Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was born on October 22 (October 10, old style) 1870 in Voronezh into a noble family. The future writer spent his childhood on the Butyrki farm in Yelets district, Oryol province.
In 1881, Ivan Bunin entered the Yelets Gymnasium, but studied for only five years, since the family had no funds. His older brother Julius (1857-1921) helped him master the gymnasium curriculum.
Bunin wrote his first poem at the age of eight.
His first publication was the poem “Over the Grave of Nadson”, published in the Rodina newspaper in February 1887. During the year, several poems by Bunin appeared in the same publication, as well as the stories “Two Wanderers” and “Nefedka”.
In September 1888, Bunin's poems appeared in Books of the Week, where works by writers Leo Tolstoy and Yakov Polonsky were published.
In the spring of 1889 it began independent life writer - Bunin, following his brother Julius, moved to Kharkov. In the fall, he began working for the Orlovsky Vestnik newspaper.
In 1891, his student book “Poems. 1887-1891” was published in the Oryol Bulletin supplement. At the same time, Ivan Bunin met Varvara Pashchenko, a newspaper proofreader, with whom they began to live in a civil marriage, without getting married, since Varvara’s parents were against this marriage.
In 1892 they moved to Poltava, where brother Yuliy was in charge of the statistical bureau of the provincial zemstvo. Ivan Bunin entered the service as a librarian of the zemstvo government, and then as a statistician in the provincial government. IN different time worked as a proofreader, statistician, librarian, and newspaper reporter.
In April 1894, Bunin's first prose work appeared in print - the story "Village Sketch" (the title was chosen by the publishing house).
In January 1895, after his wife’s betrayal, Bunin left his service and moved first to St. Petersburg and then to Moscow. In 1898, he married Anna Tsakni, a Greek woman, the daughter of the revolutionary and emigrant Nikolai Tsakni. In 1900, the couple separated, and in 1905 their son Nikolai died.
In Moscow, the young writer met many famous poets and writers - Anton Chekhov, Valery Bryusov. After meeting Nikolai Teleshov, Bunin became a participant literary circle"Wednesday". In the spring of 1899 in Yalta, he met Maxim Gorky, who later invited him to collaborate with the publishing house "Znanie". Literary fame came to Ivan Bunin in 1900 after the publication of the story " Antonov apples".
In 1901, the Symbolist publishing house "Scorpion" published a collection of poems, "Falling Leaves." For this collection and for the translation of the poem American poet- Henry Longfellow's romance "The Song of Hiawatha" (1896) was awarded to Ivan Bunin by the Russian Academy of Sciences Pushkin Prize.
In 1902, the publishing house "Znanie" published the first volume of the writer's works.
In 1906, Bunin met Vera Muromtseva, who came from a noble, professorial Moscow family, and became his wife. The Bunin couple traveled a lot. In 1907, the young couple went on a trip to the countries of the East - Syria, Egypt, Palestine. In 1910 they visited Europe and then to Egypt and Ceylon. From the autumn of 1912 to the spring of 1913 they were in Turkey and Romania, from 1913 to 1914 - in Capri in Italy.
In the fall of 1909, the Academy of Sciences awarded Bunin the second Pushkin Prize and elected him an honorary academician in the category of fine literature.
In the works written after the first Russian revolution of 1905, the theme of the drama of Russian historical fate became dominant. The stories "Village" (1910) and "Sukhodol" (1912) were a great success among readers.
In 1915-1916, collections of the writer’s stories “The Cup of Life” and “The Mister from San Francisco” were published. In the prose of these years, the writer’s understanding of the tragedy of the life of the world, of doom and fratricidal character expands. modern civilization.
Ivan Bunin was extremely hostile to the February and October revolutions of 1917 and perceived them as a disaster. The book of journalism “Cursed Days” (1918) became a diary of events in the life of the country and the thoughts of the writer at this time.
On May 21, 1918, he left Moscow for Odessa, and in February 1920 he emigrated first to the Balkans and then to France. In France, at first he lived in Paris, but in the summer of 1923 he moved to the Alpes-Maritimes and came to Paris only for some winter months.
