Interpretation of love in Bunin's stories. Composition the theme of love in Bunin's stories

Parents' day in the camp. But Tanya's mother is on duty at the hospital. No one came to Tanya and she went fishing. The girl catches a trout and dreams of visiting unknown countries and seeing a wild dingo dog. The day is approaching sunset, but Tanya is in no hurry to return to the camp. Digging yellow locusts from the swamp, she meets Filka. He went to see his father off. Tanya and Filka return to the camp together and are late for the formation. For being late, counselor Kostya reprimands the guys, and Filke also gets caught for a wet tie and bathing. For the fifth summer, Tanya spent the summer in this camp, but today it seemed somehow boring to her. But she was very fond of waking up in the morning in a tent, the clatter of drumsticks and the sound of a bugle. But today she was overwhelmed by some strange thoughts and vague premonitions that childhood was leaving her. In the evening by the fire, she does not even sing songs with everyone. Filkin's father comes to the fire. Leader Kostya complained to him about his son. Filka's father tells his son that he works hard so that Filka can study well, and not play around. The sad mood does not let the girl go.

The flowers that Tanya dug up were perfectly preserved the next morning. Having carefully wrapped them, Tanya put the flowers in her backpack. As autumn came, it became cold, the camp was closed, and the children left for the city. Tanya and Filka decided to walk home. Having reached the house, the tired Tanya first of all landed locusts in the garden. She did not find Mom, she went to work in the hospital. An old nanny was washing clothes on the river. At home Tanya was met only by Tiger, her old dog. Soon Filka came and said that his father had given him a dog sled. The guys went to admire the dogs. Filka's father said goodbye to Tanya and his son and went home. Filka talks to Tanya about her father. He asks where Tanya's father lives. But she does not like the topic of the conversation, she tells a friend that her father is on Maroseyka.

Tanya is still thinking about talking to Filka. It is hard for her to remember her father, because she does not remember him at all. She only knows from the words of her mother that her father fell in love with another woman and left the family. Tanya was not yet a year old. And also that he lives in Moscow. And although mom says everything is only good about Tanya's father, the girl herself prefers not to remember and not think about him. In her mother's room, Tanya finds a letter from her father, in which he informs about his arrival with his family. He will serve in the city where Tanya and her mother live. The news does not make the girl happy, she begins to get angry at the unknown boy Kolya, who, in her opinion, took her father away from her. Filka searches for Maroseyka in the atlas and does not find it. But, noticing the sad Tanya, he lies to her that there is such a country in the atlas. Tanya realizes that Filka is her real friend. Tanya's mom comes home from work. The girl thinks that her mother looks different, tired and aged. But the look remained the same. Tanya's mother immediately understood that her daughter knew about her father's arrival and asked to meet him at the pier. Tanya flatly refuses.

Tanya picks irises and locusts for her father in the garden and goes to the pier. Only yesterday she was not going to meet her father, but then she changed her mind. Tanya is confused by her decision. Early in the morning she left the house to meet the steamer. She is afraid not to recognize her father in the crowd, because Tanya has never seen him. In the passengers descending the gangway, Tanya is anxiously trying to find her father's family. She then sees the sick boy being taken away in an ambulance. In a fit, she gives him flowers. Without meeting her father, Tanya sadly leaves the pier.

Tanya is sad. She was almost late for class, and today is the first day of school. Tanya meets with classmates. Everyone is happy to see her. And Tanya decides that she will not be sad on such a day. Filka is very glad to meet Tanya. Tanya sits down at the same desk with Zhenya, and Filka sits down behind them. The class includes the teacher of the Russian language, Alexandra Ivanovna. She is a young but experienced teacher. Children love and respect her. She also loves and respects them. Two new students appeared in the class. Tanya thinks that Kolya is among them. But he is not among the newcomers. Filka, deciding to cheer up her sad friend, amuses the whole class. Tanya understands that Filka is worried about her and also laughs at the joke. Alexandra Ivanovna thinks about what is happening with Filka.

