Ivan Alekseevich Bunin can rightfully be attributed to one of the largest writers and poets of Russia of the 20th century. He received worldwide recognition for his works, which became classics during his lifetime.

A short biography of Bunin will help you understand which life path passed this outstanding writer, and for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

This is all the more interesting because great people are motivated and inspire the reader to new achievements.

Short biography of Bunin

Conventionally, the life of our hero can be divided into two periods: before emigration, and after. After all, it was the Revolution of 1917 that drew a red line between the pre-revolutionary existence of the intelligentsia, and the one that replaced it Soviet system. But first things first.

Childhood, youth and education

Ivan Bunin was born in a simple noble family October 10, 1870 His father was a poorly educated landowner who graduated from only one class of the gymnasium. He was distinguished by a sharp disposition and extraordinary energy.

Ivan Bunin

The mother of the future writer, on the contrary, was a very meek and pious woman. Perhaps it was thanks to her that little Vanya was very impressionable and began to learn the spiritual world early.

Bunin spent most of his childhood in the Oryol province, which was surrounded by picturesque landscapes.

Own elementary education Ivan got home. Studying biographies prominent personalities it is impossible not to notice the fact that the vast majority of them received their first education at home.

In 1881, Bunin managed to enter the Yelets Gymnasium, which he never graduated from. In 1886, he returned to his home again. The thirst for knowledge does not leave him, and thanks to his brother Julius, who graduated with honors from the university, he is actively working on self-education.

Personal life, family, children

In Bunin's biography, it is noteworthy that he was constantly unlucky with women. His first love was Barbara, but they never managed to marry, due to various circumstances.

First official wife The writer was 19-year-old Anna Tsakni. There was a rather cold relationship between the spouses, and this could be called a forced friendship rather than love. Their marriage lasted only 2 years, and Kolya's only son died of scarlet fever.

The second wife of the writer was 25-year-old Vera Muromtseva. However, this marriage was also unhappy. Upon learning that her husband was cheating on her, Vera left Bunin, although she later forgave everything and returned.

Literary activity

Ivan Bunin wrote his first poems in 1888 at the age of seventeen. A year later, he decides to move to Orel and gets a job as an editor of a local newspaper.

It was at this time that many poems began to appear in him, which would later form the basis of the book "Poems". After the publication of this work, he first received a certain literary fame.

But Bunin does not stop, and a few years later, collections of poems “Under open sky"and" Leaf fall. The popularity of Ivan Nikolaevich continues to grow and over time he manages to meet such outstanding and recognized masters of the word as Gorky, Tolstoy and Chekhov.

These meetings turned out to be significant in Bunin's biography, and left an indelible impression in his memory.

A little later, collections of short stories " Antonov apples"and" Pines. Of course short biography does not imply a complete list of Bunin's extensive works, so we will manage to mention key works.

In 1909, the writer was awarded the title of honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Life in exile

Ivan Bunin was alien to the Bolshevik ideas of the 1917 revolution, which swallowed up all of Russia. As a result of this, he forever leaves his homeland, and his further biography consists of countless wanderings and travels around the world.

Being in a foreign land, he continues to work actively and writes some of his best works - "Mitya's Love" (1924) and " Sunstroke» (1925).

It was thanks to The Life of Arseniev that in 1933 Ivan became the first Russian writer to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Naturally, this can be considered a peak creative biography Bunin.

The prize was presented to the writer by the Swedish king Gustav V. The laureate was also issued a check for 170,330 Swedish kronor. He gave part of his fee to needy people who found themselves in a difficult life situation.

Final years and death

By the end of his life, Ivan Alekseevich was often ill, but this did not stop him from working. He had a goal - to create a literary portrait of A.P. Chekhov. However, this idea remained unrealized due to the death of the writer.

Bunin died in Paris on November 8, 1953. An interesting fact is that until the end of his days he remained a stateless person, being, in fact, a Russian exile.

