Prose works of Bunin. Bunin stories

Love is a feeling about which in Russian classical literature a lot has been said. Some of the authors touched on the topic of love in passing. But there were also those who boldly walked towards it, devoting their creativity to its mysterious and incomprehensible aspects. The most mysterious and ambiguous human emotions are dedicated to love. The list of these works is a gallery of beautiful poetic stories that, as a rule, have a sad and touching outcome.

"Dark alleys"

The problem of love in Bunin's stories lies in the fleeting and impermanent nature of this feeling. Tragic story love becomes when feelings were fleeting for one of its participants. So, in the story “ Dark alleys“An elderly military man, accidentally stopping by, meets his former love there, whom he does not immediately recognize. Many years have passed since their last meeting. She became the mistress of the inn, a hard and cold woman. But she wasn't always like this. What made her this way were unrequited feelings for Nikolai Alekseevich - that same military man, her occasional guest. The man who cruelly abandoned her thirty years ago.

In his youth, he read her lyric poems “Dark Alleys,” and she called him Nikolenka. Now he admits that he has never been happy for a minute of his life. But nothing can be corrected, and Nikolai Alekseevich leaves the inn with a heavy heart and with vague, disturbing memories.

"Caucasus"

The motive of love in Bunin's stories is often associated with betrayal, which leads a person to tragic ending. The story “Caucasus,” on the one hand, shows the happiness of two lovers. On the other hand, there is the tragedy of a deceived husband. This story says little about him. The reader only knows that this is a tough and determined person. In the eyes of a frivolous wife, he appears as a hindrance and an annoying obstacle on the path to happiness. But at that moment, when the lovers are exhausted from passion, this “hard man” realizes that he has been betrayed and commits suicide.

Bunin describes the emotions of the deceived husband and his death sparingly and dispassionately. The happy experiences of the wife and her lover are depicted against the backdrop of a colorful southern landscape. This literary device creates a sharp contrast between happiness and tragedy, which are born equally from love.

"Styopa"

They tell how unattainable human happiness can be. better stories Bunin about love. Summary The story “Styopa” creates the impression of a familiar plot. But art forms, characteristic of the author, allow us to see in classical history about the “poor dishonored girl” new shades.

The young merchant Krasilshchikov, arriving at a familiar room, finds the owner’s daughter alone. The father went to the city. The merchant, taking advantage of the situation, becomes close to the girl. For him, this story is an entertaining adventure, which he happily forgets about after two days. For her - hope for happiness. The story does not show the tragedy of a simple girl. Only her hopes and dreams are present here, creating the opposite of the indifference and frivolity of the main character.

"Muse"

The world of men and the world of women in Ivan Bunin are in constant antagonism. Bunin's narration is characterized by a sharp change in the hero's life circumstances, which is not a consequence of any events. Changes in the character's life occur under the influence of his feelings for a woman, who often has the image of a selfish and eccentric nature. To the question of what kind of love in Bunin’s stories does not have a sad ending, one can answer unequivocally: there is no such love. The writer did not pay attention to the life-affirming power of this feeling.

The main character will not suffer a mortal fate, which is how Bunin’s stories about love often end. A summary of the misadventures of the protagonist of the short story “Muse” comes down to a description life together with your beloved and separation from her, which comes as suddenly as the meeting. An unexpected separation leaves him in confusion and leaves him feeling empty.

The narration is told in the first person. Main character takes painting lessons, but does not show any interest in fine arts any abilities. From the short introduction that precedes the introduction to the heroine, who has the symbolic name Muse, the reader concludes that the narrator is not a strong-willed person. He is unable to influence the course of events in his life. One day the Muse appears to him, drags him along, his life changes. But when the girl-muse loses interest in him, another, equally weak-willed character takes his place.

"Late Hour"

Bunin's prose is characterized by the catastrophic nature of existence, a feeling of loneliness and the illusory nature of happiness. Undoubtedly, these features were the result of the author’s difficult fate, although there are no direct autobiographical references in his work.

