Birth of the outstanding Russian writer, the first Russian Nobel Prize laureate in literature, Ivan Bunin

Russian writer Ivan Bunin, an outstanding Russian writer, recognized in emigration as "the last classic of Russian literature", the first Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate in Literature (1933), was born in Voronezh on October 10 (22), 1870 in the family of a representative of an ancient noble family, landowner Alexei Nikolaevich Bunin (1827-1906) and Lyudmila Alexandrovna Chubarova (about 1835-1910).

Bunin spent his early childhood on a small family estate on the Butyrki farm in Yelets district, Oryol province. From an early age, under the influence of his family, he became addicted to reading. In 1881–1886 he studied at the Yeletsk gymnasium, from which he was expelled for failing to show up for the Christmas holidays and for non-payment of tuition fees. He was educated at home under the guidance of his older brother Julius (1857–1921).

In 1887, he made his debut as a poet with the publication in the Rodina magazine of the poem “Over the Grave of Nadson” dedicated to the literary idol - the poet S. Ya. Nadson (1862–1887). In 1891, the first book of poems was published. With the publication of the collections “To the End of the World” (1897), “Under the Open Skies” (1898), “Poems and Stories” (1900), “Falling Leaves” (1901), Ivan Bunin gradually asserted his original place in the artistic life in Russia, starting to live through literary work. In 1903, the translation of G. Longfellow’s poem “The Song of Hiawatha” (1896) and the poetry collection “Falling Leaves” (1901) were awarded the Pushkin Prize of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1909 he was elected honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The early stories of I. A. Bunin, original “poems in prose”, full of poetic impressions, were highly appreciated by A. P. Chekhov (1860–1904), who had close friendly relations with I. A. Bunin.  

Ivan Bunin took a primary place in the literary life of Russia in the 1910s, when the stories “Village” (1910) and “Dry Valley” (1912), stories dedicated to the depiction and understanding of peasant Russia (“Ancient Man”) were published "(1911), "The Good Life" (1912), "Night Conversation" (1912), "The Cheerful Yard" (1912), etc.), as well as works that revealed the eternal themes of love and death, good and evil, the beauty of life and its cruelty: “Brothers” (1914), “The Gentleman from San Francisco” (1915), “Easy Breathing” (1916), “Chang’s Dreams” (1916), “Loopy Ears” (1917).

Bunin met the February and October revolutions of 1917 with hostility, as a tragedy of Russian national culture and the collapse of Russian civilization. In 1920 he emigrated to France. The painful thoughts about revolutionary events, set out on the pages of the diary that the writer kept in Moscow and Odessa from 1918 to 1920, were published in a separate book, “Cursed Days” (1926). The peaks of I. A. Bunin’s work during the period of emigration include the novel “The Life of Arseniev” (1930) and the cycle of stories “Dark Avenues” (1943). In 1933, I. A. Bunin was the first Russian writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature with the wording: “for the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose”. Bunin transferred part of the money from the prize (about 120 thousand francs) to those in need.

With the outbreak of World War II, Bunin and his wife, translator Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva (1881–1961), moved to the high-mountain villa “Jeanette” on the outskirts of Grasse, where they lived for six years and sheltered Jewish friends. Having no means of subsistence (the money for the prize was spent, and the writer rejected offers of work in publications published in the occupied territories), I. A. Bunin turned to the writer A. N. Tolstoy (1883–1945) with a request to assist in the matter on the provision of material assistance from Soviet publishing houses that republished his books. In 1943, in New York, the Novaya Zemlya publishing house published “Dark Avenues” in Russian, for which the writer received $300.

After the war, the couple returned to Paris. Bunin met with Soviet writers K. M. Simonov (1915–1979), I. G. Erenburg (1891–1967) and the USSR Ambassador to France A. E. Bogomolov, from whom he received an invitation to return to his homeland. However, the return did not take place due to the writer’s advanced age and his fear of being left alone in the USSR, “in the void”. In the last years of his life, Ivan Bunin received a monthly pension from the American philanthropist Frank Atran. Bunin died on November 8, 1953 in Paris from cardiac asthma and pulmonary sclerosis. He was buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.

In memory of Ivan Bunin, memorial museums have been opened in places associated with the life of the writer: a house-museum in Voronezh, where the writer was born; literary and memorial museums in Yelets (Lipetsk Region) and Orel, where he lived in his youth; house-museum in Efremov (Tula Region), in the house of the writer’s brother. Yelets State University is named after Ivan Bunin. Since 1995, the Bunin Lipetsk Regional Prize has been awarded for achievements in the field of literature and art.

Лит.: Козьменко М. В. Бунин Иван Алексеевич // Большая российская энциклопедия; Михайлов О. Н. Жизнь Бунина: лишь слову жизнь дана. М., 2001; Русские писатели и поэты. Краткий биографический словарь. М., 2000; Русская литература XX века. Прозаики, поэты, драматурги. Биобиблиографический словарь: в 3 т. Т. 1. М., 2005.

Based on the Presidential Library's materials:

Бунин Иван Алексеевич (1870-1953) // Россия в лицах: [цифровая коллекция]

И. А. Бунин // Русская литература: современные исследования: [цифровая коллекция]