Ivan Alekseevich Bunin
(1870-1953)
poet, prose writer, translator, publicist
Was born October 10 (22), 1870 in Voronezh,
in an old impoverished noble family.
He spends his childhood on the Butyrka farm in the Oryol province.
1887
- the first printed poem ("Over the grave of Nadson").
1891
- in Orel, the collection "Poems of 1887-1891" is published.
IN 1892-94
gg. - Bunin's poems and stories begin
published in local magazines.
1901
- the collection "Leaf Fall" is published, which received the Pushkin Prize.
1909
– The Academy of Sciences of the Russian Empire elects
Bunin honorary academician.
1920
- hostilely meeting the October Revolution,
Bunin emigrates to France.
1933
- Bunin was awarded the Nobel Prize "for the true artistic talent with which he recreated in the artistic
prose typical Russian character".
By the end of the 30s Bunin increasingly feels the dramatic nature of the break with the Motherland, avoids direct political statements about the USSR. Fascism in Germany and Italy is sharply condemned by him. Bunin spends the years of the war in Grasse, for some time under German occupation, acutely and with pain experiencing the events in Russia. Victory meets with great joy. In recent years, he has been living in great lack of money, starving.
Major works
Collection of poems "Leaf fall" (1901);
Stories, novellas, novels, short stories:
"Antonov apples" (1900)
"Dreams" (1904)
"Village" (1910)
"Dry Valley" (1912)
"Cup of Life" (1913)
"The Gentleman from San Francisco" (1915)
"Light Breath" (1916)
"Loopy Ears" (1917)
Chang's Dreams (1916, published 1918)
"Mitina's Love" (1924)
"The Life of Arseniev" (1927 - 1933)
"Liberation of Tolstoy" (1937)
"Dark Alleys" (1943)
Bunin's place in the history of Russian literature is very significant. The outstanding purity of the language, the distinctness of the inner drawing in the images and the perfect integrity of construction - all these traits of skill inherent in Bunin as the brightest representative of the classical period of Russian realism, make Bunin's works complete literary examples.
Given the enormous contribution of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin to Russian literature, a group of Russian scientists and public figures in October 2004 decided to establish the Bunin Prize.
Founders Prizes are the Moscow University for the Humanities, the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, the National Union of Non-State Universities, the National Institute of Business, the Institute of Contemporary Art.
The premium is regular non-state an award for a major contribution to Russian literature and is awarded annually. It is personal in nature and is awarded to one applicant - the author of novels, short stories, collections of poems and short stories.
The Board of Trustees of the Prize includes the founders, as well as representatives of other organizations, figures of literature, art, science and business. The Board of Trustees elects the chairman, creates the prize fund, forms the jury, appoints its chairman, determines the timing and procedure for awarding.
Chairman Board of Trustees is Igor Mikhailovich Ilyinsky- Rector of the Moscow University for the Humanities, President of the National Union of Non-State Higher Education Institutions, Professor, full member of the Academy of Russian Literature.
Award Jury consists of prominent writers, cultural figures and scientists. Once every two years, the composition of the jury is updated for at least two people. The President of the Jury is Tarasov Boris Nikolaevich- famous literary critic and writer, doctor of philological sciences, professor, honored worker of science of the Russian Federation, head of the department of the Literary Institute. A. M. Gorky, Member of the Board of the Union of Writers of Russia. Laureate of the International Literary Prize. F. M. Dostoevsky, All-Russian Literary Prize. F. I. Tyutchev, All-Russian Prize. A. S. Khomyakova.
Right to nominate for competition Publishing houses, literary magazines, Russian and foreign organizations studying the Russian language, universities that have departments for the study of the Russian language and literature, well-known literary observers and scientists, winners of the Bunin Prize.
Examination and review of the submitted works are carried out by literary scholars, as well as philosophers and historians.
Based on the results of the examination, the Jury determines the "long" and "short" list - the finalists and the Laureate.
The Board of Trustees considers the proposals of the Jury and makes a final decision 10 days before the awards are presented.
The Bunin Prize consists of a monetary reward, a diploma, a Laureate and Finalist medal and a certificate for it.
The awards are presented by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Chairman of the Jury of the Bunin Prize in a solemn atmosphere.
For the Bunin Prize in 2005 and 2006. 112 authors were included in the list of nominees out of the total number of those submitted for the competition.