During the years when the story “The Late Hour” was written, the writer was abroad. The work is dedicated to memories of a long-past love that accompany the author during his journey through hometown. Walking along the bridge, the bazaar and Monastery Square, he restores lost images in his memory. Past and present are united into one whole. This whole becomes the awareness of the perishability of all life on earth. The logical conclusion of a trip through the city is a cemetery. In the story, it is a symbol of the fragility of love. In this cemetery there is the grave of his beloved. An analysis of Bunin's stories about love allows us to see the connection between the writer's lyrical motives and nostalgia and awareness of the frailty of existence.

"Fool"

Tragic love in Bunin's stories is not always beautiful. And sometimes it can be compared rather to an animal passion, which can only be experienced by a person who is extremely narcissistic and selfish. At the center of the story “The Fool” is a very immoral and hypocritical person.

The master's son spends the summer with his parents. As a student at a theological seminary, he demonstrates brilliant success in his studies. At the same time, his spiritual and moral world exceptionally poor. Taking advantage of the irresponsibility of the foolish cook, he took possession of her: “She couldn’t even scream out of fear.” The impunity of these actions led to the young man repeating them more than once. Eventually the cook gave birth to a boy. But the appearance of the child, as well as the appearance of the “fool” herself, depressed the owner’s son, and he ordered her to be driven out of the yard. Since then, she wandered the streets with her son, begging for alms “for Christ’s sake.”

The hypocrisy and cruelty of the main character acquire a particularly strong effect because he has clergy and is a minister of the church. The story is simple, but thanks to Ivan Bunin’s unique style it evokes in the reader strong feelings. The wanderings of the young mother are not complemented by tearful emotions, but are described very briefly and laconically. The author says only a few words about the child: “He was a freak, but when he smiled, he was very sweet.”

"Antigone"

This story from the collection "Dark Alleys" tells of mutual passion. A young student is visiting his close relatives. Uncle is a general, chained to In his house young man boring and dreary. Out of boredom, he indulges in fantasies, comparing himself to Pushkin’s Onegin. But he doesn’t straighten the general’s pillows or bring him medicine. These responsibilities lie with the nurse - a beautiful young lady.

Passion is born at first sight. But the student cannot meet the girl. She is somewhere close, her room is behind the wall, but still the girl is not yet accessible. One fine day she appears in his room, and the next morning the general’s nephew meets him in her bed. The connection is instantly discovered, and the young woman has no choice but to leave the estate. What did this fleeting relationship become for her? Passion? Falling in love? The peculiarities of Bunin's stories about love are, first of all, understatement and mystery. The reader has to find the answers to some questions himself.

"Business Cards"

Diverse palette human feelings reflect Bunin's stories about love. The list of love stories includes stories about a fateful feeling, selfish passion, and fleeting attraction. Relationships with random companions are discussed in the story “Business Cards.”

He - famous writer. She is a poor, simple-hearted girl. Her husband, in her own words, is a kind man and completely uninteresting. The feeling that life is wasted pushes a young woman to love adventures. Her naivety and inexperience touch and attract the writer. The life of this woman is so monotonous and gray that after meeting and briefly communicating with a handsome and famous person she is ready to indulge in simple, unromantic debauchery in order to give her existence at least some bright colors. Which is what happens in her cabin. At the end of the story, she appears before the reader in a different form: “quiet, with lowered eyelashes.”

"Zoyka and Valeria"

Bunin devotes stories about love to an all-consuming and sometimes deadly feeling. It is not easy to compile a list of characters in Dark Alleys, since many of them are faceless. In the foreground in the stories of this cycle is not a person with characteristic appearance and habits, but a feeling that governs his actions. Georges Levitsky is one of the few characters who is not without a name and appearance.