Here he turned to intimate, lyrical memories of his youth. The novel "The Life of Arsenyev" (1930) seemed to close the cycle of artistic autobiographies related to the life of a Russian landed nobility. One of the central places in late creativity Bunin was occupied with the theme of fatal love-passion, expressed in the works “Mitya’s Love” (1925), “ Sunstroke"(1927), the cycle of short stories "Dark Alleys" (1943).
In 1927-1930, Bunin turned to the genre short story(“Elephant”, “Calf’s Head”, “Roosters”, etc.).
In 1933 he became the first Russian writer to be awarded Nobel Prize in literature "for the truthful artistic talent with which he recreated in artistic prose typical Russian character."
In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), the Bunins settled in the south of France, in Grasse, at the Villa Jeannette, and in 1945 they returned to Paris.
IN last years life, the writer stopped publishing his works. While ill a lot and seriously, he wrote “Memoirs” (1950) and worked on the book “About Chekhov,” which was published posthumously in 1955 in New York.
In his “Literary Testament,” he asked to publish his works only in the latest author’s edition, which formed the basis of his 12-volume collected works, published by the Berlin publishing house “Petropolis” in 1934-1939.
On November 8, 1953, Ivan Bunin died in Paris. He was buried in the Russian cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois.
His wife Vera Muromtseva (1881-1961) left literary memories of the writer “The Life of Bunin” and “Conversations with Memory”.
In 1988, the Literary and Memorial Museum of I.A. Bunin was opened in Yelets; in 1991, the Ivan Bunin Literary and Memorial Museum was created in Orel.
In 2004, the annual literary Bunin Prize was established in Russia.
In 2006, a presentation of the first complete 15-volume collected works of Ivan Bunin in Russian took place in Paris, including three volumes of his correspondence and diaries, as well as the diaries of his wife Vera Muromtseva-Bunina and the writer’s friend Galina Kuznetsova.
He begins his literary activity as a poet. In articles written in his youth, he imitates Pushkin and Lermontov.
In 1891, the first book of poems was published, in 1897 – the first collection “To the End of the World”, and in 1901 – another collection of poems “Falling Leaves”.
Intimate and landscape lyrics form the basis of the work of the Russian poet of the 90s - 1900s.
Landscape lyrics reflect the author's life philosophy. It is nature that serves as the source creative ideas artist. Therefore, the lyrics of this period are characterized by the motif of the frailty of human existence, as opposed to the eternity and incorruptibility of nature.
TO lyrical works The poem “Forest Road” can be attributed to this period.
The image of the Motherland is key in the poetry of I.A. Bunin. It is found in discreet pictures of nature, permeated with a poignant feeling of love. For example, the poem “Spring”.
The poet's lyricism is characterized by restraint in the expression of feelings, a variety of described moods and an almost complete absence of artistic tropes.
The range of lyrics is quite wide, but the fame of I.A. Prose brought Bunin.
Main topics early stories The writer began to depict the peasantry and the ruined nobility.
In his stories, such as “New Road”, “Pine”, the author writes about the fading harmony of the patriarchal way of life, about the gradual withering away of the class.
The devastation and ruin of noble nests causes sadness. The author's sadness is conveyed especially vividly in the story “Antonov Apples” (1900).
The writer avoids acute plot events. For early creativity Bunin is characterized by smooth narration, sometimes even slowness. The texts are filled with complex associations and figurative connections. Of particular importance is artistic detail which can tell about psychological state character, beauty and complexity of life.
The revolution of 1905 left its mark on the work of the writer and poet. According to I.A. Bunin, the Russian peasant was divided into two types - the humble and the rebel. He will write about the confrontation between these types of people in his works “Village”, “Sukhodol”, “Thin Grass”.
1914 - 1916 is the time of the final formation of style and worldview in the writer’s work. During this period, a person is a part of something eternal, which is included by the writer in the Cosmos, but at the same time, everyday connections are not lost, so a person is forced to fight for elusive and fragile happiness.