Tanya's mother again talks to her daughter about her father. And Tanya asks her a question that tormented her for so long, why did her father leave them. But before her mother had time to answer him, someone knocked on the gate. Tanya's father, Colonel Sabaneev, came to visit. He brought his daughter a box of chocolates, which he could not get out of his pocket for a long time. Tanya, in order to interrupt the awkward situation, invites her father to drink tea. From her father, Tanya learns that it was Kolya that she gave flowers at the pier.

Kolya comes to study in Tanin's class and sits down at the same desk with Filka. Filka notices that something is happening to her friend. Her look is sometimes tender, sometimes cold. And Filka likes Kolya. He teaches him to chew fir resin. Because of the tar, Tanya quarrels with Kolya for the first time. And from that time on, he began to occupy her thoughts more often. On weekends, Tanya dined at her father's house, where they treated her well, but Tanya was constantly jealous of her father for Nadezhda Petrovna and Kolya. She was very offended by them, and at the same time, she was strongly drawn to the cozy atmosphere of her father's house. Kolya also occupied her thoughts. She wanted him to hate her as much as she hated him. Tanya invites Kolya to go fishing.

Tanya goes fishing with Filka and Kolya. She wanted to call the dog with her, but the Tiger refused to go. But the cat Cossack with kittens went with her. They had to wait a long time for Kolya, and they froze. When he, slowly, approached them, Tanya was very angry with the boy. Kolya did not approve of the cat's presence on the fishing trip. They quarrel again. Filka tries to reconcile them, but all his persuasions are in vain. Kolya goes out to fish alone. When Tanya and Filka approached the river, it turned out that he had thrown a fishing rod at their favorite spot. Filka goes to fish somewhere else, but Tanya stays behind. The fish does not bite, and Kolya decides to leave. As he walks over the walkway, one of the kittens falls into the water. Tanya bravely enters the cold water and rescues a kitten named Eagle. Kolya just stands and looks. The girl got angry with him and thought that he was a coward. They quarrel again. Kolya does not want to upset his father and asks Tanya not to miss the family dinner. Tanya says that she will never come to them again.

Tanya still went to her father for lunch. The girl was very angry and did not eat dumplings made by Kolya. The father is worried about his daughter. Tanya asks to give her dumplings for the dog. Going out onto the porch, she, crying, eats dumplings. The father sees everything. He wants to know what happened to her. For the first time he hugged her and sat her on his knees. Tanya was very pleased to lean against her father, she feels happy.

In a literature lesson, Kolya talks very well about the old woman Izergil. And he also said that he had seen Maxim Gorky. The guys were asked to tell about the meeting with the famous writer. Everyone was very interested, only Tanya did not seem to listen to Kolya, but looked out the window. Alexandra Ivanovna watched her best student with concern. When she asked the girl why she wasn't listening. Tanya lied, saying that Kolya was not interested in talking. The teacher asked to convey the request to her father to come to school, to which Tanya replied that her mother would come. The teacher does not understand what is wrong with the girl. She assumes that she has fallen in love. Tanya is transferred from Zhenya to the back desk, and Kolya takes her place. The first snow began to fall outside the window.

Filka is waiting for Tanya after school to go home together. Without waiting, he decides to track her down. Soon he notices that someone was following Tanya, as if catching up with her. These were Zhenya and Kolya. They, as it were, mocked Tanya, arranging this persecution. But the girl manages to escape from her pursuers by jumping over the fence. Kolya and Zhenya are quarreling. Filka finds Tanya in the grove, but does not approach her because the girl is crying. When he comes to her house, Tanya sits with her mother in the room. And they both cry. Filka didn't know how to help them and just left.

An unprecedented snowfall fell on the city. The whole city was covered with snow. At each big break, Tanya sculpted from the snow the figure of a sentry in a helmet. Everyone admired Tanya's art and the beauty of the sentry figure. Alexandra Ivanovna also liked the sentry Tanin. The teacher again notices the sad and absent-minded look of the girl. Filka generously treats his classmates with fir resin, and Zhenya frightens him with a small live mouse. A famous writer came to the school. Tanya escorts him to the director's office.