He is thoughtful, melancholic, messy. Love comes to him not with the appearance of his chosen one, but much earlier. He is waiting for this feeling, but to whom it will be addressed, at the beginning of the story he does not yet know. Either it will be the daughter of Georges’ colleague, or distant relative, doesn't matter. The important thing is that one day Valeria appears, and it is to her that this nervous and sensual character directs all the power of his experiences. Valeria, like many other Bunin heroines, is impartial and cold. Her indifference prompts the main character of the story “Zoika and Valeria” to commit suicide.

"Tanya"

Some of Bunin's stories about love have a hidden historical background. The list of stories dedicated to happiness is complemented by the story “Tanya”. Here we're talking about about the love between a small landowner's maid and a certain young man. All that is known about him is that Tanya affectionately called him Petrusha and he led a chaotic and wandering life. One autumn night, he took possession of her. At first this scared the girl, but later the fear faded into the background, and in its place affection began to grow and develop. But they are not destined to be together. Their last meeting took place in February of the terrible seventeenth year.

"In Paris"

In emigration, people feel sadness and loneliness more than ever. It was in such an atmosphere that Bunin’s stories about love were created. The list of works of those years includes the short story “In Paris”. Main character - former officer Russian army, forced to leave their homeland. In a small Russian restaurant, he meets a waitress - a woman of Russian origin. The fates of these two people were crippled by the revolution. They are united by loneliness, the desire to love and be loved. The lives of these characters, so alien against the backdrop of the Parisian cityscape, begin to make sense again. But Bunin’s love cannot last long. It, like a flash, lights up and goes out again. The main character of the story “In Paris” suddenly dies in a subway car.

"Henry"

In this story, Ivan Bunin created an image of the Don Juan type. At the center of the story is the writer Glebov. His life is full of lies. He is surrounded by women, but does not feel affection for them. With the exception of one - a translator and journalist writing under the pseudonym Heinrich. But even with this lady, he is insincere when he tells her that she is only a faithful friend and an understanding interlocutor for him. In reality, Glebov is overcome with jealousy. After all, Heinrich also has a person to whom she lies and whom she uses in her whole. The climax is a small newspaper article from which main character learns about the death of his beloved. Analysis of Bunin's stories about love demonstrates Bunin's special style. Poetic art style, with the help of which the author conveys the emotions of the lovers, contrasts with the dry newspaper style with which the death of the heroine of this story is reported. A similar technique is found in other works of Bunin.

Motives for separation and death

“Dark and Gloomy Alleys” contains love in Bunin’s stories. The author himself briefly spoke about these works in this spirit. Hence the name of the famous cycle. The life of Ivan Bunin's heroes acquires meaning only with the advent of deep feeling. But love in his works has a fleeting and tragic character. As a rule, relationships between a man and a woman end in death or separation. This pessimistic view is due to the personal tragedy of the author, who was forced to live alone for many years abroad.

A few words about Bunin

I love Bunin. This love did not come to me right away: in childhood and adolescence, plot is valued more than style, action is valued more than contemplation. Therefore, Bunin’s wonderful miniature stories passed me by at first, and Bunin’s poems to this day do not particularly attract me. It was only later that I tasted how good it was Bunin's prose, and was imbued with the simple charm of his filigree style.

Recently a writer Efim Sorokin sent me yours new novel“Digital Angel”, and in it two literary heroes, talking about creativity, remember Bunin:

“- Patience and work!.. To learn to write, you need to write!.. Through worries, worries, doubts... And not listen to well-wishers who line up writers in rows. This one is first row, this one is second, this one is fifth... It’s clear that Bunin and Nabokov are two mountains with snowy peaks, you’ll never get there, but...”

This assessment of Bunin is common among the literary fraternity, but in order to make such a judgment, you need to be very well versed in literature. Bunin's talent is discreet (unlike Nabokov's brightest), but extremely precious.

