When Bunin received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin

Publications in the Literature section

“Russia lived in him, he was Russia”

On October 22, 1870, the writer and poet Ivan Bunin was born. The last pre-revolutionary Russian classic and the first Russian Nobel laureate in literature was distinguished by his independence of judgment and, in the apt expression of Georgy Adamovich, “he saw through people, he unmistakably guessed what they would prefer to hide.”

About Ivan Bunin

"I was born October 10, 1870(all dates in the quote are indicated in the old style. - Editor's note) in Voronezh. Childhood and early youth spent in the village, began writing and publishing early. Quite soon, criticism also paid attention to me. Then my books were awarded the highest award three times Russian Academy Sciences - Pushkin Prize. However, I was not more or less widely known for a long time, because I did not belong to any literary school. In addition, I did not move much in the literary environment, lived a lot in the village, traveled a lot in Russia and outside Russia: in Italy, Turkey, Greece, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, in the tropics.

My popularity began from the time I published my “Village”. This was the beginning of a whole series of my works, which sharply depicted the Russian soul, its light and dark, often tragic foundations. In Russian criticism and among the Russian intelligentsia, where, due to ignorance of the people or political considerations, the people were almost always idealized, these “merciless” works of mine evoked passionate, hostile responses. During these years I felt how every day my literary forces. But then war broke out, and then revolution. I was not one of those who was taken by surprise by it, for whom its size and atrocities were a surprise, but still the reality exceeded all my expectations: no one who did not see it will understand what the Russian revolution soon turned into. This spectacle was sheer horror for anyone who had not lost the image and likeness of God, and from Russia, after Lenin seized power, hundreds of thousands of people who had the slightest opportunity to escape fled. I left Moscow on May 21, 1918, lived in the south of Russia, which passed from hand to hand between whites and reds, and on January 26, 1920, having drunk the cup of unspeakable mental suffering, I emigrated first to the Balkans, then to France. In France, I lived for the first time in Paris, and in the summer of 1923 I moved to the Alpes-Maritimes, returning to Paris only for some winter months.

In 1933 he received the Nobel Prize. While in exile, I wrote ten new books.”

Ivan Bunin wrote about himself in “Autobiographical Notes.”

When Bunin came to Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize, it turned out that all passersby knew his face: photographs of the writer were published in every newspaper, in store windows, and on cinema screens. Seeing the great Russian writer, the Swedes looked around, and Ivan Alekseevich pulled his lambskin cap over his eyes and grumbled: "What's happened? A perfect success for the tenor".

“For the first time since the establishment of the Nobel Prize, you awarded it to an exile. For who am I? An exile enjoying the hospitality of France, to which I, too, will forever remain grateful. Gentlemen of the Academy, allow me, leaving aside myself and my works, to tell you how wonderful your gesture is in itself. There must be areas of complete independence in the world. Undoubtedly, around this table there are representatives of all kinds of opinions, all kinds of philosophical and religious beliefs. But there is something unshakable that unites us all: freedom of thought and conscience, something to which we owe civilization. For a writer, this freedom is especially necessary - for him it is a dogma, an axiom.”

From Bunin's speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony

However, his feeling for his homeland and the Russian language was enormous and he carried it throughout his life. “We took Russia, our Russian nature with us, and wherever we are, we cannot help but feel it”, - Ivan Alekseevich said about himself and about millions of the same forced emigrants who left their fatherland during the turbulent revolutionary years.

“Bunin did not have to live in Russia to write about it: Russia lived in him, he was Russia.”

Writer's secretary Andrey Sedykh

In 1936, Bunin went on a trip to Germany. In Lindau, he first encountered the fascist order: he was arrested and subjected to an unceremonious and humiliating search. In October 1939, Bunin settled in Grasse at the Villa Jeannette, where he lived throughout the war. Here he wrote his “Dark Alleys”. However, under the Germans he did not publish anything, although he lived in great poverty and hunger. He treated the conquerors with hatred and sincerely rejoiced at the victories of the Soviet and allied troops. In 1945 he moved permanently from Grasse to Paris. I have been sick a lot in recent years.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin died in his sleep on the night of November 7–8, 1953 in Paris. He was buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.

“I was born too late. If I had been born earlier, my writing memories would not have been like this. I wouldn’t have to go through... 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 befell him..."

I.A. Bunin. Memories. Paris. 1950

“Start reading Bunin - be it “Dark Alleys”, “ Easy breath", "Cup of Life", " Clean Monday», « Antonov apples", "Mitya's Love", "The Life of Arsenyev", and you will immediately be captured and enchanted by the unique Bunin Russia with all its charming signs: ancient churches, monasteries, bell ringing, village graveyards, ruined "noble nests", with its rich colorful language , sayings, jokes that you will not find either in Chekhov or in Turgenev. But that’s not all: no one has so convincingly, so psychologically accurately and at the same time laconicly described the main feeling of a person - love. Bunin was endowed with a very special property: vigilance of observation. With amazing accuracy he could draw psychological picture any person seen, give a brilliant description of natural phenomena, changes in moods and changes in the lives of people, plants and animals. We can say that he wrote on the basis of keen vision, sensitive hearing and keen sense of smell. And nothing escaped him. His memory of a wanderer (he loved to travel!) absorbed everything: people, conversations, speech, colors, noise, smells.”,” literary critic Zinaida Partis wrote in her article “Invitation to Bunin.”

