Bunin's "dark alleys" - analysis of the work. Bunin's creativity

For I. A. Bunin, the feeling of love is always a secret, great, unknowable and not subject to the human mind. In his stories, no matter what love is: strong, real, mutual - it never reaches marriage. He stops her at the highest point of pleasure and immortalizes in prose.

From 1937 to 1945 Ivan Bunin writes an intriguing work, later it will be included in the collection "Dark Alleys". At the time of writing the book, the author emigrated to France. Thanks to the work on the story, the writer was somewhat distracted from the black streak passing through his life.

Bunin said that Clean Monday is the best work he ever wrote:

I thank God for giving me the opportunity to write Clean Monday.

Genre, direction

Clean Monday is written in the direction of realism. But before Bunin, they did not write about love like that. The writer finds the only words that do not vulgarize feelings, but each time they re-discover the emotions familiar to everyone.

The work "Clean Monday" is a short story, a small piece of everyday life, somewhat similar to a story. The only difference can be found in plot and compositional construction. The genre of the short story, in contrast to the story, is characterized by the presence of a certain turn of events. In this book, such a turn is a change in the heroine's outlook on life and a sharp change in her lifestyle.

The meaning of the name

Ivan Bunin clearly draws a parallel with the title of the work, making the main character a girl who rushes between opposites and does not yet know what she needs in life. She changes for the better from Monday, and not just the first day of a new week, but a religious celebration, that turning point, which is marked by the church itself, where the heroine goes to cleanse herself of the luxury, idleness and bustle of her former life.

Maundy Monday is the first holiday of Great Lent on the calendar, leading to Forgiveness Sunday. The author stretches the thread of the heroine's crucial life: from various fun and unnecessary fun, to the adoption of religion, and departure to a monastery.

The essence

The story is told in the first person. The main events are as follows: the narrator every evening visits a girl who lives opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, for whom he has strong feelings. He is immensely chatty, she is very silent. There was no intimacy between them, and this keeps him at a loss, and some kind of expectation.

For a certain time, they continue to go to theaters, spend evenings together. Forgiveness Sunday is approaching, and they are going to the Novodevichy Convent. On the way, the heroine talks about how she was at the schismatic cemetery yesterday, and describes with admiration the rite of burial of the archbishop. The narrator did not notice any early religiosity in her, and therefore listened attentively, with burning loving eyes. The heroine notices this, and is amazed at how much he loves her.

In the evening they go to a skit, after which the narrator escorts her home. The girl asks to let the coachmen go, which she had not done before, and go up to her. It was just their evening.

In the morning, the heroine says that she is leaving for Tver, for a monastery - there is no need to wait or look for her.

The main characters and their characteristics

The image of the main character can be viewed from several perspectives of the narrator: the young man in love evaluates the chosen one as a participant in the events, he also sees her in the role of a person who only recalls the past. His views on life after falling in love, after passion - change. By the end of the novel, the reader now sees his maturity and depth of thought, and at first the hero was blinded by his passion and did not see the character of his beloved behind her, did not feel her soul. This is the reason for his loss and the despair into which he plunged after the disappearance of the lady of the heart.

The name of the girl cannot be found in the work. For the narrator, this is just the one - the unique one. The heroine is an ambiguous nature. She has education, sophistication, intelligence, but at the same time she is removed from the world. She is attracted by an unattainable ideal, to which she can only strive within the walls of the monastery. But at the same time, she fell in love with a man and cannot just leave him. The contrast of feelings leads to an inner conflict, which we can catch a glimpse of in her tense silence, in her desire for quiet and secluded corners, for meditation and loneliness. The girl still cannot understand what she needs. She is seduced by a luxurious life, but at the same time, she resists it, and tries to find something else that will illuminate her path with meaning. And in this honest choice, in this loyalty to oneself, there is great strength, there is great happiness, which Bunin described with such pleasure.