Bunin lived a long life as a writer, and his skill did not fade over the years, but only sharpened. But the main theme of his works, what is most interesting, remained unchanged: Russia and tragic love. Despite emigration, he managed to “preserve” Russia within himself and, despite the age at which he wrote best stories cycle "Dark alleys" , he subtly and in detail outlined the mental movements of very young heroes. If we compare, for example, the stories "Easy breath" And "Rusya" , it is difficult to assume that a quarter of a century passed between their writing, that one was written in Russia (perhaps, however, in Capri) before the revolution, and the second in France during the Second World War. These stories are very close to each other. And after a week, a month, or at most a year, the story seems to have been completely copied from life "Madrid" , and at the moment of describing this pre-revolutionary “idyll” Soviet troops have already liberated Europe from the Nazis...

Therefore, considering Bunin’s stories very different years, we will not go beyond the thematic framework of the pre-revolutionary period, but before embarking on such an analysis, we will give the reader the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with biography of I.A. Bunina . You can find some interesting things too.

Ivan Bunin was a two-time Pushkin Prize laureate (1903, 1909) and a Nobel Prize laureate (1933). Nobel Prize was awarded to him “for the strict artistic talent with which he recreated a literary prose typically Russian character.

King Gustav V of Sweden presents Bunin with a Nobel Prize diploma

laureate and gold medal. Stockholm. Photo 1933.

I.A. Bunin accepts congratulations after being presented with

Nobel Prize. Stockholm. Photo 1933.

He was a fully recognized classic during his lifetime, but lived as an exile, died in poverty and was buried in a Russian cemetery far from Russia.

House of I.A. Bunin in Voronezh and grave at the cemetery of Sainte Genevieve de Bois

This fate can serve as some consolation for modern Russian writers, who, for the most part, are also poor and almost destitute. Ivan Bunin, despite the hardships of life, did not give up writing, did not become an alcoholic, did not betray literature, did not betray Russia either, he only complained that he was born too late, otherwise all these victims, deprivations and homelessness could have been avoided.

In his memoirs he wrote: “I was born too late. If I had been born earlier, my writing memories would not have been like this. I wouldn't have to go through... 1905, then the first world war, followed by the 17th year and its continuation, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler... How not to envy our forefather Noah! Only one flood befell him...”

L. Andreev and I. Bunin I.A. Bunin and V.N. Bunina

Stories by I.A. Bunin about love relationships

The most famous story about tragic love, more precisely, about easy breathing natural, natural feeling, which has nothing in common with love in the lofty sense, is, naturally, the story "Easy breath".

You can read story or listen audiobook

There is also a film adaptation of this story with a not entirely successful, in my opinion, selection of an actress for the role main character, but quite close to the text.

Video fragment 1. Film “Dedication to Love”.

This story contains a secret: the story described in it is tragic, and banal, and dirty, but the reader’s feeling after reading remains light and bright. This effect was studied by the famous psychologist L.S. Vygotsky , who devoted an entire section of the book "Psychology of Art" this story.

Illustration by O. Vereisky

However, I will not analyze this story, presenting to your attention a completely high-quality and detailed analysis EAT. Boldyreva and A.V. Ledeneva . Please familiarize yourself with it, as well as with the work of L.S. Vygotsky, the link to which is given above.

I myself, following the tradition of analyzing one masterpiece by one author, will focus on the less well-known, but perhaps even more strong story "Rusya".

"Rusya"

Illustration O.G. Vereisky

You can readstory or listen audiobook

Compositionally the story is perfectly structured: all possible structural parts, including prologue, plot, exposition, development of action, climax, denouement and epilogue can be distinguished very clearly:

1) prologue- parking the train in a place memorable to the main character;

2) tie- the protagonist’s story to his wife that he was once a tutor in a country estate located nearby, and was in love with the owner’s daughter, and she seemed to reciprocate his feelings, and a gloomy joke to his wife’s question about why he didn’t married that girl;

3) exposure- a description of the estate, Rus' and her family, which began in a conversation with his wife and continued in the memory of the main character (the technique is called retrospection, i.e. looking into the past);

4) development of action - love story from the origin of feelings to physical intimacy (first climax) and exposure (second climax);

5) denouement- the choice of Rus' in favor of the mother and the departure of the main character;

6) epilogue- a conversation with my wife after a night full of memories of Rus, and Latin phrase, summing up a disappointing conclusion to a long-past story.