Bunin in quotes

“God gives each of us, along with life, this or that talent and entrusts us with the sacred duty not to bury it in the ground. Why, why? We don't know. But we must know that everything in this world, incomprehensible to us, must certainly have some meaning, some high God’s intention, aimed at ensuring that everything in this world “is good,” and that the diligent fulfillment of this God’s intention is Our service to him is always ours, and therefore joy and pride...”

The story "Bernard" (1952)

“Yes, from year to year, from day to day, you secretly expect only one thing - a happy love meeting, you live, in essence, only in the hope of this meeting - and all in vain...”

The story “In Paris”, collection “Dark Alleys” (1943)

“And he felt such pain and such uselessness of all his later life without her, that he was seized by horror and despair.”
“The room without her seemed somehow completely different than it was with her. He was still full of her - and empty. It was strange! There was still the smell of her good English cologne, her unfinished cup was still standing on the tray, but she was no longer there... And the lieutenant’s heart suddenly sank with such tenderness that the lieutenant hurried to light a cigarette and walked back and forth around the room several times.”

Story " Sunstroke"(1925)

“Life is, undoubtedly, love, kindness, and a decrease in love, kindness is always a decrease in life, there is already death.”

Short story "The Blind Man" (1924)

RUSSIAN NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS FOR LITERATURE

Despite big changes in life Sciences,

one thing has remained unchanged -

This is the Nobel Prize:

another such award, using similar

Petr Kapitsa, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences,

Nobel Prize Laureate

Nobel Prizes – international awards, named after their founder, a Swedish chemical engineer Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833–1896).

Awarded annually (since 1901) for outstanding works in the field of physics, chemistry, medicine and physiology, economics (since 1969), literature, for activities to strengthen peace. In 1895, the wealthy Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel announced his Will, according to which his entire capital formed a special fund, the interest from which was awarded annually in the form of bonuses for scientific discoveries. At first personalized prizes there were 4: in the field of mathematics, physics, chemistry and medicine and physiology. Nobel later added literary prize– for the creation of works that most fully reflect the “striving for the ideal.” The total number of prizes was 5. But soon mathematics - the “queen of sciences” - was deprived of the prize (according to legend, Nobel and the Swedish mathematician Mittag wooed one person who preferred a talented mathematician, and then Nobel crossed out mathematics from the list of his prizes). In addition, regardless of Nobel’s will, since 1969, on the initiative of the Swedish Bank, a prize in his name in economics has also been awarded. Nobel Peace Prize - highest award for achievements in the field of promoting peace, awarded annually by the Nobel Committee in Oslo on December 10.

The Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and the prize amount is $1 million. The laureates receive a commemorative diploma and a gold medal. The medals depict the profile of Alfred Nobel on one side, and figures symbolizing various fields of knowledge on the other. Thus, the medal awarded to literature laureates depicts the muse of poetry ERATO

5 Russians were awarded the Nobel Literary Prize: Ivan Bunin (1933), Boris Pasternak (1958), Mikhail Sholokhov (1965), Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1970), Joseph Brodsky (1987).

IVAN BUNIN - the first Nobel laureate!

Each generation of readers rediscovers Bunin. He returns to us from his distant, voluntarily forced exile. Literary critic V.V. Lavrov told a wide range of readers about this exile in his book “Catastrophe.” The book's epigraph contains Bunin's heartfelt words about love for native land: “Can we forget our Motherland? Can a person forget his homeland? She is in the soul. I am a very Russian person. This doesn’t disappear over the years.” Bunin's life was difficult. He did not accept the revolution of 1917 and left Russia forever in February 1920.

The bird has a nest, the beast has a hole.

How bitter it was for the young heart,

When I left my father's yard

Say goodbye to your home.

The beast has a hole, the bird has a nest.

How the heart beats, sadly and loudly,

When I enter, crossing myself, into someone else's rented house,

With his already old knapsack.

(written by Bunin in 1922)

Got to Paris. This city was later called the city of Bunin. There he lived, met with friends, read them his stories, stories, and sometimes poetry. He loved Russia very much and wrote only about it.

In 1922, Ivan Alekseevich’s wife, Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva, wrote in her diary that Romain Rolland nominated Bunin for the Nobel Prize. From then on, Ivan Alekseevich lived with hopes that someday he would be awarded this prize.

1933 All newspapers in Paris came out with large headlines on November 10:"Bunin - Nobel laureate" .

Every Russian in Paris, even the porter at the Renault plant, who had never read Bunin, took it as a personal holiday. Because my compatriot turned out to be the best, the most talented! In Parisian pubs and restaurants

that evening there were Russians who sometimes drank with their last pennies to “one of their own.”

On the day the prize was awarded, November 9, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin watched the “cheerful stupidity” “Baby” in the cinema. Suddenly the darkness of the hall was cut through by a narrow beam of a flashlight. They were looking for Bunin. He was called by telephone from Stockholm.