The writer arranges a creative meeting at school with members of the literary circle. The girls decided to give the writer a bouquet of flowers. The guys decide that Tanya will present flowers to the writer. She is happy about this assignment, because she will shake hands with the famous writer. Zhenya, jealous of Tanya, says hurtful words to her. Tanya accidentally pours ink on her hand. She decides to give the bouquet to Kolya, but changes her mind. The girl goes to the writer and asks him on stage not to stretch out his hand to shake it. And shows his soiled hand. She makes him laugh so much with her request that the writer holds the meeting in a great mood. And when Tanya hands him a bouquet, he thanks her and hugs her tightly. After the meeting, Kolya tells Tanya that he really wants to dance with her at the New Year's tree. Tanya invites him and Filka to celebrate the New Year at her home.

Tanya loved New Year's Eve very much. It was her holiday, her birthday. On the eve, she was preparing a treat for her guests. Mom never worked that night. Tanya brought a small fluffy fir from the grove and dressed it up. Guests came and started the gramophone. This year, her dad and Kolya will come to Tanya's holiday. And my mother also invited Nadezhda Petrovna. Guests are coming soon. Father and Nadezhda Petrovna give Tanya a little bead embroidered with beads and a torbasa. Kolya is late. Filka comes with all his family: mom, father and three younger brothers. The guests are dancing. Tanya's father treats everyone to oranges. Tanya is angry with Kolya, thinking that he is at Zhenya's party. She even runs to her house to verify her assumption. Returning home, she sees Kolya. He gives her an aquarium with a goldfish. But Tanya, angry, says that she will have to be fried, since she does not keep the fish behind the glass. Kolya, without showing offense, took the fish to the nurse in the kitchen. Tanya dances with her father, mother, even with Nadezhda Petrovna. Only Filka feels lonely: Tanya did not say a word to him for the whole evening. Then he informs her that tomorrow Kolya and Zhenya are going to the rink together. Tanya was very upset. Filke feels sorry for her and to make her laugh, he eats a candle. Tanya laughs, but notices tears in her friend's eyes.

The guests left after midnight. Tanya decides not to think about Kolya anymore. In the morning she woke up cheerful and happy. Tanya is light and happy at heart. For the first time she realizes that everything that happens to her is love. Tanya decides to go to the rink. After having breakfast and sharpening her skates, Tanya goes to the rink with the Tiger. For a long time she does not dare to go out on the ice, hiding from Kolya and Zhenya. But Kolya notices her. Then Tanya says that she and Filka are going to school for the play, and leaves. Near the school she meets children who inform her about the cancellation of the performance due to the coming storm. Tanya volunteers to help the teacher take the children home. She goes to the skating rink to warn Kolya and Zhenya about the storm. But Kolya has twisted his leg and cannot walk fast. Zhenya quarrels with them and runs away from the rink alone. Tanya runs to Filka for a dog sled. On the sleds, she tries to take Kolya home, but cannot cope with the sled dogs. Filka, meanwhile, runs to the border guards for help. The storm began. The dogs stopped obeying Tanya. Protecting children from dogs, the Tiger dies. The guys are rescued by the timely arrival of Tanya's father with the border guards.

Tanya and Filka visit Kolya, who is sick after a storm. It became easier for Tanya to communicate with her father. The school holidays are over. An article was published in the regional newspaper, which describes the incident with the schoolchildren in the blizzard and Tanya is accused of an unreasonable act. Classmates avoid the girl, believing her to be guilty of Kolya's illness. Zhenya doesn't want to tell the truth.

Filka tries to console Tanya, but she runs away. She hides in the closet and cries from an unfair resentment. Filka collects clothes and textbooks from Tanya's floor. Kolya is quarreling with his classmates. Tanya is called to the director.

