The first Russian Nobel laureate Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is called a jeweler of the word, a prose writer-painter, a genius Russian literature And the brightest representative Silver Age. Literary critics agree that Bunin's works there is a kinship with paintings, and in terms of attitude, the stories and novels of Ivan Alekseevich are similar to canvases.
Childhood and youth
Ivan Bunin's contemporaries argue that the writer felt "breed", innate aristocracy. There is nothing to be surprised: Ivan Alekseevich is a representative of the most ancient noble family dating back to the 15th century. The Bunin family coat of arms is included in the coat of arms of noble families Russian Empire. Among the ancestors of the writer is the founder of romanticism, the writer of ballads and poems.
Ivan Alekseevich was born in October 1870 in Voronezh, in the family of a poor nobleman and petty official Alexei Bunin, married to his cousin Lyudmila Chubarova, a meek but impressionable woman. She bore her husband nine children, of whom four survived.
The family moved to Voronezh 4 years before the birth of Ivan to educate their eldest sons Yuli and Evgeny. They settled in a rented apartment on Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya Street. When Ivan was four years old, his parents returned to family estate Butyrki in the Oryol province. Bunin spent his childhood on the farm.
The love of reading was instilled in the boy by his tutor, a student of Moscow University, Nikolai Romashkov. At home, Ivan Bunin studied languages, focusing on Latin. The first books of the future writer that he read on his own were The Odyssey and a collection of English poems.
In the summer of 1881, Ivan's father brought him to Yelets. The youngest son passed the exams and entered the 1st grade of the male gymnasium. Bunin liked to study, but it did not concern exact sciences. In a letter to his older brother, Vanya admitted that he considers the math exam "the most terrible." After 5 years, Ivan Bunin was expelled from the gymnasium in the middle of the school year. The 16-year-old boy came to his father's estate Ozerki for the Christmas holidays, but never returned to Yelets. For non-appearance at the gymnasium, the teachers' council expelled the guy. Ivan's elder brother Julius took up further education.
Literature
Started in the Ozerki creative biography Ivan Bunin. In the estate, he continued to work on the novel “Passion” begun in Yelets, but the work did not reach the reader. But the poem of the young writer, written under the impression of the death of an idol - the poet Semyon Nadson - was published in the Rodina magazine.
In his father's estate, with the help of his brother, Ivan Bunin prepared for the final exams, passed them and received a matriculation certificate.
From the autumn of 1889 to the summer of 1892, Ivan Bunin worked in the journal Orlovsky Vestnik, where his stories, poems and literary criticism were published. In August 1892, Julius called his brother to Poltava, where he got Ivan a job as a librarian in the provincial government.
In January 1894, the writer visited Moscow, where he met with a congenial soul. Like Lev Nikolaevich, Bunin criticizes urban civilization. In the stories " Antonov apples”, “Epitaph” and “ new road”Guess nostalgic notes for the passing era, one feels regret for the degenerate nobility.
In 1897, Ivan Bunin published the book "To the End of the World" in St. Petersburg. A year earlier he had translated Henry Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha. Bunin's translation included poems by Alkey, Saadi, Adam Mickiewicz and.
In 1898, Ivan Alekseevich's poetry collection Under the Open Sky was published in Moscow, warmly received literary critics and readers. Two years later, Bunin presented poetry lovers with a second book of poems - Falling Leaves, which strengthened the author's authority as a "poet of the Russian landscape." Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1903 awards Ivan Bunin the first Pushkin Prize, followed by the second.
But in the poetic environment, Ivan Bunin earned a reputation as an "old-fashioned landscape painter." In the late 1890s, "fashionable" poets became favorites, who brought the "breath of city streets" to Russian lyrics, and with his restless heroes. in a review of Bunin's collection "Poems" he wrote that Ivan Alekseevich found himself aloof "from general movement”, but from the point of view of painting, his poetic “canvases” reached the “endpoints of perfection”. Examples of perfection and commitment to the classics of criticism are the poems “I remember a long winter evening"and" Evening ".
Ivan Bunin, the poet, does not accept symbolism and critically looks at revolutionary events 1905–1907, calling himself "a witness to the great and mean". In 1910, Ivan Alekseevich published the story "The Village", which marked the beginning of "a whole series of works that sharply depict the Russian soul." The continuation of the series is the story "Dry Valley" and the stories "Strength", " A good life”,“ Prince in princes ”,“ Bast shoes.
In 1915, Ivan Bunin was at the height of his popularity. Come out of it famous stories"The Gentleman from San Francisco", "Grammar of Love", " Easy breath and Chang's Dreams. In 1917, the writer leaves revolutionary Petrograd, avoiding the "terrible proximity of the enemy." Bunin lived in Moscow for six months, from there in May 1918 he left for Odessa, where he wrote a diary " cursed days”- a furious denunciation of the revolution and the Bolshevik government.