“And immediately my whole old life ends. I walk home quite quickly, but feeling nothing but regret that I wasn’t able to watch the movie. But no. It’s impossible not to believe: the whole house is glowing with lights. And my heart aches

some kind of sadness... Some kind of turning point in my life,” - Exciting days in Sweden. IN concert hall in the presence of the king, after the report of the writer, member of the Swedish Academy Peter Hallström on the work of Bunin, he was presented with a folder with a Nobel diploma, a medal and a check for 715 thousand French francs. Ivan Bunin was awarded the prize “for the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose". Bunin received the Nobel Prize in Literature largely thanks to the 4 books about Arsenyev’s life that had been published by that time. During the ceremony, Pyotr Galstrem expressed admiration for Bunin’s ability to “extraordinarily expressively and accurately describe real life" In his response speech, the laureate thanked the Swedish Academy for the courage and honor it showed to the emigrant writer. Returning to France, Bunin feels rich and, sparing no expense, distributes “benefits” to emigrants and donates funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invests the remaining amount in a “win-win business” and is left with nothing.

Bunin’s friend, poet and prose writer Zinaida Shakhovskaya, noted in her memoir book “Reflection”:

“With skill and a small amount of practicality, the bonus should have been enough until the end. But the Bunins did not buy either an apartment or a villa..."

Unlike M. Gorky, A. I. Kuprin, A. N. Tolstoy, Ivan Alekseevich did not return to Russia, despite the admonitions of the Moscow “messengers”. I never came to my homeland, not even as a tourist.

Find books by I. Bunin in libraries:

Bunin, I.A. Collected works: In 4 volumes / I.A. Bunin. – M.: Pravda, 1988. – 543 p. - (B-ka Ogonyok).

Bunin, I.A. Antonov apples: works 1889-1902 / I.A. Bunin.– M.: World of Books, Literature, 2008.–287 p.

Bunin, I.A. Life of Arsenyev: novel, stories / I.A. Bunin. – M.: Eksmo, 2008. – 608 pp. – (Russian classics).

Bunin, I.A. Life of Arsenyev. Dark alleys / I.A. Bunin. - 2nd ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard: Veche, 2003. - 511 p. - (B-ka of Russian classical fiction).

Bunin, I.A. Mitina's love: stories, stories / I.A. Bunin. – M.: OLMA Media Group, 2011. – 384 p. -Classics of the genre. LOVE.

Bunin, I.A. Damned days: stories, stories, memories / I.A. Bunin. – M.: Eksmo, 2007. – 637 pp. – (Russian classics).

Bunin, I.A. Poems and translations / I.A. Bunin. – M.: Eksmo, 2008. – 478 p. –(World Library of Poetry).

Bunin, I.A. Dark alleys. Novels and stories / I.A. Bunin.– M.: Eksmo, 2012.–798 pp.: ill. –(Library of World Literature).

Bunin, I.A. Clean Monday: stories and stories / I.A. Bunin; entry Art. K.G. Paustovsky; thin L. Biryukov.- M.: Det. lit., 2012.- 381 p.: ill. – (School library).

Literature about I. Bunin:

Andreeva, Zh. Two workshops on the works of Ivan Bunin / Zh. Andreeva. // Literature. –2009.-N23. – P.14 – 19.

Borshchevskaya, M. Through the pages of the works of I. A. Bunin / M. Borshchevskaya. // Literature. – 2009. – N6. – P. 14 – 18.

Guis, I. I.A. Bunin and V.P. Astafiev: dialogue about culture / I. Guis. // Literature. – 2009. – N6. – P. 40 – 43.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (1870-1953) // One Hundred Great Masters of Prose / T.V. Grudkina et al. – M.: Veche, 2010. – P.335–340. – (100 great).

Ilyinsky, I. Bunin’s White Truth: (notes about Bunin’s journalism) / I. Ilyinsky. // Our contemporary. –2011.–N3. – P.232 – 249.

Kapshay, N.P. Know yourself - and the world will open to you: [Poem by I.A. Bunin “Childhood”] / N.P. Kapshay. // Literature at school. –2006.–N11.– P.21 – 24.

Mussky, S.A. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (1870-1953) // Mussky S.A. One hundred great Nobel laureates. – M.: Veche, 2006. – P.48-53. – (One Hundred Greats).

Novikova, A.A. Precision, beauty and the power of talent: Moral and aesthetic lessons of I.A.’s creativity. Bunina / A.A. Novikova. // Literature at school.–2006.–N11.– P.2–7.

Pavlov, Yu. Chekhov as a Russian person: notes on the margins of Ivan Bunin’s book / Yu. Pavlov. // Our contemporary. – 2014.–N6. –P.258 –264.

Rebel, G. Ivan Bunin: pages of fate and creativity / G. Rebel. // Literature. –2009.–N6.– P.4 – 8.

Rossinskaya, S.V. The life line of Ivan Bunin: on the 140th anniversary of the birth of the Russian writer, Nobel Prize winner I.A. Bunina / S.V. Rossinskaya // New library. –2011.–N5.–S. 9–21.

Stefanova, S.Yu. “The asters in the gardens are falling.” Literary composition based on the works of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin / S.Yu. Stefanova. // Literature at school. – 2012.–N1.–P.40 – 42.

Fedorova, E.A. Genius Award: [script dedicated to the Russians Laureate writers Nobel Prize (I.A. Bunin)] / E.A. Fedorova // Read, learn, play. – 2008. – No. 7. – P.10–18.

BORIS PASTERNAK - Nobel Prize laureate 1958.