Topics and problems

1. The main theme is love... It is she who gives a person meaning in life. For the girl, the divine revelation became the guiding star, she found herself, but her chosen one, having lost the woman of his dreams, went astray.
2. The problem of misunderstanding. The whole essence of the tragedy of the heroes is a misunderstanding of each other. The girl, feeling love for the narrator, does not see anything good in this - for her this is a problem, and not a way out of a confused situation. She is looking for herself not in the family, but in the service and spiritual vocation. He sincerely does not see this and is trying to impose on her his vision of the future - the creation of marriage bonds.
3. Selection theme also present in the novel. Each person has a choice, and everyone decides for himself what to do right. The main character chose her own path - going to a monastery. The hero continued to love her, and could not come to terms with her choice, because of this he could not find inner harmony, find himself.
4. Also, I. A. Bunin can be traced the theme of a person's purpose in life... The main character does not know what she wants, but she feels her calling. It is very difficult for her to understand herself, and because of this, the narrator also cannot fully understand her. However, she goes to the call of her soul, vaguely guessing the destination - the destiny of the higher powers. And this is very good for both of them. If a woman made a mistake and got married, she would forever remain unhappy and blame the one who led her astray. And a man would suffer from undivided happiness.
5. The problem of happiness. The hero sees him in love with the lady, but the lady moves along a different coordinate system. She will find harmony only when she is alone with God.

the main idea

The writer writes about true love that ends up breaking up. The heroes themselves make such decisions, they have complete freedom of choice. And the meaning of their actions is the idea of ​​the whole book. Each of us must choose exactly the love that we can worship without complaint throughout our lives. A person must be true to himself and the passion that lives in his heart. The heroine found the strength to go to the end and, despite all the doubts and temptations, to reach the cherished goal.

The main idea of ​​the novel is a fervent appeal for honest self-determination. There is no need to be afraid that someone will not understand or condemn your decision, if you are sure that this is your calling. In addition, a person must be able to resist those obstacles and temptations that prevent him from hearing his own voice. The fate depends on whether we are able to hear it, and our own fate, and the position of those to whom we are dear.

Interesting? Keep it on your wall!

The cycle of stories called "Dark Alleys" is dedicated to the eternal theme of any kind of art - love. They say about "Dark Alleys" as a kind of encyclopedia of love, which contains the most diverse and incredible stories about this great and often contradictory feeling.

And the stories that are included in Bunin's collection amaze with their various plots and extraordinary syllables, they are the main assistants of Bunin, who wants to portray love at the peak of feelings, tragic love, but from this - and perfect.

Feature of the cycle "Dark alleys"

The very phrase, which served as the title for the collection, was taken by the writer from the poem "An Ordinary Story" by N. Ogarev, which is dedicated to the first love, which never happened the expected continuation.

In the collection itself there is a story with the same name, but this does not mean that this story is the main one, no, this expression is the personification of the mood of all stories and novellas, a common elusive meaning, a transparent, almost invisible thread connecting stories to each other.

A feature of the cycle of stories "Dark Alleys" can be called the moments when the love of two heroes for some reason can no longer continue. Often death, sometimes unforeseen circumstances or misfortunes, becomes the executioner of the ardent feelings of Bunin's heroes, but most importantly, love is never given to be fulfilled.

This is the key concept of Bunin's idea of ​​earthly love between two. He wants to show love at the peak of its flowering, he wants to emphasize her real wealth and the highest value, the fact that she does not need to turn into life circumstances, like a wedding, marriage, life together ...

Female images of "Dark alleys"

Particular attention should be paid to the unusual portraits of women, which are so rich in "Dark Alley". Ivan Alekseevich writes out images of women with such grace and originality that the female portrait of each story becomes unforgettable and truly intriguing.

Bunin's skill consists in several precise expressions and metaphors that instantly draw in the mind of the reader the picture described by the author with many colors, shades and nuances.

The stories "Rusya", "Antigone", "Galya Ganskaya" are exemplary examples of various, but vivid images of a Russian woman. The girls, whose stories were created by the talented Bunin, partly resemble the love stories that they experience.

We can say that the writer's key attention is directed precisely to these two elements of the cycle of stories: women and love. And love stories are just as rich, unique, sometimes fatal and willful, sometimes so original and incredible that it's hard to believe in them.

Male images in "Dark Alley" are weak-willed and insincere, and this also determines the fateful flow of all love stories.