He never managed to make it main dream second period of his life - return to Russia.

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"Russia lived in him, he was - Russia"

On October 22, 1870, the writer and poet Ivan Bunin was born. The last pre-revolutionary Russian classic and the first Russian Nobel laureate in literature, he was distinguished by independence of judgment and, according to the apt expression of Georgy Adamovich, “he saw through people, unmistakably guessed what they would prefer to hide.”

About Ivan Bunin

"I was born October 10, 1870(All dates in the quotation are in the old style. - Note ed.) in Voronezh. Childhood and early youth spent in the countryside, began writing and publishing early. Pretty soon the criticism drew attention to me. Then my books were marked three times the highest award Russian Academy Sciences - the Pushkin Prize. However, I did not have more or less wide fame for a long time, because I did not belong to any literary school. In addition, I did not move much in the literary environment, lived a lot in the countryside, traveled a lot in Russia and outside Russia: in Italy, Turkey, Greece, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, in the tropics.

My popularity began from the time when I published my "Village". This was the beginning of a whole series of my works, sharply depicting the Russian soul, its light and dark, often tragic foundations. In Russian criticism and among the Russian intelligentsia, where, due to ignorance of the people or political considerations, the people were almost always idealized, these "merciless" works of mine evoked passionate hostile responses. During these years, I felt how my literary powers were growing stronger every day. But then the war broke out, and then the revolution. I was not one of those who were taken by surprise by it, for whom its size and atrocities were unexpected, but nevertheless reality surpassed all my expectations: what the Russian revolution soon turned into, no one who has not seen it will understand. This spectacle was sheer horror for anyone who had not lost the image and likeness of God, and hundreds of thousands of people fled from Russia after the seizure of power by Lenin, who had the slightest opportunity to escape. I left Moscow on May 21, 1918, lived in the south of Russia, which was passing from hand to hand of whites and reds, and on January 26, 1920, having drunk the cup of inexpressible mental suffering, I emigrated first to the Balkans, then to France. In France, I lived for the first time in Paris, from the summer of 1923 I moved to the Alpes-Maritimes, returning to Paris only for some of the winter months.

In 1933 he received the Nobel Prize. In emigration, I wrote ten new books.

Ivan Bunin wrote about himself in his Autobiographical Notes.

When Bunin came to Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize, it turned out that all passers-by knew him by sight: photographs of the writer were published in every newspaper, in shop windows, on the cinema screen. Seeing the great Russian writer, the Swedes looked around, and Ivan Alekseevich pulled his lambskin cap over his eyes and grumbled: "What? The perfect success of the tenor ".

"For the first time since the establishment Nobel Prize you awarded it to an exile. For who am I? An exile enjoying the hospitality of France, to whom I too will forever remain grateful. Gentlemen of the Academy, let me, leaving aside myself and my works, tell you how beautiful your gesture is in itself. There must be areas of complete independence in the world. Undoubtedly, around this table are representatives of all kinds of opinions, all kinds of philosophical and religious beliefs. But there is something unshakable that unites us all: freedom of thought and conscience, something to which we owe civilization. For a writer, this freedom is especially necessary - for him it is a dogma, an axiom.

From Bunin's speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony

However, he had a great sense of the homeland and the Russian language, and he carried it through his whole life. “Russia, our Russian nature, we took with us, and wherever we are, we cannot but feel it”, - Ivan Alekseevich said about himself and about millions of the same forced emigrants who left their fatherland in the dashing revolutionary years.

"Bunin did not have to live in Russia to write about it: Russia lived in him, he was - Russia."

Writer's secretary Andrei Sedykh

In 1936, Bunin went on a trip to Germany. In Lindau, he first encountered fascist orders: he was arrested, subjected to an unceremonious and humiliating search. In October 1939, Bunin settled in Grasse at the Villa Jeannette, where he lived throughout the war. Here he wrote his "Dark Alleys". However, under the Germans he did not print anything, although he lived in great lack of money and hunger. He treated the conquerors with hatred, sincerely rejoiced at the victories of the Soviet and allied forces. In 1945 he permanently moved from Grasse to Paris. Last years hurt a lot.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin died in his sleep on the night of November 7-8, 1953 in Paris. He was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery.