"For outstanding achievements in modern lyric poetry and in the traditional field of great Russian prose."

Since 1946, Boris Pasternak has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.

Boris Pasternak's main book is the novel Doctor Zhivago. He brought the writer world fame and made me go through the worst moments of my life.

The writer was forced to refuse the Nobel Prize under threat of expulsion from the country. The scandal associated with the novel brought the death of Boris Pasternak closer in 1960. His words that the artist pays with his life for his art prophetically came true:

Oh, I wish I knew this could happen

When I started to debut,

That lines with blood kill,

They will rush through the throat and kill...

Meet: “About Time and About Yourself” (on the 125th anniversary of Boris Pasternak)

MIKHAIL SHOLOKHOV – Nobel laureate in 1965 for his novel “Quiet Don”.

Mikhail Sholokhov received the Nobel Prize in Literature

"behind artistic power and the integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.”

“I wanted to write about the people among whom I was born and whom I knew.”

When receiving the Nobel Prize, a representative of the Swedish Academy addressed Sholokhov:

“Your grandiose narrative of the old regime desperately defending its shaky positions, and the new regime just as desperately fighting for every blood-soaked inch of land, always poses the question: who rules the world?

It also gives the answer: the heart..."

Read the booklet “It will be as the truth of life dictates.”

1968:Nobel Prize in Literature awarded ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN

"behind moral strength, drawn from the tradition of great Russian literature."

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He expressed the meaning of his life in a few words:

“I write the truth about Russian history.”

In 1968, Solzhenitsyn's novels were published abroad, and persecution of the writer began in the press.

In 1969, Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Writers' Union, and in 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize.

IN Nobel lecture Solzhenitsyn expressed his firm conviction: “One word of truth will conquer the whole world.”

The Soviet government considered the decision of the Nobel Committee “politically hostile,” and Solzhenitsyn, fearing

that after his trip he would not be able to return to his homeland, he accepted the award, but at the award ceremony

was not present.

Read the works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn in libraries:

Solzhenitsyn A.I. Collected works: In 9 volumes / A.I. Solzhenitsyn. - M.: Terra, 1999-2001 - 2000. - (World Classics).

Solzhenitsyn, A.I. The GULAG Archipelago. Complete edition in one volume / A.I. Solzhenitsyn; under. ed. N.D. Solzhenitsyna. – M.: Alfa-Kniga, 2012. – 1279 pp.: ill. –(Complete edition in one volume).

Solzhenitsyn, A.I. In the first circle: Roman / A.I. Solzhenitsyn. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka-classics, 2003. – 768 p.

Solzhenitsyn, A.I. Two hundred years together: in 2 parts / A.I. Solzhenitsyn. – M.: Vagrius. – 2006.– 542 p.

Solzhenitsyn, A.I. Lenin in Zurich. Stories. Tiny ones. Journalism / A.I. Solzhenitsyn. - Yekaterinburg: U-Factoria, 1999. - 750 pp. - (Mirror - 20th century).

Solzhenitsyn, A.I. Matrenin Dvor: stories / A.I. Solzhenitsyn; thin V. Britvin. – M.: Det. lit., 2014.– 220 pp.: ill. - (School library).

Solzhenitsyn, A.I. One day of Ivan Denisovich: a story / A.I. Solzhenitsyn.–SPb.: Azbuka, Azbuka–Atticus, 2013.– 144 p.

Solzhenitsyn, A.I. Cancer Ward: a story / A.I. Solzhenitsyn. – M.: AST, 2010. – 512 p.

Solzhenitsyn, A.I. Stories and little things / A.I. Solzhenitsyn. – M.: AST, Astrel, 2009. – 464 pp. – (Extracurricular reading).

Literature about Solzhenitsyn:

Eremin, V.N. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (1870-1953) // Eremin V.N. One Hundred Great Poets. – M.: Veche, 2010. – P.378–383.–(100 great ones).

Academician Alexander Solzhenitsyn / S. Dmitrenko. //Literature.–2008. N22.–P.22–25.N22.–P.4–7.

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) // One Hundred Great Masters of Prose. – M.: Veche, 2010. – S. P.452-458.

Kondratenko, E.V. Moral Lessons A.I. Solzhenitsyn / E.V. Kondratenko // Pedagogy. – 2009. – No. 8. – P.94-108

Mussky, S.A. Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) // Mussky S.A. One hundred great Nobel laureates. – M.: Veche, 2006. – P.94-100.– (100 great ones).

Niva, Georges. The Solzhenitsyn phenomenon: chapters from the book / Zh. Niva. // Star. –2013.–N9.–C.200 –220.

Correspondence of Alexander Solzhenitsyn with Korney Chukovsky (1963 - 1969) / A. Solzhenitsyn, K. Chukovsky. Preparation of the text, introduction by E.Ts. Chukovskaya. // New world. –011.–N10. – P.134–153.

Russian teachers and students read Alexander Solzhenitsyn: Special Issue. //Literature. –2010.–N2.

Tempest, R. American Solzhenitsyn / R. Tempest. //Literature.–2008.

Chalmaev, V.A. Alexander Solzhenitsyn in life and work / V.A. Chalmaev. //Literature at school.–2011.–N5.– P.9–14; N6. – P.16 – 20; N7 – P.7 – 11; N8. – P.15 – 19; N10. – P.10 – 14; N11. – P.11 – 17.

