Great writer Ivan Alekseevich Bunin his work “ Antonov apples"Wrote quickly, in just a few months. But he did not complete the work on the story, because he turned to his story again and again, changing the text. Each edition of this story had already changed and edited text. And this could easily be explained by the fact that the writer’s impressions were so vivid and deep that he wanted to show all this to his reader.
But a story like “Antonov Apples,” where there is no plot development, and the basis of the content is Bunin’s impressions and memories, is difficult to analyze. It is difficult to capture the emotions of a person who lives in the past. But Ivan Alekseevich manages to accurately convey sounds and colors, showing his unusual literary skill. Reading the story “Antonov Apples” you can understand what feelings and emotions the writer experienced. This is both pain and sadness that all this is left behind, as well as joy and tenderness for the ways of deep antiquity.
Bunin uses bright colors description of colors, for example, black-lilac, gray-iron. Bunin’s descriptions are so deep that he even notices how the shadow of many objects falls. For example, from the flames in the garden in the evening he sees black silhouettes, which he compares with giants. By the way, there are a huge number of metaphors in the text. It is worth paying attention to the sundresses that girls wear at fairs: “sundresses that smell like paint.” Even the smell of Bunin's paint does not cause irritation, and this is another memory. And what words does he choose when he conveys his feelings from water! The writer’s character is not simply cold or transparent, but Ivan Alekseevich uses the following description of it: icy, heavy.
What is happening in the narrator’s soul, how strong and deep his experiences are, can be understood if we analyze those details in the work “Antonov Apples”, where he gives a detailed description of them. There is also in the story main character- barchuk, but his story is never revealed to the reader.
At the very beginning of his work, the writer uses one of the means artistic expression speech. The gradation lies in the fact that the author very often repeats the word “remember,” which allows you to create a feeling of how carefully the writer treats his memories and is afraid of forgetting something.
The second chapter contains not only a description of a wonderful autumn, which is usually mysterious and even fabulous in villages. But the work tells about old women who were living out their lives and preparing to accept death. To do this, they put on a shroud, which was wonderfully painted and starched so that it stood like a stone on the body of the old women. The writer also recalled that, having prepared for death, such old women dragged gravestones into the yard, which now stood awaiting the death of their mistress.
The writer’s memories take the reader in the second part to another estate, which belonged to Ivan Alekseevich’s cousin. Anna Gerasimovna lived on her own, so she was always happy to visit her old estate. The road to this estate still appears before the narrator’s eyes: a lush and spacious blue sky, the well-trodden and well-trodden road seems to the writer the most expensive and so dear. Bunin’s description of both the road and the estate itself evokes a great feeling of regret that all this is a thing of the distant past.
The description of the telegraph poles that the narrator encountered on the way to his aunt is sad and sad to read. They were like silver strings, and the birds sitting on them seemed to the writer musical notation. But even here, on the aunt’s estate, the narrator again remembers the smell of Antonov apples.
The third part takes the reader into deep autumn, when after cold and prolonged rains, the sun finally begins to appear. And again the estate of another landowner - Arseny Semenovich, who was a great lover of hunting. And again one can see the author’s sadness and regret that the spirit of the landowner, who honored both his roots and the entire Russian culture, has now faded away. But now that former way of life has been lost, and it is now impossible to return the former noble way of life in Rus'.
In the fourth chapter of the story “Antonov Apples,” Bunin sums it up by saying that there is no more than that smell of childhood that was associated with life and everyday life landed nobility, the smell of Antonov apples disappeared. And it is impossible to see either those old people, or the glorious landowners, or those glorious times. And the last lines of the story “I covered the road with white snow” lead the reader to the fact that it is no longer impossible to return the old Russia, its former life.
The story “Antonov Apples” is a kind of ode, enthusiastic, but sad and sad, imbued with love, which is dedicated to Russian nature, life in the villages and the patriarchal way of life that existed in Rus'. The story is small in volume, but quite a lot is conveyed in it. Bunin has pleasant memories of that time; they are filled with spirituality and poetry.
“Antonov Apples” is Bunin’s hymn to his homeland, which, although it remained in the past, far from him, still remained forever in the memory of Ivan Alekseevich, and was for him like the best and purest time, the time of his spiritual development.
The story “Antonov Apples” as a whole can be considered as a prose poem. A brief and incredibly poetic time is depicted - Indian summer, when elegiac reflections naturally form in the soul.
Behind the detailed landscape sketch one can discern the poetic soul of the author, a subtle, educated, deeply loving life native nature. close to him folk wisdom, since he often refers to signs: “Autumn and winter live well if the water is calm and there is rain on Laurentia.”