Tanya did not come to class. Alexandra Ivanovna is worried about her. Filka with Kolya are trying to find the girl. Deciding that she has gone out into the street, they look for her at the rink and in the grove. Back at school, they see Zhenya crying in the locker room. Meanwhile, having burst into tears, Tanya fell asleep in the closet. She has a strange dream. Classmates find Tanya sleeping, they no longer shy away from her. Kolya told them the truth that she saved him and did not leave one with a sore leg. They didn't wake her up.

Waking up late in the evening, Tanya goes home. She is afraid of talking to her mother and nanny, she is afraid of their condemnation. Mother was not yet at home. Tanya, having refused supper, lay down on the bed. When mom came, a serious conversation takes place between them. Mom is angry with Tanya for her mistrust of her. She explains to her daughter that the father, having fallen in love with another woman, had every right to be happy. Mom invites Tanya to leave the city. Tanya realizes that her mother still loves her father.

Zhenya and Tanya became friends. They talk about love and share memories. In the grove, Tanya meets Filka. They prepare for exams together. Tanya helps him a lot. Tanya is going on a date with Kolya. And Filka really doesn't like it. He spoils Tanya's most elegant dress, thinking that now that she does not have her favorite outfit, she will not go to Kolya on the cape. But Tanya, running away from Filka, promises him to go to the meeting anyway.

Early in the morning, when the city was still asleep, Tanya goes to the cape to see Kolya to meet the dawn. Kolya is already waiting for her. Tanya came to the meeting in her mother's medical gown, because she no longer has a beautiful dress. Kolya confesses to Tanya that he constantly thinks about her. Tanya informs him that she and her mother will leave soon. Kolya is upset. Tanya tells him that during this difficult year for her she thought a lot and finally understood everything. She has one desire for everyone to be happy - mom, dad, Nadezhda Petrovna, and especially he, Kolya. Kolya kisses Tanya. Their meeting is interrupted by their father and Filka. Filka brought Tanya's father to the cape to hunt pheasants. The four of them are returning home. Tanya asks her father for forgiveness for being angry with him.

Summer has come. Tanya goes to say goodbye to the river and the grove. On the river bank, where she loved to swim, she meets Filka. He is saddened by her departure. They say goodbye. Tanya thinks that childhood is over. Filka really wants to cry, but he holds back. Tanya leaves.

This is summary story Fraerman R.I. " Wild Dog Dingo, or The Tale of First Love "

Heartfelt reading for you!

Friends from childhood and classmates Tanya Sabaneeva and Filka rested in a children's camp in Siberia, and now they are returning home. The girl is greeted at home by an old dog Tiger and an old nanny (her mother is at work, and her father has not lived with them since Tanya was 8 months old). The girl dreams of the wild Australian dog Dingo, later the children will call her that because of her isolation from the team.

Filka shares her happiness with Tanya - his hunter father gave him huskies. The theme of paternity: Filka is proud of her father, Tanya informs a friend that her father lives on Maroseyka - the boy opens the map and searches for an island with that name for a long time, but does not find it and talks about it to Tanya, who runs away crying. Tanya hates her father and reacts aggressively to these conversations with Filka.

Once Tanya found a letter under her mother's pillow, in which the father informs about the move of his new family (wife Nadezhda Petrovna and her nephew Kolya - Tanya's father's adopted son) to their city. The girl is overwhelmed with a feeling of jealousy and hatred for those who stole her father from her. Mother is trying to tune Tanya positively towards her father.

On the morning when the father was supposed to arrive, the girl picked flowers and went to the port to meet him, but not finding him among those who arrived, she gives flowers to the sick boy on a stretcher (she still does not know that this is Kolya).

The study begins, Tanya tries to forget about everything, but she does not succeed. Filka is trying to cheer her up (he writes the word comrade on the board with b and explains this by the fact that this is a second person verb).

Tanya lies with her mother in the garden. She's good. For the first time she thought not only about herself, but also about her mother. At the gates, the colonel is the father. Heavy meeting (14 years later). Tanya addresses her father to "you".

Kolya gets into the same class as Tanya and sits down with Filka. Kolya found himself in a new, unfamiliar world for him. It is very difficult for him.