Portrait "Ivan Bunin". Artist Evgeny Bukovetsky It is dangerous for a writer who criticizes the new government so fiercely to remain in the country. In January 1920, Ivan Alekseevich leaves Russia. He leaves for Constantinople, and in March he ends up in Paris. A collection of short stories called "The Gentleman from San Francisco" was published here, which the public greets enthusiastically.
Since the summer of 1923, Ivan Bunin lived in the Belvedere villa in ancient Grasse, where he visited him. During these years, the stories "Initial Love", "Numbers", "The Rose of Jericho" and "Mitina's Love" were published.
In 1930, Ivan Alekseevich wrote the story "The Shadow of a Bird" and completed the most significant work created in exile - the novel "The Life of Arseniev." The description of the hero's experiences is covered with sadness about the departed Russia, "who died before our eyes in such a magically short time."
In the late 1930s, Ivan Bunin moved to the Jeannette Villa, where he lived during the Second World War. The writer was worried about the fate of his homeland and joyfully met the news of the slightest victory Soviet troops. Bunin lived in poverty. He wrote about his predicament:
“I was rich - now, by the will of fate, I suddenly became poor ... I was famous all over the world - now no one in the world needs ... I really want to go home!”
The villa was dilapidated: the heating system did not function, there were interruptions in electricity and water supply. Ivan Alekseevich told his friends in letters about the "cave continuous hunger." In order to get at least a small amount, Bunin asked a friend who left for America to publish the collection “ Dark alleys". The book in Russian with a circulation of 600 copies was published in 1943, for which the writer received $300. The collection includes the story Clean Monday". The last masterpiece of Ivan Bunin - the poem "Night" - was published in 1952.
Researchers of the prose writer's work have noticed that his novels and stories are cinematic. For the first time, a Hollywood producer spoke about the film adaptation of Ivan Bunin's works, expressing a desire to make a film based on the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco." But it ended with a conversation.
In the early 1960s, Russian directors drew attention to the work of a compatriot. A short film based on the story "Mitya's Love" was shot by Vasily Pichul. In 1989, the picture "Non-Urgent Spring" was released on the screens. story of the same name Bunin.
In 2000, the director's biography film "The Diary of His Wife" was released, which tells the story of relationships in the family of the prose writer.
The premiere of the drama "Sunstroke" in 2014 caused a resonance. The tape is based on the story of the same name and the book Cursed Days.
Nobel Prize
Ivan Bunin was first nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1922. The Nobel Prize winner was busy with this. But then the prize was given to the Irish poet William Yeats.
In the 1930s, Russian emigrant writers joined the process, and their efforts were crowned with victory: in November 1933, the Swedish Academy awarded Ivan Bunin a literature prize. The appeal to the laureate said that he deserved the award for "recreating in prose a typical Russian character."
Ivan Bunin spent 715 thousand francs of the prize quickly. Half in the first months he distributed to those in need and to everyone who turned to him for help. Even before receiving the award, the writer admitted that he received 2,000 letters asking for help with money.
3 years after the Nobel Prize, Ivan Bunin plunged into habitual poverty. Until the end of his life, he did not have own house. Bunin best described the state of affairs in short poem"The bird has a nest", where there are lines:
The beast has a hole, the bird has a nest.
How the heart beats, sadly and loudly,
When I enter, being baptized, into a strange, rented house
With his old knapsack!
Personal life
The young writer met his first love when he worked at the Oryol Herald. Varvara Pashchenko - a tall beauty in pince-nez - seemed to Bunin too arrogant and emancipated. But soon he found an interesting interlocutor in the girl. A romance broke out, but Varvara's father did not like the poor young man with vague prospects. The couple lived without a wedding. In his memoirs, Ivan Bunin calls Barbara just that - "an unmarried wife."
After moving to Poltava and without that complicated relationship escalated. Varvara, a girl from a wealthy family, was fed up with a beggarly existence: she left home, leaving Bunin a farewell note. Soon Pashchenko became the wife of actor Arseny Bibikov. Ivan Bunin suffered a hard break, the brothers feared for his life.
In 1898, in Odessa, Ivan Alekseevich met Anna Tsakni. She became the first official wife Bunin. In the same year, the wedding took place. But the couple did not live together for long: they broke up two years later. The only son of the writer, Nikolai, was born in marriage, but in 1905 the boy died of scarlet fever. More kids Bunin did not.
The love of Ivan Bunin's life is the third wife of Vera Muromtseva, whom he met in Moscow, on literary evening in November 1906. Muromtseva, a graduate of the Higher Women's Courses, was fond of chemistry and spoke three languages fluently. But Vera was far from literary bohemia.
The newlyweds married in exile in 1922: Tsakni did not give Bunin a divorce for 15 years. He was the best man at the wedding. The couple lived together until the very death of Bunin, although their life cannot be called cloudless. In 1926, rumors appeared among the emigrants about a strange love triangle: in the house of Ivan and Vera Bunin lived a young writer Galina Kuznetsova, to whom Ivan Bunin had by no means friendly feelings.