“I was born too late. Had I been born earlier, these would not have been my writing memories. 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 fell to his lot ... "

I.A. Bunin. Memories. Paris. 1950

“Start reading Bunin - be it Dark Alleys,” Easy breath"," The Cup of Life "," Clean Monday”, “Antonov apples”, “Mitya’s love”, “Arseniev’s life”, and you will immediately be possessed, enchanted by the unique Bunin’s Russia with all its charming features: ancient churches, monasteries, bell ringing, village graveyards, ruined "noble nests", with its rich colorful language, sayings, jokes, which you will not find either in Chekhov or Turgenev. But that's not all: no one has so convincingly, so psychologically accurately and at the same time laconicly described the main feeling of a person - love. Bunin was endowed with a very special property: vigilance of observation. With amazing accuracy, he could draw psychological picture any person seen, give a brilliant description of natural phenomena, changes in mood and changes in the lives of people, plants and animals. We can say that he wrote on the basis of keen vision, sensitive hearing and keen sense of smell. And nothing escaped him. His memory of a wanderer (he loved to travel!) absorbed everything: people, conversations, speech, coloring, noise, smells ”, - wrote literary critic Zinaida Partis in her article “Invitation to Bunin”.

Bunin in quotes

“God gives each of us this or that talent along with life and imposes on us the sacred duty not to bury it in the ground. Why, why? We don't know. But we must know that everything in this world, which is incomprehensible to us, must certainly have some meaning, some high intention of God, aimed at ensuring that everything in this world "be good", and that the diligent fulfillment of this God's intention is always our merit to him, and therefore joy and pride ... "

The story "Bernard" (1952)

“Yes, year after year, day after day, you secretly expect only one thing - a happy love meeting, you live, in essence, only in the hope of this meeting - and all in vain ...”

The story "In Paris", the collection "Dark Alleys" (1943)

“And he felt such pain and such uselessness of all his later life without her, that he was seized with horror, despair.
“The number without her seemed somehow completely different than it was with her. He was still full of her - and empty. It was strange! There was still the smell of her good English cologne, her unfinished cup was still on the tray, but she was no longer there ... And the lieutenant's heart suddenly contracted with such tenderness that the lieutenant hurried to light a cigarette and several times walked up and down the room.

The story "Sunstroke" (1925)

“Life is, undoubtedly, love, kindness, and a decrease in love, kindness is always a decrease in life, there is already death.”

The story "Blind" (1924)

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin- an outstanding Russian writer, poet, honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1909), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933.

Born in Voronezh, where he lived for the first three years of his life. Later the family moved to the estate near Yelets. Father - Alexey Nikolaevich Bunin, mother - Lyudmila Alexandrovna Bunina (née Chubarova). Until the age of 11, he was brought up at home, in 1881 he entered the Yelets district gymnasium, in 1885 he returned home and continued his education under the guidance of his older brother Julius. At the age of 17 he began to write poetry, in 1887 he made his debut in print. In 1889, he went to work as a proofreader for the local newspaper Orlovsky Vestnik. By this time, he had a long relationship with an employee of this newspaper, Varvara Pashchenko, with whom they, contrary to the wishes of their relatives, moved to Poltava (1892).

Collections "Poems" (Eagle, 1891), "Under the open sky" (1898), "Falling leaves" (1901; Pushkin Prize).

1895 - personally met Chekhov, before that they corresponded.

In the 1890s, he traveled on the steamboat "Chaika" ("bark with firewood") along the Dnieper and visited the grave of Taras Shevchenko, whom he loved and later translated a lot. A few years later, he wrote an essay "On the Seagull", which was published in the children's illustrated magazine "Vskhody" (1898, No. 21, November 1).