Tanya and Kolya are constantly quarreling, and on Tanya's initiative, there is a struggle for the attention of her father. Kolya is an intelligent, loving son, he treats Tanya with irony and derision.

Kolya talks about his meeting with Gorky in the Crimea. Tanya basically does not listen, this results in a conflict.

Zhenya (a classmate) decides that Tanya is in love with Kolya. Filka takes revenge on Zhenya and, instead of Velcro (resin), treats her to a mouse. The little mouse lies alone in the snow - Tanya warms him up.

A writer has arrived in the city. Children decide who will give him flowers, Tanya or Zhenya. They chose Tanya, she is proud of such an honor (“shake the hand of the famous writer”). Tanya unfolded the inkwell and doused her hand, Kolya noticed her. This scene demonstrates that relations between enemies have become warmer. Some time later, Kolya invited Tanya to dance with her on the tree.

New Year. Cooking. "Will he come?" Guests, but Kolya is not. “But quite recently, how many bitter and sweet feelings crowded in her heart at the mere thought of her father: What's wrong with her? She thinks about Kolya all the time. " Filka is deeply in love with Tanya, as he himself is in love with Tanya. Kolya gave her an aquarium with a goldfish, and Tanya asked to fry this fish.

Dancing. Intrigue: Filka informs Tanya that Kolya is going to the skating rink with Zhenya tomorrow, and Kolya says that they will go with Tanya to the school play tomorrow. Filka is jealous, but tries to hide it. Tanya goes to the skating rink, but hides her skates, as she meets Kolya with Zhenya. Tanya decides to forget Kolya and goes to school for the play. A storm begins abruptly. Tanya runs to the rink to warn the guys. Zhenya got scared and quickly went home. Kolya fell on his leg and cannot walk. Tanya runs to Filka's house, gets into a dog sled. She is fearless and determined. The dogs suddenly stopped obeying her, then the girl threw them at the mercy of her beloved Tiger (it was a very big sacrifice). Kolya and Tanya fell off the sled, but despite their fear, they continue to fight for their lives. The blizzard is getting stronger. Tanya, risking her life, pulls Kolya on the sled. Filka warned the border guards and they went in search of children, among them was their father.

Holidays. Tanya and Filka visit Kolya, who froze his cheeks and ears.

School. Rumors that Tanya wanted to destroy Kolya by dragging him to the rink. Everyone is against Tanya, except Filka. The question is raised about the exclusion of Tanya from the pioneers. The girl hides and cries in the pioneer room, then falls asleep. They found her. Everyone will learn the truth from Kolya.

Tanya wakes up and returns home. They talk with their mother about trust, about life. Tanya realizes that her mother still loves her father, her mother offers to leave.

Meeting with Filka, he learns that Tanya is going to meet Kolya at dawn. The film out of jealousy tells their father about it.

Forest. Kolya's explanation of love. Father comes. Tanya leaves. Farewell to Filka. Leaves. End.

Probably, many who are familiar with the work of I. A. Bunin paid attention to the fact that the finale of his works about love is not complete without a tragedy. Why does the writer present us with such a delightful feeling, only as a source of inevitable suffering? The contemporaries of the classic fought over this riddle, disputes on this matter do not subside to this day.

Literary critics reasonably believe that the tragedy and hopelessness of love in Bunin's work is largely due to his own biography.

Fate has more than once endowed Ivan Alekseevich with this great feeling, but pain and disappointment have always been the payment for moments of happiness and joy. So, working in the editorial office of the newspaper "Orlovsky Vestnik", Bunin fell in love with Varvara Pashchenko. But her parents did not allow her to marry the "poor poet." Bunin's legal marriage with Anna Tsakni was overshadowed by the death of his only son. Being married to Vera Muromtseva, he became interested in Galina Kuznetsova, and the lovers were forced to hide their relationship from Bunin's wife. Undoubtedly, all this left a certain imprint on the fate of the Bunin heroes. But I think that the answer to the question: why the author does not give them eternal love and happiness, is worth looking in the works themselves. So, the hero of the story "Swing" says in the words of Dante: "In her eyes is the beginning of love, and the end is in the mouth." With this phrase, Bunin asserts that love cannot last a lifetime, the end is always inevitable. And as soon as the platonic feelings of the Bunin heroes give way to physical pleasure, there comes a denouement. So, throughout the entire story "Natalie" the author tells about the mental suffering of the main characters Natalia Stankevich and Vitaly Meshchersky. Long-term separation and distance have no power over their love. But as soon as they become close, happiness comes to an end - Natalia dies of premature birth.

