Bunin Ivan Alekseevich and his women. Ivan Bunin - love triangle

Probably none of the classics wrote about love as much as Ivan Bunin– one of the most lyrical authors of Russian literature of the twentieth century. There were many dramatic love stories in his life that influenced his work. Three women became muses for the writer, inspiring in equal measure with their love and cruelty.

84 years ago, Ivan Bunin won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He owed this largely to his wife, Vera Muromtseva, who is called the ideal writer’s wife, who created all the conditions for her husband’s creative realization. However, at the award ceremony, not only she stood next to him, but also her young rival, poetess Galina Kuznetsova. For many years, Vera Bunina put up with her presence in their house, fully understanding the absurdity and drama of the situation. But she had her reasons.
Vera Nikolaevna Bunina (Muromtseva) Vera Muromtseva became the writer’s third wife. At that time he was 36 years old, she was 10 years younger. Calm, reasonable and balanced Vera was not like any of those women with whom Bunin was fond of before. Her restraint seemed cold and distant to many, but in fact it was dictated by her upbringing - Vera grew up in an aristocratic family and received a good education. According to her admission, she “never wanted to connect her life with a writer. At that time, almost all writers were told that they had eternal affairs and some had several wives.”
A writer whose inspiration was often personal dramas. They met in 1906, and the following year they went together on a trip to the countries of the East - Egypt, Syria and Palestine. From this trip their life together began, although they officially became husband and wife only in 1922. Their first years were happy and serene - Bunin wrote a lot, she was always nearby, while being able to be invisible.
Vera and Ivan Bunin Autumn and winter 1917-1918. The Bunins spent time in Moscow, where “a gun thundered past their windows along Povarskaya,” and in the spring they left for Odessa. The writer did not accept the revolutionary events, and six months later they went to Constantinople, and from there to Paris. Bunin told Vera Nikolaevna that “he cannot live in the new world, that he belongs to the old world, to the world of Goncharov, Tolstoy, Moscow, St. Petersburg; that poetry is only there, and in the new world he does not grasp it.” He never returned to his homeland again.
Vera and Ivan Bunin The Bunins settled in Grasse, in the south of France. Only here, after 16 years of marriage, did they finally get married. However, there was a noticeable cooling in their relationship. And in 1927, a drama broke out, which had catastrophic consequences for all its participants. Bunin met the poetess Galina Kuznetsova, who was 30 years younger than him, and fell madly in love. The girl reciprocated his feelings, left her husband and settled in the writer’s house. Bunin then told his wife: “Galya is my student. I will teach her to write poetry."
Galina Kuznetsova, 1934 and 1931 Vera Nikolaevna perfectly understood the relationship between her husband and Galina Kuznetsova. But she also knew that Bunin could not leave her alone and do without her silent participation, care and friendly support. Therefore, Vera acted as hardly any woman would have behaved in her situation: she hospitably welcomed her young rival into her home and began to live next to her under the same roof. This strange union lasted 7 years. In 1929, Vera Bunina wrote in her diary: “I suddenly realized that I had no right to stop Ian from loving whoever he wanted... If only this love would make his soul sweet.”
A writer whose source of inspiration was often personal dramas. In the emigrant community, this scandalous situation caused many rumors. Many accused Bunin of immorality and madness. Some reproached Vera Nikolaevna for allowing herself to be treated this way and for accepting this state of affairs. Few could understand her and admired her behavior. Thus, Marina Tsvetaeva wrote: “Vera endured and accepted. Everyone judges her, I admire her. Bunin couldn’t live without her, Vera, so she stayed: she acted like a mother...” The writer himself, when asked whether he loved his wife, answered: “Love Vera? It’s like loving your arm or leg.” But creativity required completely different feelings.
I. Bunin, G. Kuznetsova, V. Bunina, L. Zurov. Grasse, 1932 The atmosphere in the house was very unhealthy: everyone knew about everything, but observed external decency. And this lasted until Galina left the writer... for another woman. Opera singer Marga Stepun won her heart, and their relationship went so far that they decided to live together. And since they had neither money nor housing, they settled in the Bunins’ house. Since then, the life of all the inhabitants of this house has turned into a living hell. The love triangle has become a polygon. In addition, since 1929, emigrant writer Leonid Zurov lived in the Bunins’ house. He was unrequitedly in love with Vera Nikolaevna, but she perceived him as a son, which is why he repeatedly tried to commit suicide. Bunin went crazy with jealousy and was on the verge of insanity, but it was then that he created a wonderful series of stories “Dark Alleys”.
From left are Galina Kuznetsova, Ivan Bunin and Vera Muromtseva. On the right - Ivan Bunin, Marga Stepun, Leonid Zurov, Galina Kuznetsova (sitting) Marga and Galya left Grasse only in 1942. They spent the rest of their lives together in America and Europe. And Vera Nikolaevna still devotedly and tenderly cared for her aged husband. She remained with him until his death in 1953 and once wrote in her diary: “Ian said on the third day that he didn’t know how he would survive if I died before him...” And added: “Lord, how strange human soul". She outlived her husband by 8 years and never stopped loving him until his last days.
The film by A. Uchitel *The Diary of His Wife*, 2000 is dedicated to these events

