“Letters from Nature”: Autobiographical Material in the Early Prose of Ivan Bunin

The article reviews the traditional point of view about the immaturity and inconsistency of Ivan Bunin. On the basis of the new materials (complete corpus of Bunin’s early prose collected by the Bunin group of IWL RAS), the author claims that there are just a few literary clichés in the Bunin’s work...

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Main Author: Evgeny R. Ponomarev
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature 2023-09-01
Series:Studia Litterarum
Subjects:
Online Access:https://studlit.ru/images/2023-8-3/08_Ponomarev_148-167.pdf
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author Evgeny R. Ponomarev
author_facet Evgeny R. Ponomarev
author_sort Evgeny R. Ponomarev
collection DOAJ
description The article reviews the traditional point of view about the immaturity and inconsistency of Ivan Bunin. On the basis of the new materials (complete corpus of Bunin’s early prose collected by the Bunin group of IWL RAS), the author claims that there are just a few literary clichés in the Bunin’s works of the late 1880s – early 1890s. Young Bunin is relieved of them by “writing from nature,” i. e. live sketches, genre scenes, accurate recording of conversations. Autobiographical material was one of the most important components of the technique “letter from nature,” i. e. the depiction of the relatives as special “types” (more in the Turgenev’s manner than in narodnik sociological plan), as well as the sketches of his own childhood, transformed love stories, etc. After citing examples of autobiographical material in Bunin’s early prose and considering the methods of its use in the texts, the author comes to the conclusion that Bunin’s early work is deeply independent, and Bunin’s “natural” poetics, formed in the first decade of his writing, influenced his poetics in the future.
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spelling doaj-art-7cb696e1f99e4dacaa6dfd9a70def9152025-08-20T01:57:44ZengRussian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World LiteratureStudia Litterarum2500-42472541-85642023-09-018314816710.22455/2500-4247-2023-8-3-148-167“Letters from Nature”: Autobiographical Material in the Early Prose of Ivan BuninEvgeny R. Ponomarev0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5508-6532A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, RussiaThe article reviews the traditional point of view about the immaturity and inconsistency of Ivan Bunin. On the basis of the new materials (complete corpus of Bunin’s early prose collected by the Bunin group of IWL RAS), the author claims that there are just a few literary clichés in the Bunin’s works of the late 1880s – early 1890s. Young Bunin is relieved of them by “writing from nature,” i. e. live sketches, genre scenes, accurate recording of conversations. Autobiographical material was one of the most important components of the technique “letter from nature,” i. e. the depiction of the relatives as special “types” (more in the Turgenev’s manner than in narodnik sociological plan), as well as the sketches of his own childhood, transformed love stories, etc. After citing examples of autobiographical material in Bunin’s early prose and considering the methods of its use in the texts, the author comes to the conclusion that Bunin’s early work is deeply independent, and Bunin’s “natural” poetics, formed in the first decade of his writing, influenced his poetics in the future.https://studlit.ru/images/2023-8-3/08_Ponomarev_148-167.pdfbuninearly activityautobiographic narrativepoeticsliterary influencecreative genesis.
spellingShingle Evgeny R. Ponomarev
“Letters from Nature”: Autobiographical Material in the Early Prose of Ivan Bunin
Studia Litterarum
bunin
early activity
autobiographic narrative
poetics
literary influence
creative genesis.
title “Letters from Nature”: Autobiographical Material in the Early Prose of Ivan Bunin
title_full “Letters from Nature”: Autobiographical Material in the Early Prose of Ivan Bunin
title_fullStr “Letters from Nature”: Autobiographical Material in the Early Prose of Ivan Bunin
title_full_unstemmed “Letters from Nature”: Autobiographical Material in the Early Prose of Ivan Bunin
title_short “Letters from Nature”: Autobiographical Material in the Early Prose of Ivan Bunin
title_sort letters from nature autobiographical material in the early prose of ivan bunin
topic bunin
early activity
autobiographic narrative
poetics
literary influence
creative genesis.
url https://studlit.ru/images/2023-8-3/08_Ponomarev_148-167.pdf
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