Many heroes of the "Dark Alley" cycle have to pay with death for the joy of love. In one of his letters, Bunin himself explained why the antithesis of love and death so often sounds in his work, and not only explained, but convincingly argued: “Don't you still know that love and death are inextricably linked. Every time I experienced a love catastrophe, and there were a lot of them, these love catastrophes in my life, or rather, almost every love of mine was a catastrophe, I was close to committing suicide. "

Death in Bunin's stories also acts as a punishment for violent love. So the Moroccan from the story "Lodging" was killed by a dog for trying to rape an orphan girl at an inn. The prince from the novel "Ballad" died from the claws of a wolf for striving to take possession of his son's young wife. It is symbolic that these heroes accept death from animals that are alien to emotional experiences. But even their animal nature does not tolerate violence.

The tragic finale of Bunin's works of love is inevitable if viewed from the perspective of Christian values. An enormous all-consuming love for the people cost Jesus Christ his life. It means that it is logical that the heroes of "Dark Alley" also pay for love, each his own price. In addition, they all enjoy the physical side of love, without God's or parental blessing, contrary to the laws of society and treading the path of sin.

Considering all of the above, it becomes clear why Ivan Alekseevich deprives his works of the "happy end". But this does not make them less interesting for the reader, because, perhaps, no one has yet succeeded in conveying the whole gamut, power and shades of human love so subtly, expressively and realistically.

Writing

There was, however, one problem that Bunin not only did not fear, but, on the contrary, with all his heart went to meet her. He was busy with her for a long time, he wrote in the full sense, as they would say now, recruited, and neither the war nor the revolution could shake him attached to her - we are talking about love.

Here, in an area full of unexpressed shades and ambiguities, his gift found a worthy application. He described love in all states - and in emigration even closer, more concentrated - he knew how to find it even where it is not yet there, while waiting, like that nurse on the train ("Sister"), who has "quiet and sinful icon-painting black eyes shine ”, and where she barely dawns and never comes true (“ The Old Port ”), and where the unrecognized port is languishing (“ Ida ”), and where meekly serves something infinitely alien to her (“ Gotami ”), turns into passion ("The Murderer") or, in amazement, does not reveal his past, subject to a destructive time ("In the Night Sea"). All this was grasped in new details that had not yet been given to anyone and became fresh, contemporary for any time.

Love in the image of Bunin amazes not only with the power of artistic depiction, but also with its subordination to some internal laws unknown to man. They rarely break through to the surface: most people do not experience their fatal impact until the end of their days. Such a depiction of love unexpectedly gives the sober, "merciless" talent of Bunin a romantic glow. The closeness of love and death, their conjugation was an obvious fact for Bunin, never questioned. However, the catastrophic nature of being, the fragility of human relations and of existence itself - all these favorite Bunin themes, after the gigantic social cataclysms that shook Russia, were filled with a new, formidable meaning. “Love is beautiful” and “love is doomed” - these concepts, having finally shifted, coincided, carrying in the depths, in the grain of each story, the personal grief of Bunin the emigrant.