In 1899 he married Anna Nikolaevna Tsakni (Kakni), the daughter of a Greek revolutionary. The marriage was short lived only child died at the age of 5 (1905). In 1906, Bunin enters into a civil marriage (officially formalized in 1922) with Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva, the niece of S. A. Muromtsev, the first chairman of the First State Duma.

In the lyrics, Bunin continued the classical traditions (collection "Leaf Fall", 1901).

He showed in stories and novels (sometimes with a nostalgic mood)

* Impoverishment noble estates("Antonov apples", 1900)
* The cruel face of the village ("Village", 1910, "Dry Valley", 1911)
* Deadly Oblivion moral foundations life ("The Gentleman from San Francisco", 1915).
* Sharp rejection October revolution and the Bolshevik regime in the diary book " cursed days» (1918, published in 1925).
* In the autobiographical novel "The Life of Arseniev" (1930) - a recreation of the past of Russia, childhood and youth of the writer.
* Tragic human existence in short stories about love ("Mitina's Love", 1925; collection of short stories " Dark alleys", 1943).
* Translated the "Song of Hiawatha" by the American poet G. Longfellow. It was first published in the Orlovsky Vestnik newspaper in 1896. At the end of the same year, the newspaper's printing house published The Song of Hiawatha as a separate book.

Bunin was awarded the Pushkin Prize three times; in 1909 he was elected an academician in the category of fine literature, becoming the youngest academician of the Russian Academy.

In the summer of 1918, Bunin moved from Bolshevik Moscow to Odessa, occupied by German troops. With the approach in April 1919 to the city of the Red Army, he does not emigrate, but remains in Odessa. He welcomes the occupation of Odessa by the Volunteer Army in August 1919, personally thanks Denikin, who arrived in the city on October 7, and actively cooperates with the OSVAG (propaganda and information body) under the All-Russian Union of Socialist Youth. In February 1920, when the Bolsheviks approached, he left Russia. Emigrates to France.

In exile, he was active in social and political activities: he gave lectures, collaborated with Russian political parties and organizations (conservative and nationalist), and regularly published journalistic articles. He delivered a famous manifesto about the tasks of the Russian Diaspora in relation to Russia and Bolshevism: The Mission of the Russian Emigration.

Many and fruitfully engaged in literary activities, having already confirmed the title of a great Russian writer in exile and becoming one of the main figures of the Russian Diaspora.

Bunin creates his best things: Mitina's Love (1924), Sunstroke (1925), Cornet Elagin's Case (1925) and, finally, Arsenyev's Life (1927-1929, 1933). These works have become a new word in Bunin's work, and in Russian literature as a whole. And according to K. G. Paustovsky, “The Life of Arseniev” is not only vertex product Russian literature, but also "one of the most remarkable phenomena of world literature." Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933.

According to the Chekhov publishing house, recent months life Bunin worked on literary portrait A.P. Chekhov, the work remained unfinished (in the book: Loopy Ears and Other Stories, New York, 1953). He died in his sleep at two o'clock in the morning from November 7 to 8, 1953 in Paris. He was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery. In 1929-1954. Bunin's works were not published in the USSR. Since 1955 - the most published writer of the "first wave" in the USSR (several collected works, many one-volume books). Some works (“Cursed Days”, etc.) were printed in the USSR only during perestroika.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (October 10, 1870, Voronezh - November 8, 1953, Paris) - Russian writer, poet, honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1909), the first Russian Nobel Prize winner in literature (1933).

