a lot of people at the party. But the whole society was almost unfamiliar to Natasha. Count Ilya Andreevich remarked with displeasure that this whole society consisted mainly of men and women, known for their freedom of treatment. M lle Georges, surrounded by young people, stood in the corner of the living room. There were several Frenchmen, and between them Metivier, who, from the time of Helene's arrival, had been her homemaker. Count Ilya Andreevich decided not to sit down at the cards, not to leave his daughters, and to leave as soon as the Georges show was over.
Anatole was apparently at the door waiting for the Rostovs to enter. He immediately greeted the count, went up to Natasha and followed her. As soon as Natasha saw him, just as in the theater, a feeling of vain pleasure that he liked her and fear of the absence of moral barriers between her and him seized her. Helene happily accepted Natasha and loudly admired her beauty and dress. Shortly after their arrival, m lle Georges left the room to get dressed. In the living room they began to arrange chairs and sit down. Anatole pushed a chair for Natasha and wanted to sit down beside her, but the count, who did not take his eyes off Natasha, sat down beside her. Anatole sat in the back.

"The gentleman from San Francisco" is a work that is included in the ranks of the Russian classics. The genre of "Mister from San Francisco" cannot be determined at once, it is necessary to disassemble the work, analyze it and only then draw any definite conclusions. But it is important to say right away that the work carries a very large semantic load. The theme of the story "The gentleman from San Francisco" touches upon very important life problems of society.

A few words about the plot

Speaking about the description of the gentleman from San Francisco, it is important to note that the author himself does not name his main character in any way. In other words, the name of the main character is unknown to the reader, because, as Bunin himself writes, no one remembers the man's name, which is already an indicator that the main character was an ordinary rich man who did not bring any benefit to society.

In addition, as it is learned at the end of the story, no one will miss the gentleman from San Francisco. This also proves the fact that among the friends and relatives, the man did not have people who truly loved and appreciated him, and did not perceive him as a fat wallet that could pay for any whim.

Contents of "Gentlemen from San Francisco" Bunin

To properly analyze a story, you need to know its content. Continuing the description of the gentleman from San Francisco, let's look at the plot that unfolds around the main character. The man, this very gentleman, goes on a journey with his family, consisting of his wife and daughter. He worked hard throughout his life and now, finally, he can afford such a vacation, since he is fairly rich.

Going to the place of rest on a huge and expensive steamer, the gentleman does not deny himself any conveniences: there are baths, and gymnasiums, and ballrooms on the ship. Many passengers just walk the decks. From the description of the conditions on this ship, the reader can immediately see that the people on board are rich. They can afford any kind of treat: a few meals, liqueurs, cigars, and more.

When the steamer arrives at its final destination - Naples, the gentleman from San Francisco, along with his family, goes to an expensive hotel. Even in the hotel everything goes as planned: in the morning - breakfast, a walk, in the afternoon - visiting museums and sightseeing, in the evening - a rich table and a hearty dinner. But this year turned out to be not very warm for Naples - incessant rains are pouring and an icy wind blows. Then the family of the gentleman from San Francisco decides to go to the island of Capri, where, according to rumors, there is an intense heat and lemons are blooming.

Death of a rich man

Sitting on a small steamer, the family cannot find a place for themselves - they have seasickness, from which they are greatly exhausted. Upon reaching the island, the master's family stays in a small hotel. More or less recovered from the difficult journey, the family begins to prepare for dinner. Having gathered before his daughter and wife, the man goes to the quiet reading room. Opening the newspaper, the gentleman suddenly felt unwell and he was dying of a heart attack.

The body of a San Francisco gentleman is transferred to one of the smallest bedrooms in the entire hotel. Standing around his wife, daughter and several employees look at him and do not know what to do next - whether to rejoice, or to grieve. The wife of the master asks the owner of the hotel for permission to transfer the body of the deceased husband to their apartment, but is refused. According to the owner, these rooms are too valuable for his hotel and he simply cannot afford to spoil the reputation of his company. The master's wife also asks where she can order a coffin for the deceased. The owner of the hotel explains that such things cannot be found here, and in return offers the widow a huge soda box as a coffin.