Literary and art magazines "New World", "Friendship of Peoples", "Neva", "Bulletin of Europe", "Moscow" and others took part in the nomination of works for the competition; publishing houses "Terra - Book Club", "Olma-Press", "Rainbow", "Aleteyya" and others, 21 universities, as well as well-known literary observers and scientists.
The winner of the Bunin Prize in 2005 was Vadim Mesyats for the book "Wok-wok", stories. M .: New Literary Review, 2004, which received a cash prize of 20,000 euros, a laureate diploma, a gold medal with the image of I. A. Bunin and a certificate for it.
The finalists of the 2005 competition were Boris Ekimov. The stories "Rally", "Calf", "Hook", "Outside the Window", "Don't Cry" // Novy Mir, 2004. Nos. 3, 8, 11); Nikolai Konusov. Collection of stories, manuscript; Afanasy Mammadov. Collection of stories "Elephant". M. Time, 2004 and Sergei Solovyov. The story "Prana" // Friendship of peoples, 2004. No. 10-11. They were awarded prizes in the amount of 1000 euros, Silver medals and Diplomas.
2006 Bunin Prize winner Andrey Georgievich Bitov for the book "A palace without a king". (Chisty List Publishing House, St. Petersburg, 2005), which received a cash prize of 20 thousand euros, a Laureate Diploma, a Gold Medal and a certificate for it. The finalists were awarded cash prizes of 1000 euros, Diplomas and Silver medals.
The finalists of the Bunin Prize in 2006 were: Ilichevsky Alexander. Klein bottle. M .: Science, series "Russian Gulliver", Vadim Mesyats Center for Contemporary Literature, 2005, Kabakov Alexander. Moscow fairy tales. M.: Vagrius, 2005, Kucherskaya Maya. Modern patericon. Reading for the discouraged. M.: Time, 2005, Shishkin Mikhail. Venus hair. Novel. M.: Vagrius, 2005.
The Board of Trustees of the Bunin Prize announces a competition for the 2017 Bunin Prize for the best works in the field of poetry.
The Bunin Prize was established in 2004 to maintain the best traditions of Russian literature in modern literature. Her name sanctifies Ivan Alekseevich Bunin- the great Russian writer and poet, academician, Nobel Prize winner.
The founders of the award were the Moscow University for the Humanities, the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, the National Union of Non-State Universities, the National Institute of Business, the Institute of Contemporary Art.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Igor Mikhailovich Ilyinsky- Rector of the Moscow University for the Humanities, professor, member of the Writers' Union of Russia, full member of the Academy of Russian Literature.
The award jury consists of prominent writers, cultural figures and scientists. Jury President - Boris Nikolaevich Tarasov, well-known literary critic and writer, doctor of philological sciences, professor, honored worker of science of the Russian Federation, head of the department of the Literary Institute named after A. M. Gorky, member of the Board of the Union of Writers of Russia.
Announcing a competition for the Bunin Prize for the best works in the field of poetry, the Board of Trustees of the Prize proceeds from the Bunin attitude to the Russian language as the highest expression of the spirit and soul of the Russian people. Bunin was irreconcilable to excessive pomposity, vulgarity and falsehood. He was concerned that the natural simplicity and nobility of artistic speech were being lost in contemporary Russian literature. In his poetry, Bunin invariably affirmed the fundamental values of Russian literature, gave samples that today remain an example of high artistic taste and depth of comprehension of man and his world.
An author whose works make a significant contribution to Russian literature and cultural life can be nominated for the Bunin Prize. The prize is awarded to authors who have published their works in Russian, as a rule, during the year preceding the year of the competition. These may be the works of the author, published as separate books or in the form of journal publications both in Russia and abroad.
The works sent to the competition undergo a two-level highly qualified examination, in which literary critics — doctors of philological sciences from leading universities and academic institutions participate. Based on the results of the examination, the Board of Trustees forms a “short list” of contenders for the title of Bunin Prize winners, which is submitted to the Competition Jury.
The winners of the competition are awarded Diplomas of Laureates of the Bunin Prize, medals with the image of I. A. Bunin and cash rewards.
The winners of the Bunin Prize, writers' unions, publishing houses, literary magazines, philological and humanitarian institutes, Russian and foreign organizations that study the Russian language, universities that have departments of the Russian language and literature, literary critics, columnists and scientists have the right to nominate for the competition. Doctor of Philology. Each of them can nominate only one candidate.