The peculiarity of love in "Dark Alleys"

The stories of "Dark Alley" reveal not only the theme of love, they reveal the depths of the human personality and soul, and the very concept of "love" is presented as the basis of this difficult and not always happy life.

And love does not have to be mutual in order to bring unforgettable impressions, love does not have to turn into something eternal and tirelessly continuing in order to please and make a person happy.

Bunin shrewdly and subtly shows only the "moments" of love, for the sake of which it is worth experiencing everything else for which it is worth living.

Story "Clean Monday"

The story "Clean Monday" is a mysterious and incompletely understood love story. Bunin describes a pair of young lovers who, it would seem, outwardly fit each other perfectly, but the catch is that their inner worlds have nothing in common.

The image of a young man is simple and logical, and the image of his beloved is unattainable and complex, striking her chosen one with its contradictoriness. Once she says that she would like to go to a monastery, and this causes complete bewilderment and misunderstanding for the hero.

And the end of this love is as difficult and incomprehensible as the heroine herself. After intimacy with a young man, she silently leaves him, then - asks him not to ask about anything, and soon he learns that she went to the monastery.

She made the decision on Maundy Monday, when there was an intimacy between the lovers, and the symbol of this holiday is a symbol of her purity and torment, from which she wants to get rid of.

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Before making a direct analysis of the work "Dark Alleys" by Bunin, let us recall the history of writing. The October Revolution had passed, and Bunin's attitude to this event was unequivocal - in his eyes, the revolution had become a social drama. In 1920, after emigration, the writer worked a lot, at that time the cycle "Dark Alleys" appeared, which included various short stories. In 1946, thirty-eight stories were included in the edition of the collection, the book was printed in Paris.

Although the main theme of these short stories is the theme of love, the reader will learn not only about its bright sides, but also about the dark ones. It is not hard to guess about this, reflecting on the title of the collection. It is important to note in the analysis of "Dark Alleys" that Ivan Bunin lived abroad for about thirty years, far from his home. He yearned for the Russian land, but the spiritual closeness with the Motherland was preserved. All this is reflected in the work we are discussing.

How Bunin presented love

It is no secret that Bunin presented the theme of love in a somewhat unusual way, not in the way that Soviet literature usually covered it. Indeed, the writer's view has a difference and its own peculiarity. Ivan Bunin perceived love as something that suddenly appeared and is very bright, as if it were a flash. But that's why love is beautiful. After all, when love flows into simple affection, feelings turn into a routine. We do not find this in the heroes of Bunin, since that very outbreak occurs between them, and then parting follows, but the bright trace of experienced feelings overshadows everything. The above is the most important thought in the analysis of the work "Dark Alleys".

Briefly about the plot

General Nikolai Alekseevich had a chance to visit the post station, where he met a woman whom he had seen 35 years ago, and with whom he had a whirlwind romance. Now Nikolai Alekseevich is elderly, and does not even immediately understand that this is Nadezhda. And the former lover became the hostess at the inn, where they once met for the first time.

It turns out that Nadezhda loved him all her life, and the general begins to make excuses to her. However, after awkward explanations, Nadezhda expresses the wise idea that everyone was young, and youth is a thing of the past, but love remains. But she reproaches her lover, because he left her alone in the most heartless way.

All these details will help make the analysis of Bunin's "Dark Alleys" more accurate. The general does not seem to regret it, but it becomes clear that he never forgot his first love. But he did not succeed with his family - his wife cheated on him, and his son grew up as a mot and shameless insolent.

What happened to first love?

It is very important to note, especially when we analyze Dark Alleys, that the feelings of Nikolai Alekseevich and Nadezhda managed to survive - they still love. When the main character leaves, he realizes that it was thanks to this woman that he felt the depth of love and saw all the colors of feelings. But he gave up his first love, and now he is reaping the bitter fruits of this betrayal.

You can recall the moment when the general hears from the coachman a comment about the mistress: she is driven by a sense of justice, but at the same time her disposition is very "cool". Having lent money to someone at interest, she demands a return on time, and who did not have time - let him answer. Nikolai Alekseevich begins to reflect on these words and draws parallels with his life. If he had not abandoned his first love, everything would have turned out differently.