Kuznetsova is called the last love of the writer. She lived at the villa of the Bunin spouses for 10 years. Ivan Alekseevich survived the tragedy when he learned about Galina's passion for the sister of the philosopher Fyodor Stepun - Margarita. Kuznetsova left Bunin's house and went to Margo, which caused the writer's protracted depression. Friends of Ivan Alekseevich wrote that Bunin at that time was on the verge of insanity and despair. He worked for days on end, trying to forget his beloved.
After parting with Kuznetsova, Ivan Bunin wrote 38 short stories included in the collection Dark Alleys.
Death
In the late 1940s, doctors diagnosed Bunin with emphysema. At the insistence of doctors, Ivan Alekseevich went to a resort in the south of France. But the state of health has not improved. In 1947, 79-year-old Ivan Bunin last time addressed an audience of writers.
Poverty forced to seek help from the Russian emigrant Andrei Sedykh. He secured a pension for a sick colleague from the American philanthropist Frank Atran. Until the end of Bunin's life, Atran paid the writer 10,000 francs a month.
In the late autumn of 1953, Ivan Bunin's health deteriorated. He didn't get out of bed. Shortly before his death, the writer asked his wife to read the letters.
On November 8, the doctor declared the death of Ivan Alekseevich. It was caused by cardiac asthma and pulmonary sclerosis. The Nobel laureate was buried at the cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois, the place where hundreds of Russian emigrants were buried.
Bibliography
- "Antonov apples"
- "Village"
- "Dry Valley"
- "Easy breath"
- "Chang's Dreams"
- "Lapti"
- "Grammar of Love"
- "Mitina's love"
- "Cursed Days"
- "Sunstroke"
- "The Life of Arseniev"
- "Caucasus"
- "Dark alleys"
- "Cold autumn"
- "Numbers"
- "Clean Monday"
- "The Case of Cornet Yelagin"
Portrait of Ivan Bunin. Leonard Turzhansky. 1905
♦ Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was born in the ancient noble family in the city of Voronezh, where he lived for the first few years of his life. Later, the family moved to the Ozerki estate (now the Lipetsk region). At the age of 11, he entered the Yelets district gymnasium, but at the age of 16 he was forced to stop studying. The reason for this was the ruin of the family. The fault of which, by the way, was the excessive squandering of his father, who managed to leave both himself and his wife penniless. As a result, Bunin continued his education on his own, however, his elder brother Julius, who graduated from the university with flying colors, went through the entire gymnasium course with Vanya. They were engaged in languages, psychology, philosophy, social and natural sciences. It was Julius who had a great influence on the formation of Bunin's tastes and views. He read a lot, was engaged in the study of foreign languages and already in early age showed talent as a writer. However, he was forced to work for several years as a proofreader at Orlovsky Vestnik in order to support his family. 
♦ Ivan and his sister Masha spent a lot of time in their childhood with the shepherds, who taught them to eat different herbs. But one day they almost paid with their lives. One of the shepherds offered to try henbane. The nanny, having learned about this, hardly gave the children fresh milk to drink, which saved their lives.
♦ At the age of 17, Ivan Alekseevich wrote the first poems in which he imitated the work of Lermontov and Pushkin. They say that Pushkin was generally an idol for Bunin
♦ Anton Pavlovich Chekhov played big role in the life and career of Bunin. When they met, Chekhov was already an accomplished writer and managed to direct Bunin's creative ardor to the right way. They corresponded for many years and thanks to Chekhov, Bunin was able to meet and join the world creative people- writers, artists, musicians.
♦ Bunin left no heir to the world. In 1900, Bunin and Tsakni had their first and only son, who, unfortunately, died at the age of 5 from meningitis.
♦ Bunin's favorite pastime in his youth and until his last years was - by the back of his head, legs and arms - to determine the face and the whole appearance of a person.
♦ Ivan Bunin collected a collection of pharmaceutical bottles and boxes that filled several suitcases to the brim.
♦ It is known that Bunin refused to sit down at the table if he turned out to be the thirteenth person in a row.
♦ Ivan Alekseevich admitted: “Do you have any unloved letters? I can't stand the "f". And they almost called me Philip."
♦ Bunin was always in good physical form, had good plasticity: he was an excellent rider, he danced “solo” at parties, plunging his friends into amazement.
♦ Ivan Alekseevich had a rich facial expression and outstanding acting talent. Stanislavsky called him to art theater and offered him the role of Hamlet.
♦ A strict routine always reigned in Bunin's house. He was often sick, sometimes imaginary, but everything obeyed his moods.