This dialectic is characteristic of Bunin’s works of this period. A well-known example reflecting these thoughts was the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco.” The writer, through the image of the main character, showed the depravity and sinfulness of modern civilization, which has lost its spirituality.
The writer's foreign prose is filled with a feeling of sadness and homesickness.
In exile I.A. Bunin is working on the collection “Dark Alleys,” where he conveys love as the embodiment of the unity of spiritual and physical principles.
Bunin, as a poet, was engaged in poetry until the end of his days. Mine creative path he graduated, writing shortly before his death last poem"Night".
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was born on October 10, 1870 in Voronezh. His father was ruined because of his passion for gambling and alcohol participant Crimean War. The mother also came from an ancient princely family and wrote poetry. When Ivan was only 3 years old, his family moved from Voronezh to Yeletsky district.
In 1881, Ivan entered the Yeletsk gymnasium. After 5 years, he was expelled from there because he did not return on time after the holidays. At that time, for a nobleman not to receive even a high school education was a disgrace. But Bunin’s whole life consisted of various troubles, an unsettled life and wanderings.
Bunin continued to learn to read and write from his older brother Yuli, who was a publicist. In 1889 he moved to Kharkov with him. In the same year, Bunin got a job at Orlovsky Vestnik. There he meets the proofreader Varvara Pashchenko, who became the object of his adoration for a long time.
Ivan began writing his first poems at the age of eight, mainly trying to imitate the work of the famous Russian poets Pushkin and Lermontov. For the first time his poem “Over the Grave of Nadson” was published in the capital’s newspaper “Rodina” in 1887. The poet's first book was published in the early 90s of the 19th century, but it turned out to be quite unsuccessful.
Also in the 90s, Bunin had a period of fascination with the ideas of Leo Tolstoy. He made a special visit to Tolstoyan colonies in Ukraine. There was even a moment when he wanted to quit literature and take up the cooper's craft (the so-called handicraft craft associated primarily with the manufacture of barrels, buckets and other similar wood products). Oddly enough, Bunin was dissuaded from this decision by Lev Nikolaevich himself, whom he met in Moscow.
However, the work of the great Russian writer still influenced prose works Bunin himself. Just like Tolstoy, they paid a lot of attention to the connection between man and nature and the philosophy of the Ancient East. At the same time, Bunin’s works were distinguished by greater brevity, which was borrowed from another Russian classic A.P. Chekhov.
Bunin met Chekhov himself in 1895. He gradually entered the society of writers of that time: the circle of Bryusov, Mikhailovsky, Balmont. At the beginning of the twentieth century, his lyrical collection “Falling Leaves” was published. However, the writer has a sharply negative attitude towards modernism; he gravitates more toward classical Russian literature and tries to follow its principles and ideals.
Also at the turn of the century, the writer’s books “To the End of the World and Other Stories” and the poetry collection “Under open air" In addition, Bunin studies English language and translates the American Longfellow’s poem “The Song of Hiawatha.” This work was appreciated very highly and soon the Russian Academy of Sciences awarded Bunin the Pushkin Prize.
In 1906, the writer met his future wife Muromtseva, who until her death remained the closest person to him, and after that Bunin’s publisher and biographer. A year later, he goes with her on a trip to the East. They visited Egypt, Syria and Palestine. Bunin recorded his impressions from his travels in his diaries and later they were compiled into his book “The Shadow of a Bird.”