The name of the writer Ivan Bunin is well known not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders. Thanks to his own works, the first Russian laureate in the field of literature earned world fame during his lifetime! To better understand what guided this person when creating his unique masterpieces, you should study the biography of Ivan Bunin and his view on many things in life.

Brief biographical sketches from early childhood

The future great writer was born back in 1870, on October 22. Voronezh became his homeland. Bunin's family was not rich: his father became an impoverished landowner, so from early childhood little Vanya experienced many material deprivations.

The biography of Ivan Bunin is very unusual, and this was evident from the very early period of his life. Even in his childhood, he was very proud of the fact that he was born into a noble family. At the same time, Vanya tried not to focus on material difficulties.

As the biography of Ivan Bunin testifies, in 1881 he entered first grade. Ivan Alekseevich began his schooling at the Yeletsk gymnasium. However, due to the difficult financial situation of his parents, he was forced to quit school in 1886 and continue to learn the basics of science at home. It is thanks to homeschooling that young Vanya gets acquainted with the works of such famous writers as Koltsov A.V. and Nikitin I.S.

Some of the beginnings of Bunin's career

Ivan Bunin began writing his very first poems at the age of 17. It was then that his creative debut took place, which turned out to be very successful. It is not for nothing that printed publications published the works of the young author. But it’s unlikely that their editors could have imagined then how stunning successes in the field of literature awaited Bunin in the future!

At the age of 19, Ivan Alekseevich moved to Orel and got a job at a newspaper with the eloquent name “Orlovskiy Vestnik”.

In 1903 and 1909, Ivan Bunin, whose biography is presented to the reader in the article, was awarded the Pushkin Prize. And on November 1, 1909, he was elected an honorary academician to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which specialized in refined literature.

Important events from your personal life

The personal life of Ivan Bunin is replete with many interesting points that should be paid attention to. In the life of the great writer there were 4 women for whom he had tender feelings. And each of them played a certain role in his fate! Let's pay attention to each of them:

1. Varvara Pashchenko - Ivan Alekseevich Bunin met her at the age of 19. This happened in the building of the editorial office of the Orlovsky Vestnik newspaper. But with Varvara, who was one year older than him, Ivan Alekseevich lived in a civil marriage. Difficulties in their relationship began due to the fact that Bunin simply could not provide her with the material standard of living that she was striving for. As a result of this, Varvara Pashchenko cheated on him with a wealthy landowner.
2. Anna Tsakni in 1898 became the legal wife of the famous Russian writer. He met her in Odessa while on vacation and was simply struck by her natural beauty. However, family life quickly cracked due to the fact that Anna Tsakni always dreamed of returning to her hometown - Odessa. Therefore, the entire life of Moscow was a burden for her, and she accused her husband of indifference to her and callousness.
3. Vera Muromtseva is the beloved woman of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, with whom he lived the longest - 46 years. They formalized their relationship only in 1922 - 16 years after they met. And Ivan Alekseevich met his future wife in 1906, during a literary evening. After the wedding, the writer and his wife moved to live in the southern part of France.
4. Galina Kuznetsova lived next to the writer’s wife, Vera Muromtseva, and was not at all embarrassed by this fact, just like Ivan Alekseevich’s wife herself. In total, she lived for 10 years in a French villa.

The writer's political views

The political views of many people had a significant influence on public opinion. Therefore, certain newspaper publications devoted a lot of time to them.

Even though Ivan Alekseevich had to mostly engage in his own creativity outside of Russia, he always loved his homeland and understood the meaning of the word “patriot.” However, belonging to any particular party was alien to Bunin. But in one of his interviews, the writer once said that the idea of ​​a social democratic system was closer to his spirit.

Personal life tragedy

In 1905, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin suffered a grave grief: his son Nikolai, whom Anna Tsakni gave birth to, died. This fact can definitely be attributed to the writer’s personal life tragedy. However, as follows from the biography, Ivan Bunin held firm, was able to endure the pain of loss and, despite such a sad event, give the whole world many literary “pearls”! What else is known about the life of the Russian classic?

Ivan Bunin: interesting facts from life

Bunin very much regretted that he graduated from only 4 classes of the gymnasium and could not receive a systematic education. But this fact did not at all prevent him from leaving a significant mark in the literary world.