Promotion of works is carried out from April 15 to July 15, 2017. An application for nomination is submitted to the Board of Trustees of the Bunin Prize, written in free form and containing information about the author, a brief assessment of his work, grounds for nomination for the Bunin Prize. Three copies of the work put forward for the competition are attached to the application.
Over the past years, competitions have been held for the best works in prose, poetry, memoirs, journalism, and literary translation. Applications for participation in the competition were sent by writers from more than 50 cities of Russia and 20 foreign countries ( Austria, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Germany, Georgia, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, USA, Tajikistan, Ukraine, France, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Japan). More than 1000 literary works have passed the examination.
More than 60 writers have become laureates and diplomats of the Bunin Prize in different years: Vladimir Aleinikov, Maxim Amelin, Andrey Bitov, Yuri Boldyrev, Larisa Vasilyeva, Maria Vatutina, Andrey Volos, Vera Galaktionova, Gleb Gorbovsky, Daniil Granin, Andrey Dementiev, Nikolay Dobronravov, Boris Evseev, Ivan Esaulov, Sergey Yesin, Fazil Iskander, Alexander Kabakov , Timur Kibirov, Julietto Chiesa, Grigory Kruzhkov, Marina Kudimova, Inna Lisnyanskaya, Albert Likhanov, Viktor Likhonosov, Vladimir Lichutin, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Yuri Polyakov, Alexander Prokhanov, Alexander Segen, Valentina Silantieva, Andrey Fursov and other prominent masters of the artistic word.
The announcement of the winners of the competition will take place October 22, 2017, birthday I. A. Bunina, at the awards ceremony.
Works for the competition are sent to address of the Board of Trustees:
Information support of the Bunin Prize is carried out by:
- Website of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bunin Prize I. M. Ilyinsky: ;
- Internet portal of the Moscow University for the Humanities: www.mosgu.ru;
- Website of the Institute of Contemporary Art: www.isi-vuz.ru;
- Website of the National Institute of Business:
Orel, the city of Ivan Bunin's youth, is getting ready to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the writer's Nobel Prize.
"I was alone in the midnight world..."
Probably, few people know or remember that on December 10, 1933, the Swedish King Gustav V solemnly presented the Nobel Prize in Literature to Ivan Bunin, the first Russian writer to receive this award. In Orel, in the museum of the writer, clippings from newspapers of that time are carefully stored. Emigration applauded him (Bunin lived in France at that time). "Without a doubt, I.A. Bunin - in recent years - the most powerful figure in Russian fiction and poetry," wrote the Parisian newspaper New Russian Word. And in Soviet Russia, the news was caustically treated.
"In contrast to the candidacy of Gorky, which no one had ever put forward, and could not nominate under bourgeois conditions, the White Guard Olympus put forward and in every possible way defended the candidacy of Bunin, the hardened wolf of the counter-revolution, whose work, especially of recent times, is saturated with motives of death, decay, doom in a situation of the catastrophic world crisis, obviously fell to the court of the Swedish academic elders," Literaturnaya Gazeta wrote at the time.
But what about Bunin? He, of course, was worried. But on December 10, 1933, as the Western press wrote, "the king of literature confidently and equally shook hands with the crowned monarch." In the evening, a banquet was given in honor of the Nobel laureates at the Grand Hotel, where the writer made a speech. With particular bitterness, he uttered the word "exile", which caused the public to "slightly tremble." The Nobel Prize was 170,331 crowns, or about 715,000 francs.
Bunin distributed a significant part of it to those in need, and a special commission was involved in the distribution of money. In an interview with a Segodnya correspondent, he said: "As soon as I received the prize, I had to distribute about 120,000 francs ... Do you know how many letters I received about all-help? In the shortest possible time, about two thousand such messages." And the writer did not refuse anyone.
The bonus money soon ended, and Bunin lived harder and harder. In 1942, he wrote in his diary: "Poverty, wild loneliness, hopelessness, hunger, cold, dirt - these are the last days of my life. And what lies ahead? How long do I have left?"...
"Our immortal gift is speech"
Two years ago, the Bunin Museum in Orel modestly celebrated its 20th anniversary. Non-random and indifferent people came to the anniversary, fascinated by Bunin's ability to interpret life, his view of the structure of the world, his principled approach to human actions and his great ability to sing of love, equally subtly feeling its exciting power and fatal deceit. By the way, the museum was opened on December 10, 1991, and the date was not chosen by chance - it was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Nobel Prize.