Years of life: from 10.10.1980 to 08.11.1953
Russian poet, prose writer, translator. Since 1920 he lived in exile. Nobel Prize Laureate. I. Bunin is characterized by following the traditions of Russian classical literature and deep rejection October revolution.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was born in Voronezh. The impoverished landowners Bunins belonged to a noble family. In 1874, the Bunins decided to move from the city to the village to the Butyrki farm, in the Yeletsky district of the Oryol province, to the last estate of the family. His memories of childhood - from the age of seven, as Bunin wrote - are connected “with the field, with peasant huts” and their inhabitants. In his eleventh year he entered the Yelets Gymnasium. In the gymnasium he began to write poetry, imitating Lermontov. Bunin studied at the gymnasium for 4 years, further education received houses under the guidance of brother Yuri. In the autumn of 1889, he began working at the editorial office of the newspaper Orlovsky Vestnik. In 1890, his father finally went bankrupt (he had a weakness for cards and alcohol), and sold his estate in Ozerki. In the editorial office, Bunin met his first common-law wife (the girl’s parents were against marriage) - V.V. Pashchenko. At the end of August 1892, Bunin and Pashchenko moved to Poltava, where Bunin worked as a librarian of the zemstvo government, and then as a statistician in the provincial government. Bunin's poems and prose began to appear in "thick" magazines - "Bulletin of Europe", "World of God", " Russian wealth" - and attracted the attention of critics. In 1893-1894, Bunin, being a passionate admirer of L. Tolstoy, visited Tolstoyan colonies and met with Lev Nikolaevich himself. Bunin refused to further follow the path of “simplification,” but the artistic power of Tolstoy the prose writer forever remained an unconditional reference point for Bunin, as did the work of A.P. Chekhov. In 1895, Bunin’s common-law wife married his friend. Bunin left his service in Poltava and went to St. Petersburg, and then to Moscow. There he enters literary circles and meets almost everyone famous writers and poets. In 1897, the book “To the End of the World” was published, which brought the writer fame in the literary community. In 1998 in Odessa, Bunin married A. N. Tsakni, but the marriage was unhappy and short, they separated in 1900. Their son Kolya died on January 16, 1905. In 1899, Bunin visited Yalta, met with Chekhov, and met Gorky. Later, Gorky invited Bunin to collaborate with the publishing house "Znanie" and, despite the ideological dissimilarity of the writers, this cooperation continued until 1917. 
At the beginning of 1901, a collection of poems, “Falling Leaves,” was published, which received numerous positive reviews from critics. "Falling Leaves" and Longfellow's translation of "The Song of Hiawatha" were awarded the Pushkin Prize Russian Academy Sci. In 1902, a collection of Bunin's works began to be published by Gorky's publishing house "Znanie". At this time the writer traveled a lot. In 1906, Bunin met V.N. Muromtseva, who became his common-law wife and then his legal wife (in 1922). In 1909, Bunin was elected an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences. The story “The Village,” published in 1910, caused great controversy and was the beginning of Bunin’s enormous popularity. “The Village,” the first major work, was followed by other stories and short stories published in collections: “Sukhodol,” “John the Sower,” “The Cup of Life,” “The Gentleman from San Francisco.” I. Bunin reacted sharply negatively to the revolution and After living in Moscow for the winter of 1917-1918, Bunin and Vera Nikolaevna left first for Kyiv, then for Odessa. After long wanderings in 1920, the writer and his wife sailed to Constantinople, then to Paris. Bunin lived in France until his death. In the 20s and 30s the books “Rose of Jericho”, “Mitya’s Love”, collections of stories “Sunstroke” and “Tree of God” were published. And in 1930, the autobiographical novel “The Life of Arsenyev” was published. emigrant period Bunin is actively involved in the life of Russian Paris: he has headed the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists since 1920, makes appeals and appeals, runs a regular political and literary column in the newspaper "Vozrozhdenie" in 1925-1927, and creates a kind of literary academy in Grasse. 