♦ An interesting fact from the life of Bunin is the fact that most He did not live his life in Russia. About October revolution Bunin wrote the following: “This spectacle was sheer horror for anyone who has not lost the image and likeness of God…”. This event forced him to emigrate to Paris. There Bunin led an active social and political life, gave lectures, collaborated with Russian political organizations. It was in Paris that such outstanding works, like: "The Life of Arsenyev", "Mitina's Love", "Sunstroke" and others. IN post-war years Bunin is more friendly towards Soviet Union, but still cannot come to terms with the power of the Bolsheviks and, as a result, remains in exile.
♦ It must be admitted that in pre-revolutionary Russia Bunin received the widest recognition from both critics and readers. He occupies a firm place on the writer's Olympus and may well indulge in what he has dreamed of all his life - travel. The writer traveled throughout his life to many countries in Europe and Asia. 
♦ During the Second World War, Bunin refused any contact with the Nazis - in 1939 he moved to Grasse (these are the Maritime Alps), where he spent virtually the entire war. In 1945, he and his family returned to Paris, although he often said that he wanted to return to his homeland, but despite the fact that after the war the government of the USSR allowed people like him to return, the writer never returned.
♦ B last years During his life, Bunin was ill a lot, but he continued to work actively and be creative. He died in his sleep from November 7 to 8, 1953 in Paris, where he was buried. The last entry in I. Bunin's diary reads: “It’s still amazing to the point of tetanus! After some, a very short time, I will not be - and the deeds and fates of everything, everything will be unknown to me!
♦ Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was the first émigré writer to be published in the USSR (already in the 1950s). Although some of his works, such as the diary "Cursed Days", came out only after perestroika.
Nobel Prize
♦ First time on Nobel Prize Bunin was nominated back in 1922 (Romain Rolland put forward his candidacy), but in 1923 he received the prize Irish poet Yeats. In subsequent years, Russian émigré writers repeatedly resumed their efforts to nominate Bunin for the prize, which was awarded to him in 1933. 
♦ The official report of the Nobel Committee stated: “By the decision of the Swedish Academy of November 10, 1933, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Ivan Bunin for the rigorous artistic talent with which he recreated in literary prose typically Russian character. In his speech at the award ceremony, the representative of the Swedish Academy, Per Hallström, highly appreciating Bunin's poetic gift, dwelled in particular on his ability to expressively and accurately describe real life. In a response speech, Bunin noted the courage of the Swedish Academy, which honored the émigré writer. It is worth saying that during the presentation of prizes for 1933, the Academy hall was decorated, contrary to the rules, only with Swedish flags - because of Ivan Bunin - “stateless persons”. As the writer himself believed, he received the award for "The Life of Arseniev", his best work. World fame hit him suddenly, just as suddenly he felt like an international celebrity. Photos of the writer were in every newspaper, in the windows of bookstores. Even casual passers-by, seeing the Russian writer, looked back at him, whispered. Somewhat bewildered by this fuss, Bunin grumbled: "How a famous tenor is greeted...". The Nobel Prize was a huge event for the writer. Recognition came, and with it material security. Bunin distributed a significant amount of the cash reward received to those in need. For this, a special commission for the distribution of funds was even created. Subsequently, Bunin recalled that after receiving the award, he received about 2,000 letters asking for help, in response to which he distributed about 120,000 francs. 
♦ This award was not overlooked in Bolshevik Russia either. On November 29, 1933, an article appeared in Literaturnaya Gazeta “I. Bunin is a Nobel laureate”: “According to latest posts, the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1933 was awarded to the White Guard emigrant I. Bunin. 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, saturated with the motives of death, decay, doom in a catastrophic world crisis, obviously had to go to the court of the Swedish academic elders.
And Bunin himself liked to recall an episode that happened during the writer's visit to the Merezhkovskys immediately after Bunin was awarded the Nobel Prize. The artist entered the room X, and, not noticing Bunin, exclaimed at the top of his voice: "We survived! Shame! Shame! They gave Bunin the Nobel Prize!" After that, he saw Bunin and, without changing his expression, cried out: "Ivan Alekseevich! Dear! Congratulations, I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart! Happy for you, for all of us! For Russia! Forgive me for not having time to personally come to testify ..."
Bunin and his women
♦ Bunin was an ardent and passionate person. While working for a newspaper, he met Varvara Pashchenko
("smitten me, to my great misfortune, long love»
, as Bunin later wrote), with whom he began a stormy romance. 
True, the matter did not come to the wedding - the girl's parents did not want to pass her off as a poor writer. Therefore, the young lived unmarried. The relationship, which Ivan Bunin considered happy, collapsed when Varvara left him and married Arseny Bibikov, a friend of the writer. The theme of loneliness and betrayal is firmly fixed in the poet's work - 20 years later he will write:
I wanted to shout out:
"Come back, I'm related to you!"
But for a woman there is no past:
She fell out of love - and became a stranger to her.
Well! I'll flood the fireplace, I'll drink ...
It would be nice to buy a dog.