In its funds, among other unique exhibits, there are a silver tray and a salt shaker. They say that it was on them that the writer, when he arrived in Sweden, was brought bread and salt by emigrants. On the back of the tray there is an engraved inscription: "To Ivan Alekseevich Bunin from the Russians in Stockholm in memory of 12/10/1933". And on the salt shaker is the monogram "I.B." and it is written "From the Russians in Stockholm in memory of 12/10/1933". It is known that Bunin was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize. This first happened in 1922 at the initiative of Romain Rolland.
Repeated attempts were made in 1926, 1930 and 1931. But the writer received the Nobel Prize only in 1933. In fact, he received it for the novel "The Life of Arseniev", which many still perceive as a biography of the writer himself. However, Ivan Alekseevich denied this. The creator and head of the writer's museum, Inna Kostomarova, a great worker and researcher of Bunin's work and life, said that an English translation of the novel was published in London in March 1933.
And on November 9 of the same year, the Swedish Academy decided to award the prize "to Ivan Bunin for the truthful artistic talent with which he recreated a typical Russian character in fiction." Character, it must be said, is not easy. After all, even the fate of the writer's museum is as complicated as the life of Bunin himself. Orel, sung by him, to whom the writer repeatedly confessed his love in his works, until the mid-1950s, even if he pronounced the name of Ivan Alekseevich, then in a whisper.
"And yet it will come, the time will come ..."
For many years Bunin was banned in the Soviet Union. And only after his death, in exile, in France, in the USSR, his works began to be published, selectively, with censorship, tearing out paragraphs in shreds and scratching out objectionable lines. So Bunin, who until the last days dreamed of returning to his homeland, returned with his creations. "The return of Ivan Bunin's literary heritage to Russia began with the publication in 1956 of his five-volume collected works," Inna Kostomarova believes.
And the starting point for perpetuating the memory of the writer in our country was the opening in Orel in 1957 of a hall dedicated to the life and work of Bunin. It was created in the museum of Oryol writers. Since that day, the collection of Bunin's memoirs began to grow. Many who knew the writer and kept his belongings used to get in touch themselves or they were found by museum workers. The collection grew, and it soon became clear that Bunin would be cramped in one room.
At the disposal of museum workers, for example, was the writer's pre-revolutionary literary archive, which he handed over to his older brother Julius for safekeeping before emigrating. After his death, in 1921, the archive went to the writer's nephew, Nikolai Pusheshnikov. In the 1960s and 1970s, Pusheshnikov's widow, Klavdiya Petrovna, in parts handed over most of the archive to the Oryol State Literary Museum of Ivan Turgenev - after all, Bunin did not yet have his own museum. And now it is part of the structure of the united Turgenev Literary Museum.
According to Inna Kostomarova, the fate of Bunin's Parisian archive turned out to be even more difficult. It was inherited by the writer Leonid Zurov, who was friends with the Bunin family. In 1961, he entered into correspondence with the director of the Orel Literary Museum about the sale through the USSR Ministry of Culture of the entire furnishings of the writer's Parisian apartment. He believed that it was in Orel that the Bunin Museum should be created. The correspondence continued until 1964.
Despite the low price charged, Zurov was refused because of the "low value of the Bunin archive." And then his proposal was accepted by a professor at the University of Edinburgh, Milica Green. So the Parisian archive ended up in the UK, where it is still kept. Some items from it still made it to Orel - in the late 1980s, Milica Green handed them over here, including those same silver tray with a salt shaker.
"The bird has a nest, the beast has a hole"...
There are other amazing exhibits in the museum that are a must-see and which literally take your breath away - books, photographs and portraits autographed by the writer and other famous people: Fyodor Chaliapin, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky and others, others, others. There is even a pith helmet of the writer here - a souvenir brought from many wanderings around the world. And what about the crystal yacht made by Carl Faberge, presented to Bunin on the day of the 25th anniversary of his creative activity! A masterpiece, no less.
Undoubtedly, authentic Bunin's manuscripts, among which there are unpublished ones, are of even greater value. You can read them only in the museum. Here, under glass in one of the halls, aged sheets from a student's notebook. Poems are written in neat handwriting. Their author is Vanya Bunin, he is only 13 years old. He is just beginning to look for himself in literature and does not hide the fact that he imitates Pushkin, to whom he dedicated his first works. And next to it - his adult stories, lined with a sharpened pen.