At this time, quite a lot began in Bunin's life. strange story. In 1927, Bunin met the Russian poetess G. Kuznetsova. Bunin was fascinated by the young woman, she, in turn, was delighted with him, their romance received wide publicity. However, Ivan Alekseevich managed to convince his wife that his relationship with Galina was purely platonic. It is unknown what motives motivated the writer’s wife, but Kuznetsova was invited to live with the Bunins and become “a member of the family.” For almost fifteen years, Kuznetsova shared shelter with Bunin, playing the role adopted daughter. In 1942, Kuznetsova left Bunin, carried away opera singer Margot Stepun, which inflicted a deep emotional wound on the writer. In 1933, Bunin was awarded the Nobel Prize, as he believed, primarily for “The Life of Arsenyev.” When Bunin came to Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize, people in Sweden already recognized him by sight. The Russian emigration rejoiced, and in the USSR it was officially announced that awarding the prize to Bunin was “the machinations of imperialism.” From 1934 to 1936, Bunin's collected works were published in Germany. In October 1939, Bunin settled in the town of Grasse and lived here throughout the war. Here he wrote the book "Dark Alleys". Under the Germans, Bunin did not publish anything (“Dark Alleys” was published in the USA), although he lived in great poverty and hunger. He treated the fascist regime with hatred, rejoiced at the victories of the Soviet and allied forces. The book "Dark Alleys" caused mixed reactions. The writer, who considered the book the pinnacle of his creativity, was almost accused of pornography. After the war, Bunin expressed a desire to return to the USSR, which alienated many Russian emigrants. However, after the famous decree on the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad” (1946), which also trampled M. Zoshchenko, Bunin forever abandoned the intention of returning to his homeland. In recent years, Bunin was sick a lot, and yet he wrote a book of memoirs and worked on the book “About Chekhov ", which he did not have time to finish. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin died on the night of November 8, 1953 in the arms of his wife in terrible poverty.
Regarding the October Revolution, Bunin wrote the following: “This spectacle was sheer horror for everyone who had not lost the image and likeness of God...”
The writer, lacking “practical ingenuity,” used the Nobel Prize extremely irrationally. Z. Shakhovskaya writes in her memoirs: “Having returned to France, Ivan Alekseevich... in addition to money, began to organize feasts, distribute “benefits” to emigrants, and donate funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invested the remaining amount in some “win-win business” and was left with nothing.”
The last entry in I. Bunin’s diary, dated May 2, 1953, reads: “This is still amazing to the point of tetanus! In some, very short time, I will be gone - and the affairs and fates of everything, everything will be unknown to me!”
I. Bunin became the first emigrant writer to be published in the USSR (already in the 50s). Although some of his works, for example the diary “Cursed Days,” were published only after perestroika.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (October 10, 1870, Voronezh - November 8, 1953, Paris) - Russian writer, poet, honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1909), the first Russian winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1933).
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin - the last Russian classic who captured Russia late XIX- beginning of the 20th century. “...One of the last rays of some wonderful Russian day,” wrote critic G. V. Adamovich about Bunin.
Ivan Bunin was born into an old noble family in Voronezh. Subsequently, the family moved to the Ozerki estate in the Oryol province (now Lipetsk region). Until the age of 11, he was raised at home, in 1881 he entered the Yeletsk district gymnasium, in 1886 he returned home and continued his education under the guidance of his older brother Julius. He engaged in self-education a lot, being fond of reading world and domestic literary classics. At the age of 17 he began to write poetry, and in 1887 he made his debut in print. In 1889 he moved to Oryol and went to work as a proofreader for the local newspaper Oryol Vestnik. By this time, he had a long relationship with an employee of this newspaper, Varvara Pashchenko, with whom, against the wishes of his relatives, he moved to Poltava (1892).
Collections “Poems” (Eagle, 1891), “Under the Open Air” (1898), “Leaf Fall” (1901).
1895 - personally met A.P. Chekhov, before that they corresponded. His acquaintances with Mirra Lokhvitskaya, K.D. Balmont, and V. Bryusov date back to the same time.
In the 1890s, he traveled on the steamship “Chaika” (“a bark with firewood”) along the Dnieper and visited the grave of Taras Shevchenko, whom he loved and later translated a lot. A few years later, he wrote the essay “At the Seagull,” which was published in the children’s illustrated magazine “Vskhody” (1898, No. 21, November 1).
