Ivan Bunin

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Ivan Bunin was born on his parental estate in Voronezh province, the third and youngest son of Aleksey Nikolayevich Bunin (1827–1906) and Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Bunina (née Chubarova, 1835–1910). He had two younger sisters, Masha and Nadya, and two elder brothers, Yuly and Yevgeny. Coming from a long line of Russian nobility, Bunin was especially proud that poets Anna Bunina (1774–1829) and Vasily Zhukovsky (1783–1852) were among his ancestors. His early childhood, spent in Butyrky Khutor and later in Ozerky, was a happy one; his mother introduced him to Russian folklore. Bunin was expelled from public school in Yelets in March 1886 for failing to return after Christmas holidays due to family financial difficulties. In May 1887 he published his first poem 'Village Paupers' in the Saint Petersburg literary magazine Rodina. In 1891 his first short story 'Country Sketch' appeared in the journal Russkoye Bogatstvo. He worked as a government clerk, assistant editor of a local paper, librarian, and court statistician. In January 1889 he moved to Oryol to work on the Orlovsky Vestnik newspaper, where he met Varvara Pashchenko and fell passionately in love. His debut book of poetry, Poems. 1887–1891, was published in 1891 in Oryol. He met Anton Chekhov in 1896 and became close friends, and in 1899 began a friendship with Maxim Gorky. He met Leo Tolstoy in Moscow in January 1894 and was influenced by his prose, even visiting sectarian settlements and doing hard work, but later changed his views on Tolstoy's philosophy, seeing it as utopian.

Reader's Guide

Ivan Bunin is best known for his short novels The Village (1910) and Dry Valley (1912), the autobiographical novel The Life of Arseniev (1933, 1939), the short stories collection Dark Avenues (1946), and the 1917–1918 diary Cursed Days (1926). He was a revered figure among white emigres, European critics, and many of his fellow writers, who viewed him as a true heir to the tradition of realism in Russian literature established by Tolstoy and Chekhov. His collections Poems and Stories (1900) and Flowers of the Field (1901) were followed by Falling Leaves (1901), his third book of poetry, which was welcomed by critics and colleagues including Alexander Ertel, Alexander Blok, and Aleksandr Kuprin, who praised its 'rare subtlety.' Bunin's work is characterized by strict artistry and a continuation of classical Russian traditions, with a richness of texture often called 'Bunin brocade.'

Did You Know?

• Bunin was the first Russian writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1933.
• He was expelled from public school in Yelets in March 1886 due to family financial difficulties.
• His first poem 'Village Paupers' was published in May 1887 in the Saint Petersburg literary magazine Rodina.
• Bunin was sentenced to three months in prison for illegally distributing Tolstoyan literature in autumn 1894, but avoided jail due to a general amnesty on the succession of Nicholas II.
• He was especially proud that poets Anna Bunina and Vasily Zhukovsky were among his ancestors.