Ivan Alekseevich had to stay in exile for a long period of time. And all this time he dreamed of returning to his homeland. Bunin cherished this dream virtually until his death, but it remained unfulfilled.

At the age of 17, when he wrote his first poem, Ivan Bunin tried to imitate his great predecessors - Pushkin and Lermontov. Perhaps their work had a great influence on the young writer and became an incentive to create his own works.

Nowadays, few people know that in early childhood the writer Ivan Bunin was poisoned by henbane. Then he was saved from certain death by his nanny, who gave little Vanya milk in time.

The writer tried to determine the appearance of a person by his limbs, as well as the back of his head.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was passionate about collecting various boxes and bottles. At the same time, he fiercely protected all his “exhibits” for many years!

These and other interesting facts characterize Bunin as an extraordinary personality, capable of not only realizing his talent in the field of literature, but also taking an active part in many fields of activity.

Famous collections and works of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin

The largest works that Ivan Bunin managed to write in his life were the stories “Mitina’s Love”, “Village”, “Sukhodol”, as well as the novel “The Life of Arsenyev”. It was for the novel that Ivan Alekseevich was awarded the Nobel Prize.

The collection of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin “Dark Alleys” is very interesting for the reader. It contains stories that touch on the theme of love. The writer worked on them from 1937 to 1945, that is, precisely when he was in exile.

Samples of Ivan Bunin’s creativity, which are included in the collection “Cursed Days,” are also highly appreciated. It describes the revolutionary events of 1917 and the entire historical aspect that they carried within them.

Popular poems by Ivan Alekseevich Bunin

In each of his poems, Bunin clearly expressed certain thoughts. For example, in the famous work “Childhood” the reader gets acquainted with the thoughts of a child regarding the world around him. A ten-year-old boy reflects on how majestic nature is around him and how small and insignificant he is in this universe.

In the poem “Night and Day,” the poet masterfully describes the different times of the day and emphasizes that everything gradually changes in human life, and only God remains eternal.

Nature is interestingly described in the work “Rafts,” as well as the hard work of those who every day transport people to the opposite bank of the river.

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize was awarded to Ivan Bunin for the novel “The Life of Arsenyev” he wrote, which actually told about the life of the writer himself. Despite the fact that this book was published in 1930, in it Ivan Alekseevich tried to “pour out his soul” and his feelings about certain life situations.

Officially, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Bunin on December 10, 1933 - that is, 3 years after the release of his famous novel. He received this honorary award from the hands of the Swedish king Gustav V himself.

It is noteworthy that for the first time in history, the Nobel Prize was awarded to a person who was officially in exile. Until this moment, not a single genius who became its owner had been in exile. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin became precisely this “pioneer”, whom the world literary community noted with such a valuable encouragement.

In total, the Nobel Prize laureates received 715,000 francs in cash. It would seem a very impressive amount. But it was quickly squandered by the writer Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, as he provided financial assistance to Russian emigrants, who bombarded him with many different letters.

Death of a Writer

Death came to Ivan Bunin quite unexpectedly. His heart stopped while he was sleeping, and this sad event happened on November 8, 1953. It was on this day that Ivan Alekseevich was in Paris and could not even imagine his imminent death.

Surely Bunin dreamed of living a long time and one day dying in his native land, among his loved ones and a large number of friends. But fate decreed somewhat differently, as a result of which the writer spent most of his life in exile. However, thanks to his unsurpassed creativity, he virtually ensured immortality for his name. The literary masterpieces written by Bunin will be remembered by many generations of people. A creative personality like him gains worldwide fame and becomes a historical reflection of the era in which she created!

Ivan Bunin was buried in one of the cemeteries in France (Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois). This is such a rich and interesting biography of Ivan Bunin. What is his role in world literature?

The role of Bunin in world literature

We can safely say that Ivan Bunin (1870-1953) left a noticeable mark on world literature. Thanks to such virtues as inventiveness and verbal sensitivity that the poet possessed, he was excellent at creating the most suitable literary images in his works.

By nature, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was a realist, but despite this, he skillfully supplemented his stories with something fascinating and unusual. The uniqueness of Ivan Alekseevich lay in the fact that he did not consider himself to be a member of any well-known literary group or “trend” that was fundamental in its views.

All of Bunin’s best stories were dedicated to Russia and told about everything that connected the writer with it. Perhaps it was precisely because of these facts that Ivan Alekseevich’s stories were very popular among Russian readers.