Chalmaev, V.A. Alexander Solzhenitsyn in life and work. Chapter VI. “Our petrified tear” (“The Gulag Archipelago” – a cup of suffering, a tragic page of history) / V.A. Chalmaev. // Literature at school. – 2012.–N1. –P.5 –11.

“HE'S NOT THE FIRST. HE IS, UNFORTUNATELY, THE ONLY ONE.”

This is about JOSEPH BRODSKY, 1987 Nobel Prize winner, great Russian poet.

For “comprehensive creativity, rich

purity of thought and brightness of poetry."

Read the edition of “Time - about your own destiny”(to the 75th anniversary of I. Brodsky).

We are waiting for you in our libraries. Read, think, discuss!

Head OIBO Lapteva Valentina

In the spring of 1920, Bunin and his second wife Vera Nikolaevna Bunina-Muromtseva left Bolshevik Russia. On March 28 they arrived in Paris. Bunin already had an honorary membership in the Russian Academy of Sciences (1909), the stories “Village” (1910) and “Sukhodol” (1911), which brought the author wide Russian fame, famous stories"Zakhar Vorobyov", " A good life", "Mr. from San Francisco." But his most perfect works in prose are such as “Sunstroke”, “The Life of Arsenyev” and “ Dark alleys“- Bunin wrote in exile.

Life was not easy for him here. Eternal lack of money and poor knowledge gave particular heaviness French. But Bunin was not used to saving! At the same time, in his house in the suburbs of Paris, according to the old noble custom, there were always hangers-on. They exploited many of Bunin's weaknesses. Weaknesses that amazingly combined with the extraordinary literary gift of this man.

Among the permanent residents of the house were the young writer Galina Kuznetsova and her husband. Worse than the need was for Vera Nikolaevna to see Galina leaving Ivan Alekseevich’s bedroom early in the morning. And if they met, Galina, looking into her wife’s eyes, would say that we had been talking about literature all night!

Of course, the Russian environment idolized the writer. And although he lived in France, for some reason he was often compared to Goethe (Johann Wolfgаng von Goethe). “Perhaps this flatters him more than any naive comparisons with other great predecessors,” testifies literary critic Alexander Bakhrakh.

However, relations with the literary masters of the Russian diaspora were tense. Here is what the poet Georgy Adamovich says about his meeting near Nice with Bunin over tea with the Russian prose writer, poet and philosopher Dmitry Merezhkovsky and his wife, poetess Zinaida Gippius: “With age, Bunin became more beautiful and, as it were, more thoroughbred. The gray hair suited him, and so did the fact that he shaved his beard and mustache. Something majestic, Roman senatorial appeared in his appearance, which intensified over the years. Bunin was very animated, he said that he forced himself to break away only for an hour or two, “otherwise I write and write without stopping.” However, he avoided Zinaida Nikolaevna’s questions. “But you’re not interested, you think that I’m not a writer, but a describer... I, my dear, won’t forget this until my death!..”.”

Money came to Bunin less and less often. In his diary (which was published despite the author’s ban after his death), Ivan Bunin wrote: “1. X. 33. Yesterday was Vera’s name day. They celebrated by having Galya buy a piece of sausage. I’ve made a lot of money in my entire life!..”

The Nobel Prize has been talked about in the house for a long time. It seemed to be almost the only way out of the difficult situation.

Around the Nobel Prize

IN literary circles At that time, there was a legend associated with the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1933. Its essence is this: it was rumored that among the candidates for the prize were Maxim Gorky, Ivan Shmelev (whom Ivan Bunin actively invited abroad, promising to help his family), Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Bunin himself. Ivan Shmelev, in order to calm passions, proposed in advance: whoever gets the prize, its monetary content should be divided among the applicants. To which the self-confident Bunin refused.

The same legend in a different presentation looks like this. Merezhkovsky could not be completely sure that the Nobel Prize would go to him and not Bunin, and therefore considered it better to provide for himself, just in case. It was in the spring of 1932, when Merezhkovsky, at his home on one of the “literary Sundays,” suggested to Bunin:

- Let's, Ivan Alekseevich, make a pact. If I get the Nobel Prize, I will give you half, if you get it, you will give it to me. Let's divide it in half. Let's insure ourselves mutually. Here, in the presence of all of them,” he looked around those sitting at the table, “we will give each other honestly that we'll split the prize.

But Bunin resolutely shook his head.

At that time, many people knew about lobbying (as it would be called now) for the interests of Ivan Bunin in terms of awarding the Nobel Prize, and many took an active part in it. But Ivan Alekseevich himself most of all hoped for the help of Emanuel Nobel, who was then living in St. Petersburg, sibling the famous Alfred Nobel.

Galina Kuznetsova in her book “The Grasse Diary” describes the news of the death of Emanuel Nobel as follows: “We received the news... from Em. Nobel suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and fell in the bathroom. I.A. read the letter at breakfast. From the very first lines he blushed all over and hit the table with his fist:

- No! This is my life! Always like this!

Reverse side Nobel Prize

The news of the Nobel Prize found Ivan Bunin in the hall of a small cinema in Grasse, where he was watching a film with Galina Kuznetsova. With her, as well as with Vera Nikolaevna, the writer went to the ceremony in Stockholm.