What has become a hindrance to the relationship? The analysis of the work "Dark Alleys" will help us to understand the reason - let's think: the future general had to connect his life with a simple girl. How would others view this relationship and how would it affect your reputation? But in the heart of Nikolai Alekseevich, feelings did not fade away, and he could not find happiness with another woman, as well as give a proper upbringing to his son.

The main character Nadezhda did not forgive her lover, who made her suffer a lot and, as a result, she was left alone. Although we emphasize that love did not pass in her heart either. The general could not go against society and class prejudices in his youth, and the girl simply resigned herself to fate.

Few conclusions in the analysis of "Dark Alley" by Bunin

We saw how dramatic the fates of Nadezhda and Nikolai Alekseevich were. They parted, although they loved. And both were unhappy. But let us emphasize an important thought: thanks to love, they learned the power of feelings and what real experiences are. These best moments of my life remained in my memory.

As a cross-cutting motive, this idea can be traced in the work of Bunin. Although everyone can have their own idea of ​​love, thanks to this story, you can think about how it moves a person, what it prompts, what mark it leaves in the soul.

We hope that you liked the brief analysis of Bunin's "Dark Alleys" and turned out to be useful. Read also

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Analysis of I.A. Bunin "Muse".

The story was written on October 17, 1938, and was included in the collection "Dark Alleys". The Second World War was approaching, Bunin personally encountered the Nazis in 1936 while traveling in Germany: in Lindau he was arrested and subjected to an unceremonious and humiliating search. Although there are no direct references to these events in Bunin's works, they largely influenced the general mood of his work. The feeling of the catastrophic nature of life, loneliness, the impossibility of happiness, characteristic of Bunin's prose before, in these years only intensifies.

Like all works of the cycle "Dark Alleys", the story "Muse" reveals the theme of love. The main stylistic principle of the story is antithesis. He manifests himself at all levels.

The narration is conducted from the first person in the form of a memory, which means that the view of events is given through the prism of the narrator's perception, therefore, this is a subjective view. Bunin chooses such a form of narration to show the image of the narrator from the inside: which of the events of those distant years were most important to him, what feelings they evoked.

There are two central images in the work: the narrator and the conservative Muse Graf. There is also a "certain Zavistovsky", but his image is secondary and in many respects parallel to the image of the narrator.

The narrator is a weak, weak-willed person with no life purpose. He gave up his estate in the Tambov province to study painting, then just as easily gave up his hobby when Muse appeared in his life. He studied with a mediocre, but famous artist, and although he was aware of all the vulgarity of his nature, he still continued his studies. I spent my free time in the company of bohemians, all of whose bohemianism was immediately removed by the remark that they were equally committed to "billiards and crayfish with beer." So, at least during his youth, he was not much different from all these ordinary people.

The image of Zavistovsky echoes the image of the narrator, he is "lonely, timid, narrow-minded." That is, just like the narrator, he is a person who does not particularly stand out against the background of others. But there is something in both of them that attracted the Muse's attention to them. Zavistovsky is a "not a bad musician", about the narrator Musa says: "You are quite beautiful", besides, she must have heard about his painting lessons.

These two images are contrasted with the image of the main character. The external image of the Muse does not correspond to the expectations that her name generates. This is "a tall girl in a gray winter hat, a gray straight coat, gray boots, ..., acorn-colored eyes", she has "rusty hair". In her appearance there is neither lightness, nor ephemerality: "... knees lay round and full-bodied", "bulging calves", "elongated feet"; "She sat down comfortably on the sofa, apparently not going to leave soon." She is direct, categorical. In her appeals to the narrator, imperative intonations prevail: "accept", "remove", "give", "order" (whereas in the narrator's speech we see a passive voice, impersonal constructions "very flattered", "nothing interesting in me, it seems No"). This is a strong, determined, rather eccentric nature. She cannot be called tactful and sensitive to the feelings of others. The author does not say anything about her inner world, we can only guess what caused her offensive tactics. But most likely this is how her desire for happiness is expressed, although the ways to achieve it are somewhat naive. The muse says to the narrator: "But in fact you are my first love."