Already at dawn, the body of the deceased gentleman from San Francisco is sent to his homeland. The body, which lies in a well-tarred soda box, is at the very bottom of the steamer. He goes home the same way, the deep sea waters are still roaring around the gentleman.

The world of the protagonist

Speaking of the genre "Gentleman from San Francisco", it is important to say that this is a story. This is immediately evident from the first lines of the work, which tell the reader about the world from which the man came.

The world from which the main character originated is striking in its materiality: there is no place for human emotions or miracles - only calculation, only banknotes. The author of "The Lord from San Francisco" shows the readers how degraded society is - money came to the fore, pushing into the background all the spiritual values ​​that were inherent in man by nature.

main characters

The main characters of "Mr. from San Francisco", as can be seen even from the summary, are wealthy people who do not know any financial difficulties... Their journey was calculated for two years, which already suggests that it was carefully thought out. The main character is a gentleman from San Francisco, a man whose life is dominated by order and order. Ivan Bunin especially emphasizes all the preparations of the protagonist for this journey. Having carefully considered every detail of this trip, the main character shows himself as a responsible person, impatient of any surprises that may embarrass him or cause difficulties.

The wife of this gentleman is a woman who is used to receiving all sorts of signs of attention from her husband. She is not a support for him, but only takes everything for granted. It is quite common for her that he devoted his life to work in order to support his family in wealth. The master's daughter is a spoiled girl who throughout her life did not know any problems or any hardships. Raised in excellent material conditions, she always got everything she wanted. This journey for the girl, as well as for her mother, is something ordinary and acceptable, despite the hard work of her father in his youth. In addition, it cannot be said that the girl loves her father - there is coldness and indifference in her relationship with him.

about the author

It is worth saying a few words about the author of The Gentleman from San Francisco. Ivan Bunin, who is already well known to everyone interested in literature at the age of 12-13, became the author of this work as well. However, "The gentleman from San Francisco", whose genre is a story, is not at all similar to those works that are often found in the writer's literary archive. In this story, there is a main character around whom the plot develops. Usually, a writer comes across works that contain descriptions of landscapes and landscapes, which are "stored in memory" like paintings. For example, " Antonov apples"Bunin became the very work that does not have any main plot, but contains a description of the beautiful nature that once surrounded the writer.

Master image

The story "Mister from San Francisco", whose images are diverse and carry different roles for the work, is able to teach readers to take material goods for granted, unable to prolong life. As we can see from the example of the protagonist, who had everything he wanted, money could not save him from a heart attack. And even though the gentleman was very rich, his body was transported home not in an expensive coffin, but in an ordinary box, which was hidden at the very bottom of the steamer. Money could not provide him even a worthy "last" way.

Wife and daughter: images

The female images in "The Lord from San Francisco" became an indicator of commercialism in the work. Accustomed to living in abundance, not denying themselves anything for many years, these two figures take all the benefits for granted. The gentleman has become for these two heroines something commonplace, but not of any value. Even after the master died, the heroines did not know how to react to his death - on the one hand, they must fall into grief, as a loving wife and daughter would do; on the other hand, the death of the master was desired, she removed the stone from the heroines' shoulders, freeing them from the man's onslaught.

General conclusion on the product

Having considered the content of "The Lord from San Francisco", the genre of which is defined as a story, its main characters, having analyzed all the images, it must be said that the author tried to show how deteriorated society has been over several years. Bunin talks about the degradation of the whole society, which chose main value money, forgetting about the simple things that made up the spiritual side of everyone. In addition, in "The Lord from San Francisco" Ivan Bunin shows the other side of human nature - a person gets used to everything. This is evidenced by the images of the master's daughter and wife, who take the benefits of a man for granted, without any value. However, they are not spiritually developed. For them, material, as well as for the rest, comes first, but they do not know the value of money, therefore they are able to throw it down the drain. They do not support the master, they are not even saddened by his death. The death of a man only ruined the evening for them.

Ivan Bunin touches upon a very important topic in the story "Mister from San Francisco" that society faced: placing material wealth in the foreground in people's lives and completely denying everything spiritual in a person.