Of course, glory, of course, worldwide honor! But one can imagine that Stockholm’s formulation “For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose” was not entirely to the heart of Ivan Alekseevich. “Bunin invariably wanted,” recalls Bakhrakh, “to be considered first and foremost a poet, and it was precisely his poetry that was not put on the same level as his prose. In any case, the attitude of criticism and the reading public towards his poetry irritated him, offended him, upset him, and strengthened his dislike not only for Blok or Bely, but also complete indifference to Akhmatova’s poems, repulsion from Tsvetaeva, lack of interest in Mandelstam and Pasternak."

On way back they stopped in Dresden, to visit an old friend, the Russian philosopher Fyodor Stepun. At that time, his sister Margot was visiting Stepun. And what happened happened: Galina and Margot fell in love with each other. If this had not led to a tragedy in the life of Ivan Alekseevich, we would not have aggravated the eternal shortage of space on the newspaper page for the sake of such a passage.

The visit (according to Nina Berberova - the last) to Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius also turned out to be tense. In her famous book “My Italics,” Nina Berberova (in general, often unfair in her assessments of Ivan Bunin) recalls:

“...Everyone, with the exception of one Zinaida Nikolaevna, stood up and respectfully froze in their places. Merezhkovsky, turning pale to ashen grey, jumped up and, hunching even more, fussily, almost skipping, rushed to meet him.

It seemed that even the dim lamp above the table shone brighter when the New Nobel laureate easily, firmly and slowly entered the dining room, holding himself unusually straight. His thin, shaved face with keen eyes, with slightly contemptuously compressed thin lips, expressed regal, arrogant benevolence. Vera Nikolaevna and Galina Kuznetsova walked modestly behind him, adding even greater solemnity to his appearance.

Zinaida Gippius alone, amid this sea of ​​respectful excitement, remained calm and cool, carefully examining those who entered through the glass of her lorgnette. Gracefully offering her hand to Bunin, she lazily extended:

“Congratulations,” adding after a short pause: “And I envy you.”

The attitude of the literary elite of the Russian diaspora to the decision of the Nobel Committee was not unambiguous. This is evidenced, for example, by the statement of Marina Tsvetaeva: “... I will sit on the stage and honor Bunin. To evade is to protest. I don’t protest, I just don’t agree, because Gorky is incomparably greater than Bunin - and greater, and more humane, and more original, and more necessary. Gorky is an era, and Bunin is the end of an era.”

In war as in war

The Germans entered Paris on June 14, 1940. Russian Jews, who provided the main support for Russian publications in Paris, had to flee the country. The magazine “Modern Notes” (which published, for example, Ivan Bunin’s novel “The Life of Arsenyev”) closed. The Turgenev Library on rue de la Bucherie was looted by the Nazis and taken to an unknown location. Several boxes of Bunin's archives disappeared from its basements.

As the collector of the first editions of books burned by the Nazis, a former Wehrmacht soldier Georg Salzmann, told the author, the Nazis very thoroughly checked all the publications from the Turgenev Library. In the list No. 1 of harmful literature (full name: “1. Liste des schädlichen und unerwünschten Schrifttums”) of Russian authors they included works by Ilya Erenburg, Mikhail Kuzmin, Yuri Libedinsky, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Fyodor Sologub, Vladimir Ilyin, Fyodor Gladkov, Joseph Kalinnikov , Solomon Asch, Ivan Rodionov. There are no books by Ivan Bunin on this list. And this was a guarantee that the Nazis did not touch Bunin and his family.

In 1943, in New York, the publishing house New land» released a collection of stories by Ivan Bunin “Dark Alleys” - the top lyrical prose writer, a true encyclopedia of love. Love for a woman and for Russia. It was read just at a time when in the vastness of Russia, on Kursk Bulge, the main tank formations of Nazi Germany were defeated.

Victory Soviet Union in the war against the Nazis was perceived by many emigrants as a guarantee of fundamental changes in domestic policy their beloved homeland. Those who believed in this and waited for Soviet troops in Sofia, Prague, Vilnius, paid dearly: let’s just say that the Russian religious philosopher L.P. Karsavin ended his life in Stalin’s camp; culturologist and geographer P. N. Savitsky was sentenced to 8 years in the camps for counter-revolutionary activities, and so on.

In Paris, where Soviet troops did not reach, patriotic sentiments captured many. Ivan Bunin even received a Soviet passport. They tried to persuade him to return to his homeland. What happened next can be found in the memoirs of a former employee foreign intelligence KGB Batraev Boris Nikodimovich. After the death of Ivan Bunin, he was engaged in sending the remains of the Bunin archive to the USSR, for which he met with Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva-Bunina several times. In one of the conversations she said: “In 1945, Bunin received Soviet citizenship and began to resolve practical issues for moving to Moscow. And this was prevented by... an absurd incident, some kind of evil fate. Soon after the war, Konstantin Simonov visited Paris... Going to Simonov at the USSR Consulate, he (Ivan Alekseevich) expected to find understanding, friendly participation, but was faced with harsh, callous treatment. “What did you spend it on? best years? To fight us?” – Bunin was greeted with these words. Nobel laureate Simonov scolded him like a boy. You need to know the character of Ivan Alekseevich... Immediately in front of Simonov, he tore up his Soviet passport...".