By the early 1990s, the Oryol Bunin collection had grown to the largest in the world. And the question arose - where to store this wealth, where to show it to people? At first, enthusiasts argued that the country needed the Bunin Museum, then they were looking for a room. In Orel, Bunin often changed addresses due to material need, and many houses of that time have not been preserved. Inna Kostomarova found a suitable house - an old noble mansion in the "literary quarter", where many famous writers lived and worked.
"Icy night. Mistral..."
The paradox is that in exile Bunin's name became known to the whole world, but he still lived poorly. It was published in emigrant publishing houses in different countries, and, fortunately, there was a person who collected a collection of those publications - the American professor Sergei Kryzhitsky, one of the largest researchers of Bunin's work abroad. He donated his personal archive and more than seven hundred works of Russian writers published abroad to the Oryol Museum.
One of the rooms now resembles a library reading room. Such was the will of Sergei Kryzhitsky, who wished that the books handed over to him be available to those who wish. But the "heart of the museum" is not the "reading room", but Bunin's Paris office. It stands out among the exhibits. A lot of effort was put into transporting the writer's personal belongings from Paris. According to the surviving photographs, Bunin's office was exactly recreated.
Here is his unpretentious bed and two working tables, on one of which, also unpretentious, is a typewriter. The physical sensation of Bunin's presence in the office is incredibly great. But it increases a hundredfold when the bright voice of the writer fills the room, inspired by the reading of his poem "Loneliness". A century ago, the author recorded it on a gramophone record, and by some miracle the recording has survived to this day. Listening to her, worrying, you understand why contemporaries considered Bunin one of the best readers in the country ...
The "heart of the museum" is carefully guarded, with special love and passion, with reverence, and perhaps that is why it did not stop beating even in the most difficult times, nourishing hope for the best and the museum workers themselves, who literally suffered Bunin's right to a new Oryol life. For several years, due to the poor technical condition of the building, the museum was closed to visitors. The roof was leaking, which is scary for a museum. But now these problems are over.
The regional authorities and philanthropists helped, allocating money for the Bunin Museum. The building was repaired and an exposition was created, which Inna Kostomarova worked on for many years. The museum is now open for visits, it has gone through difficult times, "cursed days", but has conveyed to us what was kept by time and people close to Bunin. But what about Bunin? The writer is no longer alone, for he, as he dreamed, returned to his homeland.
On October 17, 2017, a meeting of the Jury of the Bunin Prize was held under the chairmanship of a member of the Presidium of the Union of Writers of Russia, laureate of literary prizes Boris Nikolaevich Tarasov. The results of the competition, which in 2017 was held in the category "poetry", have been summed up. On October 24, a solemn ceremony will take place in the assembly hall of the Moscow University for the Humanities, at which the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bunin Prize, a member of the Union of Writers of Russia, the rector of the university, professor, together with members of the Jury, will present well-deserved prizes to new laureates.
The winners of the International Bunin Prize 2017 are:
- Igor Volgin- for the book of poems "Personal data" and the poetic cycle in the magazine "Znamya";
- Nikolai Zinoviev- for the books of poems "Wait for Sunday", "At the Motherland", "The Wall";
- Timur Zulfikarov- for the book of poems "Golden Letters of Love";
- O. Leonid (Safronov)- for the book of poems "The Forester's Daughter", "Holy Rus' Hidden", "White Colt Walks".
Diplomas of the International Bunin Prize were awarded to:
- Tamara Potemkina- for the book of poems "Flights of Angels";
- Elena Buevich- for poetic mastery and preservation of the Russian language in Ukraine;
- Alexey Grechuk- for poetic skill and popularization of Russian literature in Lithuania and other Baltic republics.
By decision of the Board of Trustees for the return of the name of the Russian writer to Russia, the Bunin Prize was awarded to a talented writer Dmitry Bakin for the book "About the fall of the precipice" (posthumously).
Diplomas of the Board of Trustees of the Bunin Prize were awarded to:
- Deputy Chairman of the Bunin Society of Russia Dmitry Minaev- for educational activities and concern for the preservation of Bunin's places;
- Head of the Literary Museum of Local Lore I. A. Bunin, teacher of the Russian language and literature of gymnasium No. 1 in Lipetsk Elena Kochetkova- for the highly qualified management of the school museum;
- editor-compiler, author of scientific comments on the collected works of the Omsk writer, a man of bright fate B. G. Panteleymonov, friend and contemporary of I. A. Bunin, Irina Makhnanova- for the preservation of historical memory.
