-
It was already during Bunin’s life-time that people
spoke about him as the “last classic”. And his prominent contemporaries,
such as Romain Rolland, Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke described him
as genius and rated his writings as high as those of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor
Dostoyevsky. And time proved how correct were those assessments.
Ivan Bunin was born on October 22nd, 1870 into the family of the old nobility,
which gave Russia many prominent statesmen and writers. The family, however
soon lost its wealth, and poverty made 18 years old Bunin leave his home
estate and try make a living by writing. His famous translation of the
Longfellow’s “The Song of Hiawatha” the heroic poem about American Indians
came out in 1899 and won him the gold medal of the Pushkin Academy. And
somewhat later he was elected honorary member of the Academy of Sciences
for his poetry and translations of Byron. But what brought him real recognition
was the story “The Village”. Since then he was acknowledged as a brilliant
expert of the Russian language and unmatched short story writer.
The revolution of 1917 changed the entire life of Ivan Bunin. He refused
to accept it and believed it would only mean the end of Russia. “Never
shall I reconcile myself with the destruction of Russia, Bunin wrote. Never
did I think I could feel everything so keenly.” Late in his work “The Accused
Days” he described the events of the time and what he himself had to live
through. Bunin could not live in the new world. He belonged to the old
one and decided to leave this country.
On February 6th, 1921, Bunin and his wife went on board a small steamer,
which took them away from Russia – into life-long emigration. He settled
down in France where he lived for 33 years and where he died. The Bunins
lived in Grasse, near Cannes, in the south of France. After a short intermission
he again began to write. But this time it was all different, not like in
Russia. Love and memory were the cornerstones of his literary works. In
his diary in those years he wrote: I’d like very much to start work on
a book, which Flaubert had always wanted to write. A book about nothing,
without any outside connection, where I could pour everything I have on
my heart and describe my life: what I have seen in this world, what I felt,
loved and hated”. But he began telling his life-story only in 1927, in
his book “The Life of Arsenev”.
On November 9th, 1933, Bunin went to see a new picture in the cinema. And
while he was away, his wife was told over the phone that her husband had
been awarded the Nobel prize. And the whole evening the writer was receiving
numerous telegrams and phone calls with congratulations from practically
all capitals of the world – but not from Russia.
Later his literary secretary recalled that Bunin was a real success in
Stockholm. He always attracted the hearts of people and did that with great
dignity. Scores of people later said that not a single Nobel Prize winner
enjoyed such personal and well deserved success as Bunin.
What Ivan Bunin was like in the last ten years of his life? One his contemporary
said that with age he became even more handsome. Grey hair matched him
well. He got rid of his beard and moustache, and that too made him look
better. There was something of a Roman senator and of grandeur in his countenance.
He was exceedingly intelligent. And that was displayed especially clearly
when he expressed his views about persons and life, rather than when passing
distracted logical judgments. He could see people right through and guessed
correctly what they would like to conceal and felt the slightest falsehood.
He felt pretence in a person and falsehood in literature. That was one
of the main traits of his character.
“I am very Russian and that doesn’t pass with years,” Ivan Bunin wrote
about himself. He wanted to see Russia very much, but all plans were upset
by the Second World War. It shocked the writer. He feared for Russia’s
destiny for scores of years ahead and even centuries. And that deep fear
moved away from his mind everything in the Soviet system that was unacceptable
to him. In 1946 Bunin published his book “Dark Avenues” – a book about
love, the poetic and the most skillfully written of what he produced earlier.
He kept writing the book during the whole of the war, he wrote it in poverty
and hunger. In those frightening years he wanted to move into another world
where blood was not shed.
Ivan Bunin died in 1953 and was buried in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois
cemetery near Paris. Nearby stood a grave-stone on which was written “Russians,
wherever they are, love Russia, its present, past and future, and always
are its true sons and daughters…” And Ivan Bunin loved Russia all his life.
He constantly thought about it and devoted his great talent to it.
|