Unfortunately, Bunin's work has not been fully studied by our contemporaries. Scientific research into the writer's language and style is still to come. His influence on Russian literature of the 20th century has not yet been revealed, perhaps because, like Pushkin, Ivan Alekseevich is unique. There is a way out of this situation: turning again and again to Bunin’s texts, to documents, archives, and contemporaries’ memories of him.

October 22 marks the 145th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Bunin. On the birthday of one of the geniuses of Russian literature, we remember the women who, with their presence in his life, added bright colors to the writer’s work.

Varvara Pashchenko: office romance and wedding

Ivan Bunin met his first wife at the editorial office of the Orlovsky Vestnik newspaper. At age 19, he worked there as an assistant editor. It was within the walls of the publication that Bunin’s office romance with the proofreader Varvara Pashchenko began.

Varvara with Ivan Bunin's brother

Varya was a year older than her chosen one. The young man she conquered with her beauty, intelligence and seriousness. And also because she went against the will of her parents, who at first were against their daughter’s relationship with the poor writer.

Bunin's family life turned out to be not as beautiful as he might have imagined. The young writer was keen on the ideas of unselfishness and forgiveness that were popular at that time. And the beautiful Varya wanted to see a reliable, strong and rich man next to her. Therefore, after three years of marriage, the young wife disappeared from Bunin’s life, leaving only one note: “Vanya, goodbye. Don’t remember it badly.” Most likely, the poor writer could not give his wife the standard of living to which she aspired. Therefore, while in a relationship with Bunin, she met with a wealthy landowner, whom she later married.

The writer experienced the betrayal of his beloved very hard. His salvation was the work on one of the parts of the novel “The Life of Arsenyev,” which was often published separately under the title “Lika.”

Anna Tsakni: holiday romance and wedding

In 1898, Bunin moved to Odessa. And in this seaside city he met his new love - Anna Tsakni, the daughter of an Odessa publisher and editor. The writer called it “sunstroke.” The girl was very beautiful and quite spontaneous. She quickly accepted the writer's advances

The couple was often seen on the embankment. The dates usually ended on summer verandas of restaurants, where lovers ordered white wine and mullet.

And then there was the wedding. But family life did not work out in this case either - almost from the very beginning. The couple visited Europe and returned to Russia. Bunin planned to live in Moscow, but the Odessa beauty dreamed of returning to her hometown. What irritated her in her husband was his callousness, coldness and indifference. And Bunin reproached his young wife for her unwillingness to share his views.

Their life together ended a year after the wedding. Despite the fact that Anna was already expecting her first child, she left her husband and returned to Odessa. Their son Kolya died on January 16, 1905.The writer suffered madly when his wife left him. Even tried to commit suicide

Parting with Anna left Ivan Bunin's work sad track. His works of that time are filled with nostalgia and philosophical reflections.

Vera Muromtseva: life together for 46 years

The writer’s third muse was Vera Muromtseva, the niece of the Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Empire. They met in 1906 at a literary evening. Vera was a very educated girl who loved creativity, so Bunin attracted her attention.

The couple officially formalized their relationship only in 1922. Bunin and his third wife moved to the south of France. That period turned out to be very fruitful in his work. So much so that in 1933 the writer was awarded the Nobel Prize.

Two women stood next to him. Modest, smiling Vera Muromtseva and young beauty Galina Kuznetsova. Rumors spread throughout the hall. All three lived in the same house, like one family.

Vera Muromtseva spent 46 years with her husband. She called the writer Ian, completely dissolved in him and, like a loving person, forgave a lot. Including, unfortunately, infatuation with other women.

Galina Kuznetsova: the writer’s last love

In 1926, Russian emigrants living in the south of France were shocked by the fact that another beloved writer, writer Galina Kuznetsova, lived in the same villa with Ivan Bunin and his wife Vera.

Galina knew that she had made an impression on Bunin. A woman always feels this. As if on wings, she returned home to Paris with her husband, lawyer, white officer Dmitry Petrov. She married him early, at eighteen, wanting to escape from her parents' scandals, poverty, and the dusty streets of Kyiv.

Her husband gave Galina eight years of a well-fed, prosperous, albeit emigrant, life in Europe, helped her receive a literary education and begin publishing in magazines. And now he was presented with a fact: she loves someone else and leaves for him. After a family scandal, Galina packed her things and rented a small apartment in Passy.

For some time, she found flowers, envelopes with money and notes from her loving husband on the doorstep, who begged her to come to her senses and return to her family. But how can she return when her heart has finally learned what love is? Galina felt like the heroine of a novel, who had to go through and experience so much.

An unhappy childhood, marriage, revolution, farewell to her homeland and wandering in exile, literary successes and poisonous arrows from critics, a dizzying romance, a break with her husband and a reunion with her beloved... Every day, every minute, the young woman waited for Bunin’s arrival. She waited at the station, she waited in a cafe, on a bench in the Bois de Boulogne, in their small apartment, in a theater box, in the foyer of a concert hall. It all seemed so romantic to her, so sublime!