After the betrayal of Varvara, Bunin returned to Russia. Here he was expected to meet and get acquainted with many writers: Chekhov, Bryusov, Sologub, Balmont. In 1898, two important events: the writer marries a Greek woman Anne Tsakni
(daughter of a famous populist revolutionary), as well as a collection of his poems “Under the open sky”. 
You are pure and beautiful like the stars...
I catch the joy of life in everything -
In the starry sky, in flowers, in aromas...
But I love you more.
Only with you I am happy
And no one will replace you
You alone know and love me,
And one understand - for what!
However, this marriage did not become durable: after a year and a half, the couple divorced.
In 1906 Bunin met Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva
- a faithful companion of the writer until the end of his life. Together, the couple travels around the world. 
Vera Nikolaevna did not stop repeating until the end of her days that when she saw Ivan Alekseevich, who was then always called Jan at home, she fell in love with him at first sight. His wife brought comfort to his unsettled life, surrounded him with the most tender care. And since 1920, when Bunin and Vera Nikolaevna sailed from Constantinople, their long emigration began in Paris and in the south of France in the town of Graas near Cannes. 
Bunin experienced severe financial difficulties, or rather, they were experienced by his wife, who took household matters into her own hands and sometimes complained that she did not even have ink for her husband. The meager royalties from publications in émigré magazines were barely enough to pay more than humble life. 
By the way, having received the Nobel Prize, Bunin first of all bought new shoes for his wife, because he could no longer look at what his beloved woman was wearing and wearing. 
However, Bunin's love stories do not end there either. I will dwell in more detail on his 4th Great love – Galina Kuznetsova
. 
The following is a full quote from the article. Outside in 1926. The Bunins have been living in Graas at the Belvedere villa for several years now. Ivan Alekseevich is a distinguished swimmer, he goes to the sea every day and makes great demonstration swims. His wife " water procedures He does not like and does not keep company with him. On the beach, Bunin is approached by an acquaintance of his and introduces a young girl, Galina Kuznetsova, a budding poetess. As happened more than once with Bunin, he instantly felt a keen attraction to a new acquaintance. Although at that moment he could hardly imagine what place she would take in his later life. Both later recalled that he immediately asked if she was married. It turned out that yes, and resting here with her husband. Now Ivan Alekseevich spent whole days with Galina. 
Bunin and Kuznetsova
A few days later, Galina had a sharp explanation with her husband, which meant an actual break, and he left for Paris. In what state Vera Nikolaevna was, it is not difficult to guess. “She went crazy and complained to everyone she knew about the betrayal of Ivan Alekseevich,” writes the poetess Odoevtseva. “But then I.A. managed to convince her that he and Galina only had a platonic relationship. She believed, and believed until her death ... ". Kuznetsova and Bunin with his wife
Vera Nikolaevna really did not pretend: she believed because she wanted to believe. Worshiping her genius, she did not let thoughts close to her that would force her to make difficult decisions, for example, to leave the writer. It ended with Galina being invited to live with the Bunins and become "a member of their family." Galina Kuznetsova (standing), Ivan and Vera Bunin. 1933
The members of this triangle decided not to record for history intimate details life together. One can only guess what and how happened at the Belvedere villa, and also read in the minor comments of the guests of the house. According to individual testimonies, the atmosphere in the house, with outward decency, was sometimes very tense.
Galina accompanied Vera Nikolaevna Bunina to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize. On the way back, she caught a cold, and it was decided that it would be better for her to stop for a while in Dresden, at the house of Bunin's old friend, the philosopher Fyodor Stepun, who often visited Grasse. When Kuznetsova returned to the writer's villa a week later, something subtly changed. Ivan Alekseevich discovered that Galina began to spend much less time with him, and more and more often he found her writing long letters to Stepun's sister Magda. In the end, Galina begged Magda for an invitation from the Bunin couple to visit Graas, and Magda arrived. Bunin made fun of the "girlfriends": Galina and Magda almost never parted, went down to the table together, walked together, retired together in their "little room", allocated at their request by Vera Nikolaevna. All this lasted until Bunin suddenly saw the light, as well as everyone around him, regarding true relationship Galina and Magda. And then he felt terribly disgusted, disgusting and hard. Not only did the beloved woman cheat on him, but to change with another woman - this unnatural situation simply infuriated Bunin. They loudly sorted things out with Kuznetsova, not embarrassed either by the completely bewildered Vera Nikolaevna or the arrogantly calm Magda. 
Remarkable in itself is the reaction of the writer's wife to what was happening in her house. At first, Vera Nikolaevna breathed a sigh of relief - well, this threesome, which tormented her, will finally end, and Galina Kuznetsova will leave the hospitable Bunins' house. But seeing how her adored husband was suffering, she rushed to persuade Galina to stay so that Bunin would not worry. However, neither Galina was going to change anything in her relationship with Magda, nor Bunin could no longer endure the phantasmagoric "adultery" that was happening before his eyes. Galina left the house and the writer's heart, leaving a spiritual wound in him, but not the first one.