On September 23, 1898, she married Anna Nikolaevna Tsakni, the daughter of a revolutionary populist, a wealthy Odessa Greek, Nikolai Petrovich Tsakni. The marriage did not last long, the only child died at the age of 5 (1905). Since 1906, Bunin has been cohabiting (the civil marriage was formalized in 1922) with Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva, the niece of S. A. Muromtsev, chairman State Duma Russian Empire 1st convocation.
In his lyrics, Bunin continued the classical traditions (collection “Falling Leaves,” 1901).
In stories and stories he showed (sometimes with a nostalgic mood) the impoverishment of noble estates (“Antonov Apples”, 1900), the cruel face of the village (“Village”, 1910, “Sukhodol”, 1911), the disastrous oblivion of the moral foundations of life (“Mr. -Francisco”, 1915), a sharp rejection of the October Revolution and the power of the Bolsheviks in the diary book “Cursed Days” (1918, published in 1925); V autobiographical novel“The Life of Arsenyev” (1930) - a recreation of the past of Russia, the writer’s childhood and youth; tragedy human existence in the story “Mitya’s Love”, 1924, a collection of short stories “ Dark alleys", 1943, as well as in other works, wonderful examples of Russian short prose.
Translated “The Song of Hiawatha” by the American poet G. Longfellow. It was first published in the newspaper "Orlovsky Vestnik" in 1896. At the end of the same year, the newspaper's printing house published "The Song of Hiawatha" a separate book.
In April-May 1907 he visited Palestine, Syria and Egypt.
Bunin was awarded the Pushkin Prize twice (1903, 1909). On November 1, 1909, he was elected an honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature. In the summer of 1918, Bunin moved from Bolshevik Moscow to Odessa, occupied by Austrian troops. As the Red Army approached the city in April 1919, he did not emigrate, but remained in Odessa.
He welcomed the capture of the city by the Volunteer Army in August 1919, personally thanked General A.I. Denikin, who arrived in Odessa on October 7, and actively collaborated with OSVAG during Armed Forces South of Russia. In February 1920, when the Bolsheviks approached, he left Russia. Emigrated to France. During these years, he kept a diary, “Cursed Days,” which was partially lost, and which amazed his contemporaries with the precision of his language and his passionate hatred of the Bolsheviks.
In exile, he was active in social and political activities: he gave lectures, collaborated with Russian political organizations of nationalist and monarchist orientations, and regularly published journalistic articles. In 1924, he issued a famous manifesto on the tasks of the Russian Abroad regarding Russia and Bolshevism: “Mission of Russian Emigration,” in which he assessed what happened to Russia and the Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin.
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933 for "the rigorous mastery with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose."
Second world war(from October 1939 to 1945) spent in the rented villa “Jeannette” in Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes department). Worked hard and fruitfully literary activity, becoming one of the main figures of the Russian Abroad. While in exile, Bunin wrote his best works, such as: “Mitya’s Love” (1924), “Sunstroke” (1925), “The Case of Cornet Elagin” (1925), and, finally, “The Life of Arsenyev” (1927-1929, 1933) and the cycle of stories “Dark Alleys” "(1938-40). These works became a new word both in Bunin’s work and in Russian literature in general. According to K. G. Paustovsky, “The Life of Arsenyev” is not only the pinnacle work of Russian literature, but also “one of the most remarkable phenomena of world literature.”
According to the Chekhov Publishing House, in the last months of his life Bunin worked on literary portrait A.P. Chekhov, the work remained unfinished (in the book: “Loopy Ears and Other Stories”, New York, 1953). He died in his sleep at two o'clock in the morning from November 7 to 8, 1953 in Paris. According to eyewitnesses, on the writer’s bed lay a volume of L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “Resurrection.” He was buried in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois cemetery in France.
In 1929-1954. Bunin's works were not published in the USSR. Since 1955, he has been the most published writer of the first wave of Russian emigration in the USSR (several collected works, many one-volume books). Some works (“Cursed Days”, etc.) were published in the USSR only with the beginning of perestroika.