Ivan Bunin: Writer▓s heritage

Date: 21.07.2006 Source: Magazin "/" #33 Author: Natalia Malysheva

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The literary heritage of Ivan Bunin (1870√1953) is extremely large. On January 26, 1920, on board of a French steamship, Bunin left Russia, never to return. Among numerous editions of his works, those published during his emi╜gration are most interesting.

Bunin I. Book of poems ⌠Leaf Fall■. Moscow, 1901. Awarded Pushkin▓s Prize of the Academy of Sciences [zoom (56k)]

The first years of emigration were, so to say, ⌠happy■ for Bunin-writer: his books were often published in Paris, Berlin, Prague. As we know, Paris and Berlin became capitals of Russian emigration; there the book culture of Russian emigrants reached the peak of its development. But there was a paradox: in Paris, there were very many Russian periodicals, but very few Russian publishing houses. Ivan Bunin wrote a caricature poem about it:

A writer▓s flying to a writer,
Shouting to him:
How can we get to know
Where we can publish?

Writers-Parisians published their works in numerous Berlin publishing houses. Publishing house ⌠Slovo■, founded in 1919 by Iosif Hessen, played an important role in the creative life of Bunin: in 1921 it published his first book issued in emigration ≈ collection of stories ⌠Cry■.

Facsimile of I. Bunin▓s autograph on the flyleaf of ⌠Cry■ [zoom (62k)]

In 1923 ⌠Secret Bulletin of the ⌠Committee for Censorship■■ was issued, which in its section ⌠Reviews of New Foreign Books■ allowed or prohibited the import to Soviet Russia of books published by emigrants. Bunin▓s book ⌠Cry■ was labelled ⌠prohibited■, too. There were several reasons for this. First, the ⌠black list■ included publishing house ⌠Slovo■ and its head Iosif Hessen, former member of the State Duma. Second, Soviet censors considered it to be ⌠a pretentious collection of naturalistic stories, trying to find grounds for the revolution catastrophe in the natural cruelty of Russian people■. Third, the censors did not like Bunin▓s inscription, which was reprinted on the flyleaf of the book: ⌠This book was crea╜ted in other, happy days, in those days when not only Motherland, but the whole world was closer and dearer, full of hopes, energy, ideas, plans, in the days of incessant wanderings and insa╜tiable perception. I gave much of my heart to Russia then, being vaguely anxious for its destiny. How they were amazed and angry about my ⌠black■, ⌠cruel■, ⌠improbable■ colours and did not want to see bright and kind ≈ everybody remembers┘ Alas, there is no need to justify myself now. Paris. January 17/30, 1921. I. Bunin■.

Later his works written in emi╜gration were called ⌠defini╜tely hostile■. For many years, Ivan Bunin lost his Russian readers. Al╜though some early poems and stories somehow appeared in anthologies, mentioning the name of ⌠Whi╜te emigrant■ Bunin was not, to choose our words carefully, encouraged: in 1943 writer V. Shalamov got a second penal only be╜cause he called Bunin ⌠a great Russian writer■. Only in the USSR, a modest fi╜ve-volume set of works of Bu╜nin was published; it included, except for a few short stories, his pre-emigra╜tion works. Already in Russia, in the 1910s, Bunin tran╜slated Byron and ⌠The Song of Hiawatha■ by Long╜fellow. In the 1920s, new editions of these works were published in Berlin and Paris. During his life in Fran╜ce, Ivan Bunin wrote 10 books of prose, among them ⌠The Life of Arsenyev■ (1927√1933), a significant auto╜biographical novel. The novel gained Bunin world acknowledgement ≈ the 1933 Nobel Prize in Literature ≈ ⌠for true artistic talent, with which he created a typical Russian character in fiction■. After that many Bunin▓s works were published again; in Berlin, an eleven-volume edition of his works was published in 1000 copies (1934√1936). The award of the Nobel Prize to a Russian writer was a victory of the whole Russian emigration, which proved that history put on the shoulders of the emigrants a sacred mission ≈ the preservation of Russian culture.