Such an antagonism of the male and female worlds is characteristic of Bunin's work. The peculiarities of Bunin's perception of these worlds are reflected in the jokingly spoken words of the heroine of the story "Smaragd": "... the most bad girl is still better than any young man."

The composition of the story and the organization of artistic time and space indicate the importance of the appearance of this unusual girl in the life of the narrator.

One of the characteristic features of Bunin's work is the laconicism of the narrative. The events described on several pages of the story take a year. The narrator begins the story with winters when he "was not his first youth and decided to study painting." He assesses this period with the words: "I lived unpleasantly and boringly!" A closed space: an artist's house, cheap restaurants, rooms of the "Capital".

Then comes the "suddenly" characteristic of Bunin's art, when the hero's life changes due to some unexpected event: Muse Graf knocks on the narrator's door. This happens in early spring... Two phrases serve as a kind of marker for changing the mood of the story:

Winter period of life: "It remains in my memory: the light is constantly coming down outside the windows, the horse-tramps are ringing dully, ringing along the Arbat, in the evening it smells sourly of beer and gas in a dimly lit restaurant ..."

The beginning of spring: "... the open forts of the double frames carried no longer the winter dampness of wet snow and rain, the horseshoes clinked on the pavement not like the winter, and as if the horse trams were ringing more musically, someone knocked on the door of my hallway."

Here there is a kind of enlargement of the frame, focusing on one of the key moments of the hero's life, the narrative develops in jerks, it seems that it beats the hero's heart: "I shouted: who is there?", "I waited ...", "I got up. , opened ... "Grammatically, this is expressed by the transition from the past tense to the present:" ... a tall girl stands at the threshold. " The narrator says about this moment: "Where did such happiness come from!" And again the phrase as a marker of mood, sensation: "As in a dream, I heard the monotonous ringing of horses, the clatter of hooves ..." This constant mention of street sounds can speak of the connectedness of the hero's life with the city space.

Further May, summer is approaching... The hero, at the request of the Muse, moves to a dacha near Moscow. Now he is surrounded by the world of nature, silence and tranquility. This is an open space. Even the inside of the house in which the hero lives is spacious: there is almost no furniture in it. Bunin uses the technique of natural parallelism: when Muse comes to the hero's dacha, it is usually clear and sunny, everything around breathes freshness. After he sees off Muse, the sky darkens, it rains, and a thunderstorm rages.

June. The muse moves to the narrator.

Autumn. Here, as a harbinger of trouble, Zavistovsky appears.

And now attention is again focused on an important, decisive moment in the hero's life. Winter again: "Before Christmas I once went to the city. I returned already at the moonlight." Again, the narrative develops in jerks, like a restless heartbeat: "I suddenly fell asleep," "I suddenly woke up," "Why, she left me!" Bunin also emphasizes the hero's despair at the level of the character of filling the space: "an alley of bare trees", "a beggar house", "a door with scraps of upholstery", "a burned-out stove". The muse, with her usual categoricalness, says: "It's over and it's clear, the scenes are useless." Here, the absolute end of their relationship is grammatically highlighted, which was noted by the hero himself: "You already speak to me in" you ", you could at least not speak" you "with him in front of me.

Figurative system:

Man Woman

Composition:

There are 2 key points in the construction of the text: meeting with the Muse and parting with her; and 2 links between these moments: life before meeting the Muse, and life before parting with her. The elements of these pairs are contrasted. Also, these couples themselves are opposed to each other in the nature of the description, emotional saturation.

meeting - parting

life before meeting - life before parting

Time:

The story can be divided into 4 parts. The story takes a year. The description of two days, when key events in the hero's life take place, is equal in volume to the description of the rest of the time. Since the narration is given in the form of a memory, we conclude that this is psychological, subjective time. This means that these two days were the most emotionally filled, the most important for the hero. These days are, as it were, re-experienced by the hero: the emotional tension of the narrative and the transition to the present at the grammatical level speaks of this.