One can hardly blame “evil fate”. In the end, Bunin was overcome by the thought that his name would be manipulated by the Bolsheviks he hated. Of the entire literary elite of the Russian abroad - and there, in addition to those mentioned above, there were such names as Nikolai Berdyaev, Alexander Kuprin, Georgy Ivanov, Mark Aldanov, and so on - after the war, only the poetess Irina Odoevtseva returned to her homeland, before her death, who told about Bunin in her memoirs “On the Banks of the Seine” (Moscow, Fiction, 1989), and Nina Berberova.

Epilogue

Any classic is, in essence, alone. This is especially clearly manifested in the poems of the poet Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, who was not recognized by the Nobel Committee. But connoisseurs of his poetry remember and reread, among other things, the lines of the poignant poem “Loneliness,” written 110 years ago:

...Today they go on and on

The same clouds - ridge after ridge.

Your footprint in the rain by the porch

It blurred and filled with water...

Well, I’ll light the fireplace and drink...

It would be nice to buy a dog

Introducing short stories Ivan Alekseevich Bunin to the German reader, the publishing house Fischer Verlag in 2005 (!) called the Russian writer “relatively unknown author"("verhältnismäßig unbekannter Autor"). The 21st century sets such unfair accents.

Oryol, the city of Ivan Bunin’s youth, is preparing to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the writer being awarded the Nobel Prize.

"I was alone in the midnight world..."

Probably few people know or remember that on December 10, 1933, Swedish King Gustav V solemnly awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to Ivan Bunin, the first Russian writer to receive this award. In Orel, in the writer's museum, newspaper clippings from that time are carefully preserved. Emigration applauded him (Bunin lived in France at that time). "Without a doubt, I.A. Bunin is for last years, - the most powerful figure in Russian fiction and poetry,” wrote the Parisian newspaper “New Russian word". And in Soviet Russia the news was treated caustically.

“In contrast to the candidacy of Gorky, which no one had ever nominated, and could not nominate under bourgeois conditions, the White Guard Olympus nominated and in every possible way defended the candidacy of the seasoned wolf of the counter-revolution, Bunin, whose work, especially of recent times, is saturated with motives of death, decay, doom in the situation catastrophic world crisis, obviously came to the court of the Swedish academic elders,” Literaturnaya Gazeta wrote then.

What about Bunin? Of course, he was worried. But on December 10, 1933, as the Western press wrote, “the king of literature confidently and equally shook hands with the crowned monarch.” In the evening, a banquet was given in honor of the Nobel laureates at the Grand Hotel, where the writer gave a speech. With particular bitterness, he pronounced the word “exile,” which caused “a slight trembling” among the audience. The Nobel Prize amounted to 170,331 crowns or about 715,000 francs.

Bunin distributed a significant part of it to those in need, and a special commission was involved in the distribution of money. In an interview with a correspondent of the Segodnya newspaper, he said: “As soon as I received the prize, I had to give out about 120,000 francs... Do you know how many letters I received about all-help? For the most short term about two thousand such messages." And the writer did not refuse anyone.

The bonus money soon ran out, and Bunin lived increasingly hard. In 1942, he wrote in his diary: “Poverty, wild loneliness, hopelessness, hunger, cold, dirt - these are the last days of my life. And what lies ahead? How long do I have left?”...

"Our immortal gift is speech"

Two years ago, the Bunin Museum in Orel modestly celebrated its 20th anniversary. Non-random and caring people came to the anniversary, fascinated by Bunin’s ability to interpret life, his view of the structure of the world, his adherence to principles in human actions and his great ability to sing of love, equally subtly feeling its exciting power and fatal deceit. By the way, the museum was opened on December 10, 1991, and the date was not chosen by chance - it coincided with the anniversary of the Nobel Prize.

Among other unique exhibits, its collections contain a silver tray and a salt shaker. They say that it was on them that the emigrants brought bread and salt to the writer when he arrived in Sweden. On the back of the tray is engraved the inscription: “To Ivan Alekseevich Bunin from the Russians in Stockholm in memory of December 10, 1933.” And on the salt shaker there is a monogram "I.B." and it says “From the Russians in Stockholm in memory of 12/10/1933.” It is known that Bunin was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times. This first happened in 1922 on the initiative of Romain Rolland.

Repeated attempts were made in 1926, 1930 and 1931. But the writer received the Nobel Prize only in 1933. In fact, he received it for the novel “The Life of Arsenyev,” which many still perceive as a biography of the writer himself. However, Ivan Alekseevich denied this. The founder and head of the writer’s museum, Inna Kostomarova, a great worker and researcher of Bunin’s work and life, said that English translation The novel was published in London in March 1933.

And on November 9 of the same year, the Swedish Academy decided to award the prize “to Ivan Bunin for the true artistic talent with which he recreated artistic prose a typical Russian character." The character, it must be said, is not simple. After all, even the fate of the writer’s museum is complex, like the life of Bunin himself. The Eagle, sung by him, to whom the writer more than once confessed his love in his works, until the mid-1950s, even the name of Ivan Alekseevich if and said it in a whisper.

“And yet it will come, the time will come...”