About the International Bunin Prize
Moscow University for the Humanities, together with the National Institute of Business, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the National Union of Non-State Universities, the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, established the Bunin Prize dedicated to the memory of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin- an outstanding Russian poet and writer, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nobel laureate. This is the only non-state literary prize awarded annually to outstanding word artists writing in Russian.
When establishing the Bunin Prize in 2004, the Board of Trustees was guided by the lofty goals of maintaining Russian literature and reviving the best traditions of Russian literature. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Igor Mikhailovich Ilyinsky- Rector of the Moscow University for the Humanities, professor, member of the Writers' Union of Russia, full member of the Academy of Russian Literature
Andrey Bitov, Larisa Vasilyeva, Gleb Gorbovsky, Daniil Granin, Andrey Dementiev, Nikolay Dobronravov, Boris Evseyev, Sergey Yesin, Fazil Iskander, Alexander Kabakov, Timur Kibirov, Inna Lisnyanskaya, Albert Likhanov, Viktor Likhonosov, Vladimir Lichutin, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Yuri Polyakov, Alexander Prokhanov and other prominent Russian prose writers and poets. Last year, a special (non-competitive) award of the Board of Trustees of the Bunin Prize was awarded to an outstanding Italian journalist, writer and public figure Giulietto Chiesa(Giulietto Chiesa).
The works sent to the competition undergo a double examination, in which specialists from leading universities and scientific institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences are involved. The decision on the winners is made by the Competition Jury, which includes major literary scholars of the country. The Bunin Prize is recognized today as one of the most prestigious awards in the field of modern literature.
For eight years, the chairman of the Jury of the Bunin Prize was the People's Artist of the Russian Federation, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation S. I. Belza. Now the Jury is headed by a famous writer, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation B. N. Tarasov.
Bunin himself made a choice in favor of the trend that was associated with the name of Chekhov, and was characterized by the observance of the classical literary traditions of Russia throughout the 19th century. With regards to the fourth direction, characterized by decadence, symbolism, mysticism and even futurism, Bunin had contempt for him.
The reason for such a worldview Bunin lies not only in his noble origin, but also in the fact that he was firmly attached to the greatest examples of the classics of Russian prose and poetry.
Bunin and his work
October 22, 1870 was the day of the birth of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, who was born in Voronezh. His family belonged to the nobility, so the childhood of the future writer passed in one of the estates of the Oryol province. Despite the almost carefree childhood, there was one thing that later seriously upset Ivan - he did not manage to get a systematic education. But with the acquisition of knowledge, he was helped by his older brother Julius, who managed to graduate from the university. It was thanks to his influence that the formation of Ivan's tastes and views took place. The first attempts to write were made by Bunin very early. At the age of sixteen, his poem "The Beggar" was published by Rodina magazine. This moment (May 1887) can be considered the starting point in Bunin's work, which contained not only poetry, but also prose.
At first glance, Bunin's poems were traditional in terms of not only form, but also subject matter: he wrote about nature, loneliness, and love. However, imitation could not overshadow any special intonation for Bunin's poems. For the first time, they started talking about it in 1901, when critics and readers positively evaluated the poetry collection Falling Leaves.
Despite the fact that Bunin wrote poetry throughout his entire creative career, even at its early stages, a prose writer began to appear in him. Moreover, Bunin's talent in this area was so great that the first compositions were rightfully appreciated by Chekhov, Gorky, Andreev and Kuprin.
At the age of 28, Bunin got married. His chosen one was the Greek Anna Tsakni. It should be noted that before that he was very in love, and then extremely disappointed in Varvara Pashchenko. Bunin himself later admitted that he did not feel love for Tsakni.
The 10 years for the writer were marked by multiple travels, during which he met Chekhov, visited Leo Tolstoy, and began serious cooperation with Gorky's publication Knowledge. In addition, at the same time, he met Vera Muromtseva, who was the niece of A.S. Muromtsev - Chairman of the First Duma. Despite the fact that their relationship began in 1906, the official registration of marriage took place only in 1922, when Bunin managed to get a divorce from his ex-wife.
As for Vera Nikolaevna, she became his companion on the path of life, she helped him overcome all hardships and adapt faster during emigration. In addition, the gift of forgiveness is added to the number of its positive qualities, which is important when communicating with such a person.