The development of the relationship between the Muse and the narrator corresponds to the seasons. Winter (the hero's life before meeting the Muse), spring-summer (life with the Muse), autumn (Zavistovsky appears), winter (Muse leaves for Zavistovsky).

The same pattern can be noted in relation to the times of the day. The meeting of the hero and the Muse takes place during the day, their parting - at night.

Space:

The periods in the life of the hero, when the Muse is with him, are contrasted with those when she is not there. This girl, as it were, frees him from the confined space of the city with its constant noise, second-rate restaurants, frees him from vulgar, empty people. At her request, he moved to a dacha near Moscow. Now it is surrounded by an open space, free from all unnecessary, it is easier to breathe in it.

So, we have already identified the theme of the story - this is love. Now let's see how Bunin reveals this topic. According to Bunin, love is tragic, fleeting, but leaves a deep mark in the heart. This story reveals such a facet of love as its similarity with inspiration. It visits the artist against his will, and can leave as suddenly as it came. Here this idea is personified in the Muse Graf. We can only guess about the logic of her actions, she comes to bad artists, mediocre musicians, and colors their life, making it more beautiful and spiritualized. But a person in union as a Muse acts as a passive beginning, as an object, and not as a subject. And therefore, when she leaves him, and she inevitably leaves him, he experiences excruciating grief, but realizes his powerlessness to change anything.

"Light breath", as researchers rightly believe, is one of the most enchanting and mysterious stories of Bunin. His brilliant analysis was proposed by the famous psychologist who deals with the problems of artistic creation, L. S. Vygotsky. The researcher began his analysis of the story with a title, which, in his opinion, is a kind of dominant of the narrative and "determines the entire structure of the story." As the researcher notes, “this is not a story about Olya Meshcherskaya, but about light breathing; its main feature is that feeling of liberation, lightness, detachment and perfect transparency of life, which cannot be deduced from the very events that underlie it. "

These thoughts were expressed by L. Vygotsky in 1965 in the book "Psychology of Art". Even now, after almost half a century, they cause serious controversy. First, the researchers largely disagree with such an unambiguous interpretation of the title of the story, rightly believing that in the text "light breathing" is a designation of one of the components of female beauty ("I ... read what beauty a woman should have.") Of course, even the adoption of such a code of beauty speaks of the heroine's mental inferiority. However, in the story there is no moral judgment over Olya Meshcherskaya: the passionate love of life of the main character is very much to the liking of the narrator. He also likes the harmony that reigns in the soul of the heroine when she feels her unity with the world, with nature, with her own soul.

"To be extremely alive means to be extremely doomed," the modern literary critic S. Vaiman once remarked. As you can see, the above comments only develop some of the propositions put forward by L. S. Vygotsky. Actually, the discrepancies between him and modern researchers begin when it comes to the reasons for the failed life of Olya Meshcherskaya. Vygotsky's opponents are inclined to see them in the spiritlessness of existence, in the absence of moral and ethical standards and cite as evidence the conversation in the boss's office, the story with the Cossack officer, and the most eye-catching story - the story of a class lady who at first wanted to devote herself to her brother, "an unremarkable ensign" , then she imagined herself as an "ideological worker" and, finally, found herself in the frenzied service of the memory of her pupil.

Features of the composition of the story "Light Breathing"

One of the researchers rightly noted that the originality of the composition of "Light Breathing" lies in the fact that it excludes any interest in the plot as such. Indeed, the narration begins with the finale of Olya Meshcherskaya's life, with a description of her grave, and ends essentially the same. The author-narrator transfers the action of the story from the past to the present, mixing two narrative plans, introducing excerpts from the diary of Olya Meshcherskaya into the fabric of the literary text, building separate fragments of the text in contrast: present - past, funny - sad, living - dead. The story begins as an epitaph, "an epitaph to maiden beauty," as KG Paustovsky aptly put it. Before the eyes of the readers, like frames of chronicles, joyless pictures of a wretched provincial life, a few heroes appear and disappear, and gradually a different world appears on the pages of the work, a world hostile to beauty, and there is “a story about something completely different: about the doom of beauty and youth to death "(Yu. Maltsev).