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin - the last Russian classic who captured Russia late XIX- the beginning of the XX century. “... One of the last rays of some wonderful Russian day,” critic G. V. Adamovich wrote about Bunin.
Ivan Bunin was born into an old noble family in Voronezh. Subsequently, the family moved to the Ozerki estate in the Oryol province (now Lipetsk region). Until the age of 11, he was brought up at home, in 1881 he entered the Yelets district gymnasium, in 1886 he returned home and continued his education under the guidance of his older brother Julius. He was engaged in self-education a lot, being fond of reading world and domestic literary classics. At the age of 17 he began to write poetry, in 1887 he made his debut in print. In 1889 he moved to Oryol and went to work as a proofreader for the local newspaper Orlovsky Vestnik. By this time, he had a long relationship with an employee of this newspaper, Varvara Pashchenko, with whom they, contrary to the wishes of their relatives, moved to Poltava (1892).
Collections "Poems" (Eagle, 1891), "Under the open sky" (1898), "Leaf fall" (1901).
1895 - personally met A.P. Chekhov, before that they corresponded. By the same time, his acquaintances with Mirra Lokhvitskaya, K. D. Balmont, V. Bryusov belong.
In the 1890s, he traveled on the steamboat "Chaika" ("bark with firewood") along the Dnieper and visited the grave of Taras Shevchenko, whom he loved and later translated a lot. A few years later, he wrote an essay "On the Seagull", which was published in the children's illustrated magazine "Vskhody" (1898, No. 21, November 1).
On September 23, 1898, she marries Anna Nikolaevna Tsakni, the daughter of a populist revolutionary, a wealthy Odessa Greek, Nikolai Petrovich Tsakni. The marriage was short-lived, the only child died at the age of 5 (1905). Since 1906, Bunin has been cohabiting (a civil marriage was registered in 1922) with Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva, niece of S. A. Muromtsev, chairman State Duma Russian Empire 1st convocation.
In the lyrics, Bunin continued the classical traditions (collection "Leaf Fall", 1901).
In stories and novels he showed (sometimes with a nostalgic mood) the impoverishment of noble estates (“Antonov apples”, 1900), the cruel face of the village (“Village”, 1910, “Sukhodol”, 1911), the disastrous oblivion of the moral foundations of life (“Mr. Francisco", 1915), a sharp rejection of the October Revolution and the power of the Bolsheviks in the diary book "Cursed Days" (1918, published in 1925); in the autobiographical novel "The Life of Arseniev" (1930) - a recreation of the past of Russia, the childhood and youth of the writer; the tragedy of human existence in the story "Mitina's Love", 1924, the collection of short stories "Dark Alleys", 1943, as well as in other works, wonderful examples of Russian short prose.
Translated the "Song of Hiawatha" by the American poet G. Longfellow. It was first published in the Orlovsky Vestnik newspaper in 1896. At the end of the same year, the newspaper's printing house published The Song of Hiawatha as a separate book.
In April-May 1907 he visited Palestine, Syria and Egypt.
Bunin was awarded the Pushkin Prize twice (1903, 1909). On November 1, 1909, he was elected an honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature. In the summer of 1918, Bunin moved from Bolshevik Moscow to Odessa, occupied by Austrian troops. With the approach in April 1919 to the city of the Red Army, he does not emigrate, but remains in Odessa.
He welcomed the capture of the city by the Volunteer Army in August 1919, personally thanked General A. I. Denikin, who arrived in Odessa on October 7, actively collaborated with OSVAG under armed forces South of Russia. In February 1920, with the approach of the Bolsheviks, he left Russia. Emigrated to France. During these years, he kept a diary called "Cursed Days", partly lost, which struck contemporaries with the accuracy of the language and passionate hatred for the Bolsheviks.
In exile, he was active in social and political activities: he gave lectures, collaborated with Russian political organizations of the nationalist and monarchist direction, and regularly published journalistic articles. In 1924, he delivered a famous manifesto about the tasks of the Russian Diaspora regarding Russia and Bolshevism: "The Mission of the Russian Emigration", in which he assessed what happened to Russia and the leader of the Bolsheviks, V. I. Lenin.
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933 for "the rigorous skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose."
He spent the Second World War (from October 1939 to 1945) at the Jeannette villa in Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes department). Many and fruitfully engaged in literary activities, becoming one of the main figures of the Russian Diaspora. In exile, Bunin wrote his the best works, such as: "Mitina's Love" (1924), "Sunstroke" (1925), "The Case of Cornet Elagin" (1925), and, finally, "The Life of Arsenyev" (1927-1929, 1933) and the cycle of stories "Dark Alleys » (1938-40). These works have become a new word in Bunin's work, and in Russian literature as a whole. According to K. G. Paustovsky, “The Life of Arseniev” is not only the pinnacle of Russian literature, but also “one of the most remarkable phenomena in world literature.”
According to the Chekhov Publishing House, in the last months of his life, Bunin worked on a literary portrait of A.P. Chekhov, the work remained unfinished (in the book: Loopy Ears and Other Stories, New York, 1953). He died in his sleep at two o'clock in the morning from November 7 to 8, 1953 in Paris. According to eyewitnesses, a volume of Leo Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection" lay on the writer's bed. He was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery in France.
In 1929-1954. Bunin's works were not published in the USSR. Since 1955 - the most published writer in the USSR of the first wave of Russian emigration (several collected works, many one-volume books). Some works (“Cursed Days”, etc.) were published in the USSR only with the beginning of perestroika.