However, Bunin was not such a romantic. He rushed between Paris and Grasse, between two houses, between his mistress and his wife. Of course, he loved Galina with all his heart, but it never occurred to him to divorce Vera - so sweet, so cozy, so caring. And Vera Nikolaevna languished in uncertainty. Of course, she knew, she felt that her husband had someone else.

But Vera, she loved her Vanya so much, his talent, his smart eyes, that out of fear of losing her husband she chose to resign herself and wait it out: sooner or later he would get tired of traveling and return to the family. And so it happened. Only Vera Nikolaevna was not entirely happy about this.

Bunin was tired of living in two houses. Galina did not know how to cook, but Vera spoiled him with delicious home-cooked food every day. Galina needed going out and new toilets, but Vera was domestic and undemanding. Ivan Alekseevich found a smart and elegant solution, as it seemed to him. He brought Galina to Grasse, to Vera Nikolaevna’s villa, presenting his wife with a fact: Galina would live in their house as his personal secretary, student and adopted daughter.

Poor Vera almost had a stroke. But I had to swallow that too. What could she do? She would not have survived alone in emigration, either financially or psychologically. Wanting to whitewash her husband in front of her gossiping acquaintances and, most importantly, in front of herself, she came up with the following excuse: in Galina, Ivan Alekseevich sees only the daughter whom she could not give him.

The young beauty simply replaced the aging writer’s child and helped heal the deep emotional wound from the loss of five-year-old Kolenka, Bunin’s son, who burned out from scarlet fever in a week. “Let him love Galina... if only this love makes his soul sweet,” Vera Nikolaevna wrote in her diary.

Galina lived in Ivan Bunin’s villa for almost 10 years. And if at first she was a joy-bringing muse writer, then became a source of grief and sadness. It turned out that the writer’s young passion fell in love with the sister of the philosopher Fyodor Stepun, Margoy.

Ivan Bunin is standing,MargoyStepun, Leonid Zurov, Galina Kuznetsova sitting)

Over time, the “triangle” turned into a “square”. The writer Leonid Zurov settled in the villa, whom Vera began to closely patronize. Guardianship resulted in Zurov's devoted love for Vera, which Bunin, of course, knew about. The situation in the house became tense. “I don’t know how to behave so that there are good relationships in the house,” Galina writes in her diary.

If at first Galina seemed to be bewitched by Bunin, then the intense years in the “love triangle” help her to cast off these spells. She finally dares to admit to herself that Bunin will never leave his wife. From that moment on, she began to think about the future: “It’s really impossible to live like that without independence, as if in ‘half-children’.” To live in the position of either a secretary or a student, to catch sidelong glances at herself, to faithfully look into the eyes of a genius, giving up her own ambitions - no, this is not what she dreamed of! Unlike Vera, Galina is more decisive. In addition, she realized that she no longer liked leading the reclusive life that Bunin insisted on. This lifestyle fueled the writer, but completely deprived Galina herself of strength. And then the Nobel Prize arrived, which Bunin went to receive together with both “wives.”
It was probably at that moment that Galina realized how sad it was to remain in the shadow of a great writer. How much effort went into reprinting manuscripts, literary discussions, and in the end, she cannot even claim to be the muse of a genius. After all, Vera will always be the “official muse” as the writer’s wife. After the award ceremony, on the way from Sweden to France, the Bunin couple, together with Galina, stop to stay with the writer Fyodor Stepun. There Galina fell ill, and the Bunins went home, leaving the young woman in the care of the writer. Far from Bunin, Galina was finally freed from her passion for him. Moreover, a new period is beginning in her life. She unexpectedly fell in love with Stepun's sister, opera singer Margarita Stepun. When she returns to Grasse, Marguerite follows her.

In those days, Vera Nikolaevna wrote in her diary: “They are merging their lives. And how different they are from different worlds, but this is a guarantee of strength: Gali’s stay in our house was from the evil one.”

Ivan Bunin. Portrait of the artist Leonid Turzhansky

And again Bunin sought salvation in creativity. He locked himself in his office, working days and nights, as if afraid of not having time to do something important. The writer's contemporaries recalled that because of the deception of Galina, whom he loved, the Russian classic was on the verge of madness and despair. The result of this state and almost round-the-clock work were thirty-eight short stories, which were then included in the collection “Dark Alleys.”