I.A. Bunin is incredibly fond of national color. With what care, for example, he describes the festive spirit of the garden fair. His creation of figures of people from the people amazes with a high degree of individualization. Just look at one important thing, like a Kholmogory cow, a young elder, or a burry, nimble half-idiot playing the Tula harmonica.
To recreate in detail the atmosphere of early fine autumn in the apple orchard I.A. Bunin makes extensive use of entire rows artistic definitions: “I remember an early, fresh, quiet morning... I remember a large, all golden, dried up and thinning garden, I remember maple alleys, the subtle aroma of fallen leaves...” To reflect the surrounding atmosphere more fully, more clearly, to convey every sound (the creaking of carts, the clucking of blackbirds, the crackling apples eaten by men) and aroma (the smell of Antonov apples, honey and autumn freshness).
The smell of apples is a recurring detail in the story. I.A. Bunin describes a garden with Antonov apples in different time days. At the same time, the evening landscape turns out to be no poorer than the morning one. It is decorated with the diamond constellation Stozhar, Milky Way, whitening overhead, shooting stars.
Central theme of the story- the theme of the ruin of noble nests. The author writes with pain that the smell of Antonov apples is disappearing, and the way of life that has developed over centuries is falling apart. Admiring the past and the passing brings an elegiac tone to the work. Bunin emphasizes individual details social aspect relationships between people. This is evidenced by the vocabulary (“philistine”, “barchuk”). Despite the elegiac tone, the story also contains optimistic notes. “How cold, dewy and how good it is to live in the world!” - emphasizes I.A. Bunin. The story reveals the idealization of the image of the people characteristic of the writer. He is especially close to the author in holidays when everyone is tidy and happy. “The old men and women lived in Vyselki for a very long time - the first sign of a rich village - and they were all tall, big and white, like a harrier. All you heard was: “Yes,” Agafya waved off her eighty-three year old!” - this is how I.A conveys through dialogues. Bunin his admiration for the way of simple village life. The author poetizes everyday values: work on the land, a clean shirt and lunch with hot lamb on wooden plates.
Social and class differences do not escape the author's attention either. It is no coincidence that old Pankrat stands stretched out in front of the master, smiling guiltily and meekly. It is in this work that I.A. expresses. Bunin had an important idea for him that the structure of the average noble life was close to that of the peasants. The author-narrator directly admits that he did not know or see serfdom, but felt it, remembering how former servants bowed to their masters.
The social aspect is also emphasized in the interior of the house. Footman's room, people's room, hall, living room - all these names indicate the author's understanding of class contradictions in society. However, at the same time, the story also contains admiration for the refined life of the nobility. The writer, for example, emphasizes arctocratically beautiful heads in ancient hairstyles, from portraits lowering their long eyelashes onto sad and tender eyes.
Such works created in early period creativity of Ivan Alekseevich, includes the story “Antonov Apples”, in which one can feel the sadness and sadness of the writer himself. The main theme of this Bunin masterpiece is that the writer points to main problem society of that time - the disappearance of the former estate life, and this is the tragedy of the Russian village.
History of the story
In the early autumn of 1891, Bunin visited the village with his brother Evgeniy Alekseevich. And at the same time, he writes a letter to his common-law wife Varvara Pashchenko, in which he shares his impressions of the morning smell of Antonov apples. He saw how the autumn morning began in the villages and he was struck by the cold and gray dawn. The old grandfather’s estate, which now stands abandoned, also evokes pleasant feelings, but once upon a time it hummed and lived.
He writes that with great pleasure he would return to the time when landowners were honored. He writes to Varvara about what he experienced then, going out onto the porch early in the morning: “I would like to live like the old landowner! Get up at dawn, leave for the “departing field”, don’t get out of the saddle all day, and in the evening with a healthy appetite, with a healthy fresh mood, return home through the darkened fields.”
And only nine years later, in 1899 or 1900, Bunin decides to write the story “Antonov Apples”, which was based on reflections and impressions from visiting his brother’s village estate. It is believed that the prototype of the hero of Arseny Semenych’s story was a distant relative of the writer himself.
Despite the fact that the work was published in the year it was written, Bunin continued to edit the text for another twenty years. The first publication of the work took place in 1900 in the tenth issue of the St. Petersburg magazine “Life”. This story also had a subtitle: “Pictures from the book “Epitaphs.” For the second time, this work, already revised by Bunin, was included in the collection “The Pass” without a subtitle. It is known that in this edition the writer removed several paragraphs from the beginning of the work.
But if we compare the text of the story with the edition of 1915, when the story “Antonov Apples” was published in Full meeting Bunin's works, or with the text of the 1921 work, which was published in the collection " Initial love", then you can see their significant difference.