He is looking for examples of a volcanic eruption of passion, tragically subjugating a person to his blind forces, and is ready to follow such plots without fear of breakdowns, rushing to other levels, which, under other circumstances, would not have been allowed by his strict taste, as, for example, in The Case of Yelagin's Cornet "(1925). An extraordinary strength and sincerity of feeling is characteristic of the heroes of Bunin's stories. Is Sunstroke (1925) retold of an ordinary adultery? “I give you my word of honor,” the woman says to the lieutenant, “that I am not at all what you might think of me. Nothing even similar to what happened has never happened to me, and there will never be any more. It was as if an eclipse had come over me ... Or, rather, we both got something like a sunstroke ... ”It is difficult to find a story that, in such a succinct form and with such power, would convey the drama of people who suddenly knew genuine, too happy love; so happy that the intimacy with this little woman lasted one more day (both know this), and the love that illuminated their entire gray life would immediately leave them, cease to be a "sunstroke." Over the years of loneliness, memories and slow, but, as it might seem then, for a long time surrounding him oblivion in Bunin's work, there was a concentration of attention on several "firstborn" problems - love, death, memory of Russia. However, the Russian language, the one that supported "in the days of grave doubts about the fate of the motherland" and Turgenev, remained with him and continued to be the best manifestation of his talent. In Bunin's speech, the art of description was preserved and continued to improve, the very one that Leo Tolstoy recognized when reading his early prose ("it is raining - and it is written so that Turgenev would not have written like that, and there is nothing to say about me"). And although Bunin did not hear this response, his "rains" and now continued to amaze the reader ...

Among the various topics that alternately occupied Bunin, at this time there was also some general striving. This began shortly after the first moment of irritation had passed and all the speeches, speeches and half-stories-half-articles were written, with which he responded to the events that brought him to other shores. Further, the more often, the more detailed the image of Russia, which he knew and now changed his mind, began to return to his short stories, the more noticeable was their closeness and attraction to each other. Sometimes these were whole series, consisting of stories-sketches, seemingly completed, and at the same time open, pointing somewhere further ("Rusak", "In the Garden", "Snowdrop", etc.), - like sketch sheets from the same album; sometimes something larger, like a ready-made fragment, some corner of a picture to be painted ("The Distant"), but one way or another this whole was more and more persistently asked for, indicated. Somewhere inside it, the Life of Arseniev (1927-1937), a huge canvas depicting old Russia, was already being prepared and came forward.

"Misunderstanding of happiness"

Among the works of Bunin there are stories in which the epic, romantic beginning is expanded - the whole life of the hero falls into the writer's field of vision ("The Chalice of Life"). Bunin is a fatalist, an irrationalist, his works are characterized by the pathos of tragedy and skepticism. Bunin's work echoes the concept of modernists about the tragedy of human passion. 1? Like the Symbolists, Bunin comes to the fore with an appeal to the eternal themes of love, death and nature. The cosmic flavor of the writer's works, the penetration of his images with the voices of the Universe brings his work closer to Buddhist ideas. Bunin's works synthesize all these concepts.

Bunin's concept of love is tragic. Moments of love, according to Bunin, become the pinnacle of a person's life. Only by falling in love, a person can truly feel another person, only feeling justifies the high demands on himself and his neighbor, only a lover is able to overcome his egoism. The state of love is not fruitless for Bunin's heroes, it uplifts souls. One example of an unusual interpretation of the theme of love is the story "Chang's Dreams". The story is written in the form of a dog's memories. The dog feels the inner devastation of the captain, his master. In the story, the image of "distant hardworking people" (Germans) appears. Based on a comparison with their lifestyle, the writer talks about the possible paths of human happiness:

1. Labor to live and multiply without knowing the fullness of life.

2. Endless love, which is hardly worth devoting yourself to, since there is always the possibility of betrayal.

3. The path of eternal thirst, search, in which, however, according to Bunin, there is also no happiness.

The plot of the story, as it were, opposes the mood of the hero. Through real facts, a dog-like memory is breaking through, when there was peace in my soul, when the captain and the dog were happy. The moments of happiness are highlighted. Chang carries with it the idea of ​​loyalty and gratitude. This, according to the writer, is the meaning of life that a person is looking for.