Nevertheless, no novels (and Galina Kuznetsova, of course, was not the writer's only hobby) changed Bunin's attitude to his wife, without whom he could not imagine his life. Here is how a family friend G. Adamovich said about this: “... for her endless loyalty, he was infinitely grateful to her and valued her beyond measure ... Ivan Alekseevich was not an easy person in everyday communication and, of course, he himself was aware of this. But the deeper he felt everything he owed to his wife. I think that if in his presence someone had hurt or offended Vera Nikolaevna, he, with his great passion, would have killed this person - not only as his enemy, but also as a slanderer, as a moral monster, unable to distinguish good from evil, light from darkness."
Ivan Bunin was born in a poor noble family on October 10 (22), 1870. Then, in the biography of Bunin, there was a move to the estate of the Oryol province near the city of Yelets. Bunin's childhood passed in this place, among the natural beauty of the fields.
Primary education in Bunin's life was received at home. Then, in 1881, the young poet entered the Yelets Gymnasium. However, without finishing it, he returned home in 1886. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin received further education thanks to his older brother Julius, who graduated from the university with honors.
Literary activity
Bunin's poems were first published in 1888. The following year, Bunin moved to Orel, becoming a proofreader for a local newspaper. Bunin's poetry, collected in a collection called "Poems", became the first published book. Soon, Bunin's work gains fame. The following poems by Bunin were published in the collections Under the Open Air (1898), Falling Leaves (1901).
Acquaintance with the greatest writers (Gorky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, etc.) leaves a significant imprint on Bunin's life and work. Bunin's stories "Antonov apples", "Pines" are published.
The writer in 1909 becomes an honorary academician of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. Bunin reacted rather sharply to the ideas of the revolution, and left Russia forever.
Life in exile and death
The biography of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin almost all consists of moving, traveling (Europe, Asia, Africa). In exile, Bunin continues to actively engage in literary activity, writes his best works: "Mitina's Love" (1924), "Sunstroke" (1925), as well as the main novel in the life of the writer - "The Life of Arseniev" (1927-1929, 1933), which brings Bunin the Nobel Prize in 1933 . In 1944, Ivan Alekseevich wrote the story "Clean Monday".
Before his death, the writer was often ill, but at the same time he did not stop working and creating. In the last few months of his life, Bunin was busy working on literary portrait A.P. Chekhov, but the work remained unfinished
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin died on November 8, 1953. He was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery in Paris.
Chronological table
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Probably none of the classics wrote about love the way Ivan Bunin- one of the most lyrical authors of Russian literature of the twentieth century. There were many dramatic events in his life. love stories that influenced his work. Three women became muses for the writer, inspiring equally with their love and cruelty.
At the age of 19, Ivan Bunin was going to marry Varvara Pashchenko. She worked as a proofreader in the Orlovsky Vestnik, and he worked as an assistant editor. Varya was only a year older than her chosen one, but the age difference seemed an obstacle to her parents. Just like the fact that Bunin at that time was a young poet, without housing, without money, and, as it seemed to them, without prospects for the future. Despite this, the relationship between them continued for some time, they either lived together or diverged, but in the end the girl left him for a rich landowner, whom she first secretly met from Bunin, and then married him.
After breaking up with Varvara, Bunin moved to Moscow, then to Odessa, and there he met Anna Tsakni, a beauty of Greek origin. He called her " sunstroke". She was rich, capricious, spoiled by male attention and cold, although she accepted his advances. “It is touching for me to remember,” Bunin told his brother, “how many times I opened my soul to her, full of the best tenderness, she doesn’t feel anything, some kind of stake. She is stupid and undeveloped, like a puppy. Nevertheless, they got married.
The marriage did not last long - because of the difference in the views of the spouses and the fact that Anna did not have such deep feelings for her husband. Bunin shared his feelings with his brother: “I refuse to describe my suffering, and I don’t need to ... This morning I lay for three hours in the steppe and sobbed and screamed, because not a single person experienced more torment, more despair, insult and suddenly lost love, hope ... How I love her, you can’t imagine ... I don’t have anyone dearer. The writer was very worried about breaking up with Anna, he even tried to commit suicide.
In 1906, Bunin met a woman who, unlike everyone else, was a real guardian angel for him. Vera Muromtseva became his second wife and devoted her whole life to her husband. Together they spent 46 years. She had to endure and forgive a lot, but even in the most difficult situations she remained a loving and devoted wife, friend, adviser and comforter. For Bunin, she became a safe haven after stormy romances and painful partings. He took her feelings for granted, and when asked if he loves his wife, the writer replied: “To love Vera? It's like loving your arm or leg."