In the wake of the success of his first stories, Bunin released the story "The Village", which became the author's first really serious work. Bunin became one of those who were not afraid at that difficult time for Russia to show the whole truth about the village, no matter how hard-hitting it may be.
Based on this story and the next one, called "Dry Valley", we can conclude how Bunin treats the main characters - he tries to make them weak, destitute, restless. Such an image of them leads the reader to the idea of sympathy for them, as well as the desire to understand all the experiences of the Russian soul.
There was also a development of the lyrical themes previously outlined in the verses. In his creations, the main female characters began to appear, which over time will result in the author's emigrant stories - "Dark Alleys", "Ida", "Mitina's Love", etc.
If we talk about pre-revolutionary Russia, then Bunin felt great at that time, since he became the owner of the Pushkin Prize three times, and in 1909 he even managed to become the youngest academician in the Russian Academy.
Given that the idea of revolution was rejected by Bunin, he and Vera Nikolaevna had to leave Russia in 1920, which caused him great mental suffering. In the spring of this year, the Bunin couple moved to Paris.
The process of returning to creativity was slow, because of the homesickness he was in a depressed state. The result of this was that Bunin's first collection, published abroad, included only poems that were written back in 1911-12.
Another move - to the south of France, which happened after several years of living in Paris, became a landmark. In the villa "Janet", located in the town of Grae in southern France, they had a chance to live a long period of life, including going through the Second World War. 1927 dates Bunin's meeting with Galina Kuznetsova, a poetess from Russia, who spent her vacation with her husband in the south of France. Between them a romance arose, which received wide publicity. But Bunin managed to convince Vera Nikolaevna that the relationship with the poetess was exclusively platonic, and she believed in this story. As a result, Galina joined the Bunin family.
For 15 years, Kuznetsova lived with the Bunins, this love of Ivan Alekseevich turned out to be very dramatic, because in 1942 the attention of Galina was attracted by the opera singer Margot Stepun, and she left the Bunins' house.
Note that in his diary the writer mentioned this incident more than once, and this wound bled from him until the end of his days.
However, these hardships did not negatively affect Bunin's prose, and several more of his books were published in France - "The Roses of Jericho", "Mitya's Love" and others. And in 1930, an autobiographical novel, The Life of Arseniev, was published.
Nobel Prize
Back in 1922, Bunin was nominated for this prize for the first time. However, he was not given it, and then a writer from Ireland received the award. Many immigrant writers after that tried to nominate him again for the award, however, they achieved success only ten years later.
On November 10, 1933, almost all Parisian newspapers came out with headlines stating that Bunin managed to become a Nobel laureate. For the first time in history, a writer from Russia was awarded such an award. After that, Ivan Alekseevich was already known to the whole world. All Russians living in Paris, who were not even familiar with Bunin's work, considered this a personal holiday, because they managed to experience a sense of national pride.
The writer himself also took the award positively, since such recognition brought material security.
The letter he received from the commission stated that the prize had been awarded to the writer for his austere artistic talent. The representative of the Swedish Academy at the award ceremony said that he had never seen such a colorful and realistic description of a simple life.
Since the writer was an emigrant, at the time of the presentation of the document, the academy was only in Swedish flags.
The writer himself took his victory for granted. The writer became a celebrity, passers-by looked around and whispered when they saw him. Bunin also became a very wealthy man. He distributed a large part of his fee to the poor. After receiving the award, he received about two thousand letters, to which he easily responded and created a commission for the distribution of money.
Life after the award
In 1937, the book "The Liberation of Tolstoy" was published, which, according to many critics, is considered one of the best works dedicated to Leo Nikolayevich. After 6 years, Bunin in New York managed to release "Dark Alleys", stories that became Bunin's best lyrical work.According to many critics of that time, "Dark Alleys" was stuffed with pornography, which offended the author very much. Note that until the end of his life he had to defend his favorite and best work from the attacks of critics.
The last years of Ivan Alekseevich's life were devoted to a book about Chekhov, however, he failed to complete his creation. The last entry in it is dated May 2, 1953: "It's still amazing to the point of tetanus! After some, a very short time, I will not be - and the deeds and fate of everything, everything will be unknown to me!"
On the night of November 7-8 of the same year, Bunin died. The writer was buried in a Russian church located along Daru Street in the French capital. A huge number of obituaries were issued in almost all local newspapers. Note that Bunin's body was buried only on January 30 of the following year. After 7.5 years, next to Bunin, Vera Nikolaevna, his faithful companion in life, found eternal rest.