A similar prologue and epilogue (conversation with his wife on the train) harmoniously frame the action; this technique is called loopback. Another loop frames the deepest and most intimate memory of Rus, which the hero experiences while lying on his bed in a dark compartment: starting with moles and ending with exile. Inside, this story is not interrupted by exits into modernity, like pieces of history before and after it. This is the frame, very symbolic:

“The blue-purple peephole above the door quietly looked into the darkness. She soon fell asleep, he did not sleep, lay there, smoked and mentally looked at that summer...”

“He woke up, opened his eyes - the blue-violet peephole above the door was still steadily, mysteriously, gravely looking at him from the black darkness, and still with the same speed, steadily rushing forward, the carriage rushed, springing, swaying.”

Notice how this is the most indivisible and sacred , framed by two layers of looping, changes the hero. Let's start with the internal loop, i.e. from the view of the door peephole: first he " quietly looked into the darkness, and then “steadily, mysteriously, gravely looked at him from the black darkness.” The dynamics, as they say, are obvious: at first the peephole is calm, and its gaze is directed into the darkness, and then the gaze changes direction and stares at the hero “steadily, mysteriously and gravelly,” and even from the “black darkness” i.e. this very darkness into which the protagonist was directed with blissful calm, since it did not seem scary to him (he “ I looked back in my mind to that summer"), gave him a disappointing verdict.

Now let's go through the outer loop. At the beginning of the story, the husband and wife get along and trust each other, they are united, their conversation is peaceful:

“He leaned on the window, she on his shoulder.

(…)

- Why didn’t you marry her?

“Obviously, I had a presentiment that I would meet you.”

After the night's memories, the situation changes:

“Beyond Kursk, in the dining car, when after breakfast he was drinking coffee and cognac, his wife said to him:

- Why are you drinking so much? This seems to be the fifth glass already. Are you still sad, remembering your country girl with bony feet?

“I’m sad, I’m sad,” he answered, smiling unpleasantly. - Country girl... Amata nobis quantum amabitur nulla!

- Is it in Latin? What does it mean?

- You don't need to know that.

“How rude you are,” she said, sighing carelessly, and began to look out the sunny window.”

It is obvious that the peaceful course family life was broken, and the translation of the phrase is:“Beloved by us, like no other will be loved!” This is about the “dacha girl”.

You should pay attention to one more compositional technique, common with “Easy Breathing”. In “Easy Breathing,” a violation of chronology is repeatedly allowed, and at the end of the story it evokes a bright, joyful sadness in the reader: after describing the classy lady who comes to Olya Meshcherskaya’s grave, her memory (retrospection) is given of how Olya shared information about female beauty, read in an old book, and about easy breathing, which she, Olya, of course, has. In the same way, in “Rus”, after the description of the death of love, the description of “expulsion from paradise”, after the hero’s return from the beautiful, spacious past to the cramped compartment of the present, he is visited by another memory: about the cranes that allowed Russia very close to them ( detailed description!), and, seemingly without any logical connection, about their last happy day, violated by a crazy mother:

And on that last day of theirs, on that last sitting side by side in the living room on the sofa, over a volume of the old Niva, she also held his cap in her hands, pressed it to her chest, as she did then in the boat, and spoke, shining at him eyes with joyful black-mirror eyes:

- And I love you so much now that there is nothing sweeter to me than even this smell inside the cap, the smell of your head and your disgusting cologne!

It is very likely that there is an encrypted reference here to the saying about a bird in the hand and a pie in the sky. The crane is Russia, the tit is his current wife, only Russia was in his hands, and this is what is so bitter for the main character, and this is why he leans so heavily on cognac and is rude to his wife.

As for the story itself, contained in the inner loop, I don’t want to take it apart piece by piece, so as not to kill the charm.