The last years of living together in Grasse became very difficult for all four. Despite her self-deception, Vera Nikolaevna increasingly felt unhappy. Nervous, unrequitedly in love, Zurov suffered and begged her to leave her husband, and Galina began to be burdened by her lack of freedom and Bunin’s tyrannical love. He was often jealous of her for no reason, felt that she was moving away from him, and created noisy scenes and scandals, completely unafraid of publicity. The awarding of the Nobel Prize to Bunin brought long-awaited recognition and money, but it was this year that marked the beginning of the end of the love of the great writer and Galina Kuznetsova.

Apparently, having suffered from a difficult love for Bunin, Galina did not want and could not fall in love with men.

"Stepan was a writer, he had a sister, his sister was a singer, a famous singer and... a desperate lesbian. A tragedy happened. Galina fell in love terribly"For some time, she and Marga, as Margarita Stepun was called, lived in Grasse with the Bunins. But quarrels with Bunin eventually lead to Galina starting to pack her bags. Together with Margarita she leaves for Germany.

“Galya has finally left. The house became deserted, but easier,” Vera writes in her diary with relief.Bunin took this separation very hard. He was never able to understand and forgive Kuznetsova. His notes dedicated to her are full of confusion, bitterness and regret. The woman he loved left him, and his already difficult relationships with other emigration writers worsened. They did not like him: he was straightforward and harsh, did not hide his dislikes and did not recognize the creativity of his colleagues. After the Nobel Prize was awarded, the hostility was added to by the outright envy of some of his comrades. The last years of Ivan Alekseevich’s life were spent in terrible poverty and illness. He became irritable and bilious and seemed to be embittered with the whole world. Faithful and devoted Vera Nikolaevna was by his side until his death.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin died in Paris. On the night of November 7-8, 1953, two hours after midnight, Bunin died: he died quietly and calmly, in his sleep. On his bed lay L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Resurrection.” Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was buried in the Russian cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois, near Paris.

Until the end of her life, Vera was next to her beloved husband and did not share him with anyone else. Galina found her happiness with Marga.

But Galina still went down in history as the muse of the great writer. Based on her “Grasse Diary,” the famous film “The Diary of His Wife” was made, thanks to which the name of Galina Kuznetsova forever remained associated with the name of Ivan Bunin.

The first Russian Nobel laureate, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, is called a jeweler of words, a prose writer, a genius of Russian literature and the brightest representative of the Silver Age. Literary critics agree that Bunin’s works have a kinship with paintings, and in their worldview, Ivan Alekseevich’s stories and tales are similar to paintings.

Childhood and youth

Contemporaries of Ivan Bunin claim that the writer felt a “breed”, an innate aristocracy. There is nothing to be surprised: Ivan Alekseevich is a representative of the oldest noble family, dating back to the 15th century. The Bunin family coat of arms is included in the armorial of the noble families of the Russian Empire. Among the writer’s ancestors is the founder of romanticism, a writer of ballads and poems.

Ivan Alekseevich was born in October 1870 in Voronezh, in the family of a poor nobleman and petty official Alexei Bunin, married to his cousin Lyudmila Chubarova, a meek but impressionable woman. She bore her husband nine children, four of whom survived.

The family moved to Voronezh 4 years before Ivan’s birth to educate their eldest sons Yuli and Evgeniy. We settled in a rented apartment on Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya Street. When Ivan was four years old, his parents returned to the Butyrki family estate in the Oryol province. Bunin spent his childhood on the farm.

The love of reading was instilled in the boy by his tutor, a student at Moscow University, Nikolai Romashkov. At home, Ivan Bunin studied languages, focusing on Latin. The first books the future writer read independently were “The Odyssey” and a collection of English poems.

In the summer of 1881, his father brought Ivan to Yelets. The youngest son passed the exams and entered the 1st grade of the men's gymnasium. Bunin liked to study, but this did not concern the exact sciences. In a letter to his older brother, Vanya admitted that he considered the math exam “the worst.” After 5 years, Ivan Bunin was expelled from the gymnasium in the middle of the school year. A 16-year-old boy came to his father’s Ozerki estate for the Christmas holidays, but never returned to Yelets. For failure to appear at the gymnasium, the teachers' council expelled the guy. Ivan’s older brother Julius took over Ivan’s further education.

Literature

The creative biography of Ivan Bunin began in Ozerki. On the estate, he continued work on the novel “Passion”, which he began in Yelets, but the work did not reach the reader. But the poem of the young writer, written under the impression of the death of his idol - the poet Semyon Nadson - was published in the magazine "Rodina".

On his father's estate, with the help of his brother, Ivan Bunin prepared for the final exams, passed them and received a matriculation certificate.

From the autumn of 1889 to the summer of 1892, Ivan Bunin worked in the Orlovsky Vestnik magazine, where his stories, poems and literary critical articles were published. In August 1892, Julius called his brother to Poltava, where he gave Ivan a job as a librarian in the provincial government.