For many years, Bunin was banned in the Soviet Union. And only after his death, in exile, in France, in the USSR, they began to publish his works, selectively, with censorship, tearing out paragraphs in shreds and scratching out objectionable lines. So Bunin, before last days who dreamed of returning to his homeland, returned with his creations. "Return literary heritage Ivan Bunin’s arrival in Russia began with the publication of his five-volume collected works in 1956,” says Inna Kostomarova.

And the starting point for perpetuating the memory of the writer in our country was the opening of a hall in Orel in 1957, dedicated to life and the work of Bunin. It was created in the Oryol Writers Museum. From that day on, the collection of Bunin’s memorabilia began to grow. Many who knew the writer and kept his things sometimes got in touch themselves or were found by museum workers. The collection grew, and it soon became clear that Bunin would be cramped in one room.

Available museum workers there turned out to be, for example, the writer’s pre-revolutionary literary archive, which he handed over to his elder brother Julius for safekeeping before emigration. After his death, in 1921, the archive went to the writer’s nephew, Nikolai Pusheshnikov. In the 1960-1970s, Pusheshnikov’s widow, Klavdiya Petrovna, handed over in parts most archive to the Oryol State Literary Museum of Ivan Turgenev - after all, Bunin did not yet have his own museum. And even now it is part of the structure of the united Turgenev Literary Museum.

According to Inna Kostomarova, the fate of Bunin’s Parisian archive turned out to be even more difficult. It was inherited by the writer Leonid Zurov, who was friends with the Bunin family. In 1961, he entered into correspondence with the director of Orlovsky literary museum on the sale through the Ministry of Culture of the USSR of all the furnishings of the writer’s Parisian apartment. He believed that it was in Orel that the Bunin Museum should be created. The correspondence continued until 1964.

Despite the low price assigned, Zurov was refused due to the “low value of the Bunin archive.” And then his proposal was accepted by Edinburgh University professor Milica Green. This is how the Parisian archive ended up in Great Britain, where it is still stored. Some items from it still made it to Orel - in the late 1980s Militsa Green transferred them here, including those very silver trays with a salt shaker.

“The bird has a nest, the beast has a hole”...

The museum also has other stunning exhibits that are a must see and will literally take your breath away - books, photographs and portraits autographed by the writer and others famous people: Fyodor Chaliapin, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky and others, others, others. There is even a writer's pith helmet here - a souvenir brought from many travels around the world. And what is the value of the crystal yacht by Carl Faberge, presented to Bunin on his 25th birthday? creative activity! A masterpiece, nothing less.

Undoubtedly, authentic Bunin manuscripts, some of which are unpublished, are of even greater value. You can only read them in the museum. Here, under glass in one of the halls, are aged pages from a student’s notebook. Poems are written in neat handwriting. Their author is Vanya Bunin, he is only 13 years old. He is just beginning to look for himself in literature and does not hide the fact that he imitates Pushkin, to whom he dedicated his first works. And next to him are his adult stories, lines scribbled with a sharpened pen.

By the early 1990s, the Oryol Bunin collection had grown to the largest in the world. And the question arose - where to store this wealth, where to show it to people? At first, enthusiasts argued that the country needed a Bunin museum, then they looked for premises. In Orel, Bunin often changed addresses due to financial needs, and many houses from that time have not survived. Inna Kostomarova found a suitable house - an old noble mansion in the “literary quarter”, where many famous writers lived and worked.

"Icy night. Mistral..."

It’s a paradox: in emigration, Bunin’s name became known to the whole world, but he still lived poorly. Published in emigrant publishing houses, in different countries, and, fortunately, there was a person who collected a collection of those publications - American professor Sergei Kryzhitsky, one of the largest researchers of Bunin’s work abroad. He donated his personal archive and more than seven hundred works of Russian writers published abroad to the Oryol museum.

One of the rooms now resembles a library reading room. Such was the will of Sergei Kryzhitsky, who wished that the books handed over to him be available to those who wish. But the “heart of the museum” is not the “reading room”, but Bunin’s Parisian office. It stands out among the exhibits. Much effort was put into transporting the writer’s personal belongings from Paris. Based on the surviving photographs, Bunin’s office was accurately recreated.

Here stands his simple bed and two work tables, on one of which, also simple, typewriter. The physical sensation of Bunin's presence in the office is incredibly strong. But it increases a hundredfold when the bright voice of the writer fills the room, reading his poem “Loneliness” with inspiration. A century ago, the author recorded it on a gramophone record, and by some miracle the recording has survived to this day. Listening to her, worried, you understand why his contemporaries considered Bunin one of the best readers in the country...

The “heart of the museum” is guarded carefully, with special love and passion, with reverence, and maybe that’s why it never stopped beating even in the most hard times, feeding hope for the best to the museum workers themselves, who literally suffered for Bunin’s right to a new Oryol life. For several years, due to the poor technical condition of the building, the museum was closed to visitors. The roof was leaking, which is scary for a museum. But now these problems are behind us.

Regional authorities and philanthropists helped by allocating money for the Bunin Museum. The building was renovated and an exhibition was created, the project of which Inna Kostomarova worked on for many years. The museum is now open to the public, it has survived difficult times, " damn days", but brought to us what time and people close to Bunin had preserved. And what about Bunin? The writer is no longer alone, for, as he dreamed, he returned to his homeland.