Illustration by N. Leonova

And he again pressed her hands to his lips, sometimes kissing her cold breast like something sacred. What a completely new creature she had become for him! And the greenish half-light stood and did not go out behind the blackness of the low forest, faintly reflected in the flat white water in the distance, dewy coastal plants smelled sharply like celery, invisible mosquitoes whined mysteriously, pleadingly - and flew, flew with a quiet crackling sound over the boat and further, above this glowing water at night, scary, sleepless dragonflies.

I could write a lot about just these three sentences - but why? I will not “verify harmony with algebra.”

The story “Rusya” was well filmed, the actors were very well chosen, so I suggest you watch the part of it where the actual love story is shown, what I designated as "indivisible and hidden."

Video fragment 2. Film “Dedication to Love”.

Did Russia do the right thing? Did the main character do the right thing? Was it possible to find another way out of this situation? All these are idle and somewhat schoolboyishly naive questions. As it happened, so it happened. I am not Belinsky to talk about “slave fear public opinion"and it is not God to judge anyone's sin. As a result of the story told by Bunin, the hero is not entirely happy and regrets something - but what? About the past or the present? And what exactly would he like to change? We only know for certain that the girl named Rusya, “beloved by us, will not be loved like any other.” By the way, this is a verse of Catullus.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was born on October 10, 1870 in Voronezh. His father was ruined because of his passion for gambling and alcohol participant Crimean War. The mother also came from an ancient princely family and wrote poetry. When Ivan was only 3 years old, his family moved from Voronezh to Yeletsky district.

In 1881, Ivan entered the Yeletsk gymnasium. After 5 years, he was expelled from there because he did not return on time after the holidays. At that time, for a nobleman not to receive even a high school education was a disgrace. But Bunin’s whole life consisted of various troubles, an unsettled life and wanderings.

Bunin continued to learn to read and write from his older brother Yuli, who was a publicist. In 1889 he moved to Kharkov with him. In the same year, Bunin got a job at Orlovsky Vestnik. There he meets proofreader Varvara Pashchenko, who for a long time became the object of his adoration.

Ivan began writing his first poems at the age of eight, mainly trying to imitate the work of the famous Russian poets Pushkin and Lermontov. For the first time his poem “Over the Grave of Nadson” was published in the capital’s newspaper “Rodina” in 1887. The poet's first book was published in the early 90s of the 19th century, but it turned out to be quite unsuccessful.

Also in the 90s, Bunin had a period of fascination with the ideas of Leo Tolstoy. He made a special visit to Tolstoyan colonies in Ukraine. There was even a moment when he wanted to quit literature and take up the cooper's craft (the so-called handicraft craft associated primarily with the manufacture of barrels, buckets and other similar wood products). Oddly enough, Bunin was dissuaded from this decision by Lev Nikolaevich himself, whom he met in Moscow.

However, the work of the great Russian writer still influenced the prose works of Bunin himself. Just like Tolstoy, they paid a lot of attention to the connection between man and nature and philosophy Ancient East. At the same time, Bunin’s works were distinguished by greater brevity, which was borrowed from another Russian classic A.P. Chekhov.

Bunin met Chekhov himself in 1895. He gradually entered the society of writers of that time: the circle of Bryusov, Mikhailovsky, Balmont. At the beginning of the twentieth century, his lyrical collection “Falling Leaves” was published. However, the writer has a sharply negative attitude towards modernism; he gravitates more toward classical Russian literature and tries to follow its principles and ideals.

Also at the turn of the century, the writer’s books “To the End of the World and Other Stories” and the poetry collection “Under open air" In addition, Bunin studies English language and translates the American Longfellow’s poem “The Song of Hiawatha.” This work was highly appreciated and soon Russian Academy Sciences Bunin is awarded the Pushkin Prize.

In 1906, the writer met his future wife Muromtseva, who until her death remained the closest person to him, and after that Bunin’s publisher and biographer. A year later, he goes with her on a trip to the East. They visited Egypt, Syria and Palestine. Bunin recorded his impressions from his travels in his diaries and later they were compiled into his book “The Shadow of a Bird.”