In January 1894, the writer visited Moscow, where he met a like-minded person. Like Lev Nikolaevich, Bunin criticizes urban civilization. In the stories “Antonov Apples”, “Epitaph” and “New Road”, nostalgic notes for a bygone era are discerned, and regret for the degenerating nobility is felt.

In 1897, Ivan Bunin published the book “To the End of the World” in St. Petersburg. A year earlier, he translated Henry Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha. Poems by Alcay, Saadi, Adam Mickiewicz and others appeared in Bunin's translation.

In 1898, Ivan Alekseevich’s poetry collection “Under the Open Air” was published in Moscow, warmly received by literary critics and readers. Two years later, Bunin presented poetry lovers with a second book of poems, “Falling Leaves,” which strengthened the author’s authority as a “poet of the Russian landscape.” The St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences awarded Ivan Bunin the first Pushkin Prize in 1903, followed by the second.

But in the poetic community, Ivan Bunin earned a reputation as an “old-fashioned landscape painter.” At the end of the 1890s, “fashionable” poets became favorites, bringing the “breath of city streets” into Russian lyrics, and with their restless heroes. in a review of Bunin’s collection “Poems,” he wrote that Ivan Alekseevich found himself on the sidelines “from the general movement,” but from the point of view of painting, his poetic “canvases” reached the “end points of perfection.” Critics cite the poems “I Remember a Long Winter Evening” and “Evening” as examples of perfection and adherence to the classics.

Ivan Bunin the poet does not accept symbolism and looks critically at the revolutionary events of 1905–1907, calling himself “a witness of the great and the vile.” In 1910, Ivan Alekseevich published the story “The Village,” which laid the foundation for “a whole series of works that sharply depict the Russian soul.” The continuation of the series is the story “Sukhodol” and the stories “Strength”, “Good Life”, “Prince among Princes”, “Lapti”.

In 1915, Ivan Bunin was at the peak of his popularity. His famous stories “The Master from San Francisco”, “The Grammar of Love”, “Easy Breathing” and “Chang’s Dreams” were published. In 1917, the writer left revolutionary Petrograd, avoiding the “terrible proximity of the enemy.” Bunin lived in Moscow for six months, from there in May 1918 he left for Odessa, where he wrote the diary “Cursed Days” - a furious denunciation of the revolution and Bolshevik power.

It is dangerous for a writer who so vehemently criticizes the new government to remain in the country. In January 1920, Ivan Alekseevich left Russia. He leaves for Constantinople, and in March ends up in Paris. A collection of short stories entitled “Mr. from San Francisco” was published here, which the public greeted enthusiastically.

Since the summer of 1923, Ivan Bunin lived in the Belvedere villa in ancient Grasse, where he was visited. During these years, the stories “Initial Love”, “Numbers”, “Rose of Jericho” and “Mitya’s Love” were published.

In 1930, Ivan Alekseevich wrote the story “The Shadow of a Bird” and completed the most significant work created in exile, the novel “The Life of Arsenyev.” The description of the hero’s experiences is filled with sadness about the departed Russia, “which perished before our eyes in such a magically short time.”

In the late 1930s, Ivan Bunin moved to the Villa Zhannette, where he lived during the Second World War. The writer worried about the fate of his homeland and joyfully greeted the news of the slightest victory of the Soviet troops. Bunin lived in poverty. He wrote about his difficult situation:

“I was rich - now, by the will of fate, I suddenly became poor... I was famous throughout the world - now no one in the world needs me... I really want to go home!”

The villa was dilapidated: the heating system did not function, there were interruptions in electricity and water supply. Ivan Alekseevich spoke in letters to friends about the “constant famine in the caves.” In order to get at least a small amount of money, Bunin asked a friend who had left for America to publish the collection “Dark Alleys” on any terms. The book in Russian with a circulation of 600 copies was published in 1943, for which the writer received $300. The collection includes the story “Clean Monday”. Ivan Bunin’s last masterpiece, the poem “Night,” was published in 1952.

Researchers of the prose writer's work have noticed that his stories and stories are cinematic. For the first time, a Hollywood producer spoke about film adaptations of Ivan Bunin’s works, expressing a desire to make a film based on the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco.” But it ended with a conversation.

In the early 1960s, Russian directors drew attention to the work of his compatriot. A short film based on the story “Mitya’s Love” was directed by Vasily Pichul. In 1989, the film “Unurgent Spring” based on Bunin’s story of the same name was released.

In 2000, the biographical film “His Wife’s Diary,” directed by the director, was released, which tells the story of relationships in the prose writer’s family.