Bunin's love is most often sad and tragic. A person is not able to resist her, the arguments of reason are powerless before her, for there is nothing like love in strength and beauty. The writer surprisingly accurately defines love, comparing it to sunstroke. This is the name of the story about the unexpected, impetuous, "crazy" romance of the lieutenant with a woman accidentally met on the ship, who leaves neither her name nor address. The woman leaves, having said goodbye forever to the lieutenant, who at first perceives this story as an accidental, non-binding affair, a lovely road "incident. Only over time does he begin to feel" irresolvable torment ", experiencing a feeling of bereavement. He tries to fight his state, he performs some actions, perfectly aware of their absurdity and uselessness. He is ready to die only in order to miraculously return her, to spend one more day with her.

At the end of the story, the lieutenant, sitting under a canopy on the deck, feels ten years older. Bunin's wonderful story expresses with great force the uniqueness and beauty of love, which a person often does not suspect. Love is a sunstroke, the greatest shock that can radically change a person's life, make him either the happiest or the most unhappy.

Bunin's work is characterized by an interest in ordinary life, the ability to reveal the tragedy of life, the richness of the narrative in details. Bunin is considered to be the successor of Chekhov's realism. Bunin's realism differs from Chekhov's in its extreme sensitivity. Like Chekhov, Bunin turns to eternal themes. For Bunin, nature is important, however, in his opinion, human memory is the supreme judge of man. It is memory that protects Bunin's heroes from inexorable time, from death.

Favorite heroes of Bunin are endowed with an innate sense of the beauty of the earth, an unconscious desire for harmony with the outside world and with oneself. Such is the dying Averky from the story "The Thin Grass". Having worked as a farm laborer all his life, having endured a lot of torment, grief and anxiety, this peasant has not lost his kindness, the ability to perceive the charm of nature, a sense of the high meaning of life. Aver-kiy's memory constantly returns to those “distant twilight on the river”, when he was destined to meet “that young, sweet one who now looked at him with indifference and compassion with senile eyes”. A short, playful conversation with a girl, filled with deep meaning for them, did not manage to erase from memory either the years lived or the tests they had endured.

Love is the most beautiful and light that the hero had during his long, arduous life. But thinking about this, Averky recalls both the “soft dusk in the meadow” and the shallow creek, turning pink from dawn, against the background of which the girl's camp is barely visible, surprisingly in harmony with the beauty of the starry night. Nature, as it were, participates in the life of the hero, accompanying him in both joy and sorrow. Distant twilight on the river at the very beginning of life is replaced by autumn melancholy, the expectation of imminent death. The picture of withering nature is close to the state of Averky. “Dying, the grasses dried up and rotted. The threshing floor became empty and bare. A mill in a homeless field became visible through the vines. The rain was sometimes replaced by snow, the wind hummed evil and cold in the holes of the barn ”.

In October 1939, Bunin settled in Grasse at the Villa Jeannette, lived here throughout the war. Here he wrote the book "Dark Alleys" - stories about love, as he himself said, "about its" dark "and most often very gloomy and cruel alleys." This book, according to Bunin, "speaks about the tragic and about many tender and beautiful things - I think that this is the best and most original thing that I have written in my life."

Bunin went his own way, did not adhere to any fashionable literary trends or groups, in his words, "did not throw out any banners" and did not proclaim any slogans. Critics noted the powerful language of Bunin, his art of raising "everyday phenomena of life" into the world of poetry. There were no "low" topics unworthy of the poet's attention for him.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin died on the night of November 8, 1953 in the arms of his wife in dire poverty. In his memoirs, Bunin wrote: “I was born too late. Had I been born earlier, this would not have been my writer's memories. I wouldn't have to survive ... 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 ... "

Bunin was buried at the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery near Paris, in a crypt, in a zinc coffin.

You are a thought, you are a dream. Through a smoky blizzard
Crosses are running - outstretched arms.
I listen to a brooding spruce -
Singing ringing ... Everything is just a thought and sounds!
What lies in the grave, are you?
Parting, sadness was marked
Your hard way. Now they are gone.
Crosses store only ashes.
Now you are a thought. You are eternal.