With her, he traveled half the world, went into exile with her and reached the heights in creativity. But when he was awarded the Nobel Prize, not only Vera stood nearby, but another woman - the third fatal love in his life. In 1926, the beginning writer Galina Kuznetsova settled in their villa. Bunin introduced her to his wife as his student and assistant. And the wife had to come to terms with the presence of her husband's young mistress in their house.
When Bunin met Galina Kuznetsova, he was 56, and she was 26. But he was not afraid of either the age difference or the fact that both were not free. Galina left her husband without hesitation, but Bunin could not and did not want to part with Vera. At the same time, he understood that Galya was his last love, and it is also impossible to resist this feeling. The three of them spent almost 10 years. Everything collapsed when the sister of the philosopher Fyodor Stepun Marga appeared in their house. Bunin said in despair: “I thought some dude with a glass parting in his hair would come. And my grandmother took her away from me ... ". Galina really left the writer for Marga, but did not leave physically: for another 8 years, both women were in the care of Bunin and lived in his house. This was a hard blow for him, with which he barely coped.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin - eminent writer and poet of the first half of the twentieth century. He is the last Russian writer who loved old Russia, lived by it and wrote about it. Bunin has not lost this nostalgic attachment to home country, despite the fact that he spent the last three decades in exile. Eleven collections of poems, six memoir books, three translations belong to his pen and imagination. foreign classics and, of course, the pinnacle of Ivan Bunin's work - his prose - is a workshop, aphoristic and insanely penetrating.
Ivan Bunin wrote his first poem at the age of 8, and already at 17 he presented his work to the reader's judgment by publishing it on the pages of Rodina magazine. Then the young writer did not yet know how his work would be organized. future life, but I did not doubt for a minute about the intention to connect it with writing. It so happened that Bunin brought more success to prose.
His short stories, the love cycle "Dark Alleys", the novel "The Life of Arseniev" are textbooks today. True, during his lifetime, the writer was not awarded a laurel by the USSR. The new Soviet Motherland did not forgive the writer of emigration, the Nobel Prize, did not forgive the love of old Russia and talent that perpetuated Bunin's every word for centuries.
Vanya Bunin was younger son in the family of Alexei Nikolaevich and Lyudmila Alexandrovna Bunin. He was born in Voronezh on October 10 (22), 1870. Of the nine children of the Bunins, only four survived - the boys Julius, Evgeny, Ivan and the youngest daughter Maria.
Ivan Alekseevich was a pure-blooded nobleman both on his paternal and maternal lines. The Bunins and Chubarovs (Lyudmila Alexandrovna's relatives) owned several estates and solid capitals. However, Vanya Bunin and many other peers from his entourage failed to taste the brilliant carefree life that the former aristocrats led. The nobility was impoverished and ruined. Alexey Bunin was no exception, who, meanwhile, loved to have a good meal, throw a feast, play cards. The extravagance of the head of the family led to the fact that he squandered his and his wife's fortune in record time.
complex financial situation led to the fact that the Bunins were forced to move to the village of Ozerki (Oryol province), where the surviving family estate was located. The eldest sons received a basic education in the gymnasium, but there was not enough money for the younger ones. After five years at the Yelets gymnasium, Ivan returns to Ozerki. This, however, did not prevent him from becoming a brilliant student at home school. The senior class course for Vanya is taught by brother Julius.
Despite the lack of education in the traditional sense, Ivan Bunin was the most educated person. In addition to his own, he brilliantly owned foreign languages and subsequently confirmed his skill with literary translations of Longfellow and Byron.
In People: Editor's Work and Literary Success
At 19 young Ivan Bunin goes to the people. He moved from his native estate to the city of Orel and quickly got a job at the Orlovsky Vestnik newspaper as a proofreader. His editorial work was already preceded by a debut in print - Bunin published several poems in the Rodina weekly.
Work in the "Bulletin" was primarily reflected in Bunin's personal life. Here he met his first wife Varvara Pashchenko. The young moved to Poltava, where Bunin worked on poetry collections.
Rise of literary fame
The real literary glory comes to the young writer in 1900. Then he had already visited Ukraine, remarried and divorced. At the same time, a nostalgic story about noble life"Antonov apples". The following year, Bunin becomes a laureate of the prestigious Pushkin Prize, which he was awarded for the lyric collection "Falling Leaves" and the translation of "Song of Hiawatha" by Henry Longfellow.
Bunin continues to write poetry, creates the stories "The Village" and "Dry Valley", the stories "Numbers", "John Rydalets", "Asthma", becomes an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, travels a lot in the company of his third wife, Vera Muromtseva.
Everything went well, and life went well until 1917 came, and with it cardinal changes in the life of a whole generation.
The rebellion of 1905 Bunin took with caution, but not without interest. The revolution of 1917 met with hostility. He never justified the changes that took place in Russia, boldly called Lenin a "geek", a "moral idiot" and bitterly mourned the ruined culture and great country, drowned in the bloody mess of a stupid fratricidal war.