Ivan Bunin is the first Russian writer, poet and prose writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This is a writer who had to most spend their lives outside their homeland, in exile. But, let's go through the life of Bunin Ivan Alekseevich, getting a little acquainted with his short biography for children.

Childhood and education

Brief Bunin begins with the birth of the future writer. It happened in the distant past in 1870 in the family of a poor nobleman in Voronezh. However, the writer's childhood passed in the Oryol province (now the Lipetsk region), because immediately after the birth of the boy, the parents moved to the family estate.

Ivan received his initial knowledge at home, and at the age of eight he began to write his first poems.

At the age of 11, Bunin was sent to a gymnasium in Yelets, where the boy completed four classes. The gymnasium itself cannot be completed, because there was not enough money to study, so Bunin returns home. He is educating himself. In this he is helped by his older brother, who went through the entire course of the gymnasium with Ivan, studying science and languages ​​​​with him.

Creativity and literary activity

At the age of 17, Bunin not only writes, but also publishes his first collection of Poems, where the poems became more serious. Already the first works bring fame. Next will be collections Under the open sky, Leaf fall, no less famous. For the collection Listopad Bunin receives the Pushkin Prize.

Since 1889, the writer travels to Orel, where he works as a correspondent. Then Bunin moved to Poltava, where he worked as an extra. After Ivan Alekseevich broke up with civil wife Varvara Pashchenko, he leaves for Moscow. There he meets Chekhov and Tolstoy. These acquaintances played big role in future fate writer, leaving a significant imprint in his work. The writer prints his famous Antonov apples, Pines that come out in the full assembly essays.

Revolutionary events are not supported by the writer, who criticized the Bolsheviks and their government until his death. The revolution was the reason for the emigration.

Writer's emigration

In 1920, the writer leaves for France, where he lives until his last days. It was his second home. While in France, the writer continues to create his works. In 1893, the same autobiographical novel The life of Arseniev, for which he received the Nobel Prize.

During the Second World War, the writer is in a rented villa in Grasse, where he writes many anti-war works, where he supports Soviet army. After the war, despite thoughts of returning to Russia, he never returned to his native land.

Bunin died in Paris in 1953, leaving us many wonderful work. In France, he was buried.

Studying the life of Bunin and his biography, it is worth mentioning Interesting Facts from his personal life. Bunin's first love is Varvara Pashchenko. They lived with her in a civil marriage, but the family did not work out and they separated. The marriage was also unsuccessful with Anna Tsakni, with whom they got married. They had common child who died at the age of five. After the death of the child, the marriage did not last long. The couple broke up.

Only with his second legal wife did Bunin live until the end of his days. It was Vera Muromtseva, whom Bunin cheated on, but returned. Faith forgave him and lived with him until his last breath.