The premiere of the drama “Sunstroke” in 2014 caused a stir. The film is based on the story of the same name and the book “Cursed Days.”

Nobel Prize

Ivan Bunin was first nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1922. The Nobel Prize laureate worked on this. But then the prize was given to the Irish poet William Yates.

In the 1930s, Russian emigrant writers joined the process, and their efforts were crowned with victory: in November 1933, the Swedish Academy awarded Ivan Bunin a prize for literature. The address to the laureate said that he deserved the award for “recreating in prose a typical Russian character.”

Ivan Bunin quickly squandered the 715 thousand francs of his prize. In the very first months, he distributed half of it to those in need and to everyone who turned to him for help. Even before receiving the award, the writer admitted that he had received 2,000 letters asking for financial help.

3 years after receiving the Nobel Prize, Ivan Bunin plunged into habitual poverty. Until the end of his life he never had his own home. Bunin best described the state of affairs in a short poem “The Bird Has a Nest,” which contains the lines:

The beast has a hole, the bird has a nest.
How the heart beats, sadly and loudly,
When I enter, being baptized, into someone else's rented house
With his already old knapsack!

Personal life

The young writer met his first love when he worked at Orlovsky Vestnik. Varvara Pashchenko, a tall beauty in pince-nez, seemed too arrogant and emancipated to Bunin. But soon he found an interesting interlocutor in the girl. A romance broke out, but Varvara’s father did not like the poor young man with vague prospects. The couple lived without a wedding. In his memoirs, Ivan Bunin calls Varvara “the unmarried wife.”

After moving to Poltava, already difficult relations worsened. Varvara, a girl from a wealthy family, was fed up with her miserable existence: she left home, leaving Bunin a farewell note. Soon Pashchenko became the wife of actor Arseny Bibikov. Ivan Bunin had a hard time with the breakup; his brothers feared for his life.

In 1898, in Odessa, Ivan Alekseevich met Anna Tsakni. She became Bunin's first official wife. The wedding took place that same year. But the couple did not live together for long: they separated two years later. The marriage produced the writer’s only son, Nikolai, but in 1905 the boy died of scarlet fever. Bunin had no more children.

The love of Ivan Bunin’s life is his third wife Vera Muromtseva, whom he met in Moscow at a literary evening in November 1906. Muromtseva, a graduate of the Higher Women's Courses, was fond of chemistry and spoke three languages ​​fluently. But Vera was far from literary bohemia.

The newlyweds got married in exile in 1922: Tsakni did not give Bunin a divorce for 15 years. He was the best man at the wedding. The couple lived together until Bunin's death, although their life could not be called cloudless. In 1926, rumors about a strange love triangle appeared among the emigrants: a young writer Galina Kuznetsova lived in the house of Ivan and Vera Bunin, for whom Ivan Bunin had far from friendly feelings.

Kuznetsova is called the writer’s last love. She lived in the villa of the Bunins for 10 years. Ivan Alekseevich experienced a tragedy when he learned about Galina’s passion for the sister of the philosopher Fyodor Stepun, Margarita. Kuznetsova left Bunin’s house and went to Margot, which became the reason for the writer’s protracted depression. Friends of Ivan Alekseevich wrote that Bunin at that time was on the verge of madness and despair. He worked day and night, trying to forget his beloved.

After breaking up with Kuznetsova, Ivan Bunin wrote 38 short stories, included in the collection “Dark Alleys”.

Death

In the late 1940s, doctors diagnosed Bunin with pulmonary emphysema. At the insistence of doctors, Ivan Alekseevich went to a resort in the south of France. But my health did not improve. In 1947, 79-year-old Ivan Bunin spoke for the last time before an audience of writers.

Poverty forced him to turn to Russian emigrant Andrei Sedykh for help. He obtained a pension for a sick colleague from the American philanthropist Frank Atran. Until the end of Bunin’s life, Atran paid the writer 10 thousand francs monthly.

In the late autumn of 1953, Ivan Bunin's health deteriorated. He didn't get out of bed. Shortly before his death, the writer asked his wife to read the letters.

On November 8, the doctor confirmed the death of Ivan Alekseevich. Its cause was cardiac asthma and pulmonary sclerosis. The Nobel laureate was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery, the place where hundreds of Russian emigrants found rest.

Bibliography

• "Antonov apples"
• "Village"
• "Sukhodol"
• "Easy breath"
• "Chang's Dreams"
• "Lapti"
• "Grammar of Love"
• "Mitya's Love"
• "Cursed Days"
• "Sunstroke"
• "The Life of Arsenyev"
• "Caucasus"
• "Dark alleys"
• "Cold autumn"
• "Numbers"
• "Clean Monday"
• "The Case of Cornet Elagin"