Ivan Bunin puts his thoughts in the form of literary essays and publishes the book Cursed Days. It makes no sense to say that it could only come out abroad, and its author immediately became doomed to eternal exile.
In 1920, Bunin and his wife left for France and began to write furiously. All the longing for native word he pours out on paper. Now the writer completely switches to prose. Poems are no longer written.
In 1933, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Receiving this award was the blue dream of the writer. The good news was told to him during a film screening, and the next morning all of Paris knew that Bunin was a Nobel laureate!
He became the first Russian and Russian-speaking writer to receive this honorary award and who opened the infamous series of Russian writers rejected by their homeland. For Soviet Russia, the Nobel Prize was a bourgeois stigma on the writer's body. Accepting the award meant betraying the Motherland. So it was with Bunin. So it will be with Pasternak, who will be forced to refuse the award, and with Solzhenitsyn, who hid for half his life in a forest house in Vermont.
The reward for the Nobel Prize amounted to 715 thousand francs - a huge amount at that time. Returning from Switzerland, Bunin felt like a real rich man. As a person, however, he proved to be impractical. He rolled feasts, treating numerous friends and acquaintances, donated money to charitable foundations, helped to open visas for emigrants, then invested in a “win-win business”, went bankrupt and was left with nothing.
The old age of the great writer passed in great hardships. He lived with his wife in a villa in Grasse, was often sick, always dreamed of returning to his homeland, but he understood perfectly well that there was no place for him there, so after 1920 he was not in Russia even as a tourist.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin died happy man, in a dream, quietly and calmly. His grave is in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery.
The writer continued to write last day his long life. The main work of the last creative decade Bunin became a cycle short stories about love "Dark alleys".
Particular attention should be paid to Bunin and his women. The writer was very loving, constantly carried away, desperately rushing into a love pool and could not live without a muse, an inspirer.
His first serious affection was the beautiful Varvara Pashchenko, whom he met while working at Orlovsky Vestnik. A passion so strong arose between the young people that, despite the opposition from their parents, Varya and Vanya run away from the whole world to Poltava and the unmarried (!) begin to live as their own family. True, soon the young wife began to be burdened by life with a poor writer. She is accustomed to glitz, luxury, expensive clothes and restaurants. Varvara begins to accept the courtship of richer gentlemen and eventually leaves Bunin, leaving a short note: “Vanya, goodbye. Do not remember dashingly.
Varya inspired Bunin to "The Life of Arseniev", separate part which was published under the name "Lika".
Bunin's second love met him under the resort sun of Odessa. The exotic beauty of Anna Tsakni (Ukrainian Greek) instantly captivated the writer. The romance of Bunin and Tsakni developed very beautifully - on the verandas of expensive restaurants, in the hops of champagne, in European capitals and cozy provinces. The wedding was not long in coming. True, from the very first months of married life it became clear that their love was not adapted for everyday life. Controversy arose in almost everything. The sultry Greek woman and the cold Russian nobleman did not agree either in temperament or in their views on life.
In 1900, the couple filed for divorce. After that, their son Kolenka was born, but five years later the boy died. Tragedy destroyed last hopes for the restoration of the family.
The third muse of Bunin was Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva. A well-bred, educated girl from a professorial family captivated the writer, who was repeatedly burned by her bright beauty and temperament. Muromtseva became Bunin's faithful companion for a long 46 years. She was with him in the years of happiness and in times of adversity. She literally dissolved in her brilliant husband, forgiving him betrayals and revelry, stoically enduring his tough temper, which turned away many friends from Bunin.
After the death of Ivan Alekseevich, the talented Vera Nikolaevna published invaluable memoirs - “The Life of Bunin” and “Conversations with Memory”.
Bunin's fourth sunset passion was the young writer Galina Kuznetsova. The aging genius and his young admirer met on the beach in Grasse. Both are rapidly taken possession of a dangerous love-passion. At first, Galina and Ivan secretly meet in rented apartments, but soon their soul mates become aware of their connection (Galina had a legal spouse). At this time, Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva decides on a terrible feat in the name of love for her husband - she allows Galina to settle in their villa under the guise of a "literary student".
In such an ambiguous position, Kuznetsova lived with the Bunins for ten years. No one believed in the “legend of the student,” and therefore, in emigrant circles, the aged ladies' man Bunin, the immoral homemaker Kuznetsova and the weak-willed Muromtseva, who allowed such debauchery in her house, were discussed with relish. However, the departure of Kuznetsova was even more shocking. Burnt out by love for Bunin, she started an affair ... with opera singer Margarita Stepun.
The long-term relationship with the great writer was not in vain, its result was main book in the life of Galina Kuznetsova - "The Grasse Diary". Based on these priceless memoirs, in 2000 was filmed Russian film"The Diary of His Wife".
Biography of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin: the last Russian classic
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