Plot of the story
The story takes place in early autumn, when the rains were still warm. In the first chapter, the narrator shares his feelings that he experiences in a village estate. So, the morning is fresh and damp, and the gardens are golden and already noticeably thinned out. But most of all, the smell of Antonov apples is imprinted in the narrator’s memory. The bourgeois gardeners hired peasants to harvest the crops, so voices and the creaking of carts can be heard everywhere in the garden. At night, carts loaded with apples leave for the city. At this time, a man can eat plenty of apples.
Usually a large hut is placed in the middle of the garden, which becomes settled over the summer. An earthen stove appears next to it, all sorts of belongings are lying around, and in the hut itself there are single beds. At lunchtime, this is where food is prepared, and in the evening they put out a samovar and the smoke from it pleasantly spreads throughout the area. And on holidays, fairs are held near such a hut. Serf girls dress up in bright sundresses. An “old woman” also arrives, which somewhat resembles a Kholmogory cow. But not so much people buy something, but come here more for fun. They dance and sing. Closer to dawn it begins to get fresh, and the people disperse.
The narrator also hurries home and in the depths of the garden watches the incredible fairytale picture: “As if in a corner of hell, a crimson flame, surrounded by darkness, is burning near the hut, and someone’s black silhouettes, as if carved from ebony wood, are moving around the fire.”
And he also sees a picture: “Then a black hand several arshins in size will fall across the entire tree, then two legs will clearly appear - two black pillars.”
Having reached the hut, the narrator will playfully fire a rifle a couple of times. He will spend a long time admiring the constellations in the sky and exchange a few phrases with Nikolai. And only when his eyes begin to close and a cool night shiver runs through his entire body, he decides to go home. And at this moment the narrator begins to understand how good life is in the world.
In the second chapter, the narrator will remember a good and fruitful year. But, as people say, if Antonovka is a success, then the rest of the harvest will be good. Autumn is also a wonderful time for hunting. People already dress differently in the fall, since the harvest is harvested and difficult work is left behind. It was interesting for the storyteller-barchuk to communicate at such a time with old men and women, and to observe them. In Rus' it was believed that the longer old people live, the richer the village. The houses of such old people were different from others; they were built by their grandfathers.
The men lived well, and the narrator even at one time wanted to try to live like a man in order to experience all the joys of such a life. At the narrator's estate serfdom was not felt, but it became noticeable on the estate of Aunt Anna Gerasimovna, who lived only twelve miles from Vyselki. The signs of serfdom for the author were:
☛ Low outbuildings.
☛ All the servants leave the servants’ room and bow low and low.
☛ A small old and solid manor.
☛ Huge garden
The narrator remembers his aunt very well when she, coughing, entered the room where he was waiting for her. She was small, but also somehow solid, like her house. But most of all the writer remembers the amazing dinners with her.
In the third chapter, the narrator regrets that the old estates and the order established in them have gone somewhere. The only thing left from all this is hunting. But of all these landowners, only the writer’s brother-in-law, Arseny Semenovich, remained. Usually towards the end of September the weather deteriorated and it rained continuously. At this time the garden became deserted and boring. But October brought a new time to the estate, when the landowners gathered at their brother-in-law's and rushed to hunt. What a wonderful time it was! The hunt lasted for weeks. The rest of the time it was a pleasure to read old books from the library and listen to the silence.
In the fourth chapter, the writer hears the bitterness and regret that the smell of Antonov apples no longer reigns in the villages. The inhabitants of the noble estates also disappeared: Anna Gerasimovna died, and the hunter’s brother-in-law shot himself.
Artistic Features
It is worthwhile to dwell in more detail on the composition of the story. So, the story consists of four chapters. But it is worth noting that some researchers do not agree with the definition of the genre and argue that “Antonov Apples” is a story.
In Bunin’s story “Antonov Apples” we can highlight the following: artistic features:
✔ The plot, which is a monologue, is a memory.
✔ There is no traditional plot.
✔ The plot is very close to poetic text.
The narrator gradually changes chronological pictures, trying to guide the reader from the past to what is happening in reality. The ruined houses of the nobles for Bunin are historical drama, which is comparable to the saddest and saddest times of the year:
Generous and bright summer is the past rich and beautiful housing of landowners and their family estates.
Autumn is a period of withering, the collapse of foundations that have been formed over centuries.
Researchers of Bunin's creativity also pay attention to the pictorial descriptions that the writer uses in his work. It’s as if he’s trying to paint a picture, but only a verbal one.
Ivan Alekseevich uses a lot of pictorial details. Bunin, like A.P. Chekhov, resorts to symbols in his depiction: ★ The image of a garden is a symbol of harmony.
★ The image of apples is both a continuation of life, kindred, and love for life.
Story Analysis
Bunin’s work “Antonov Apples” is a reflection by writers on the fate of the local nobility, which gradually faded away and disappeared. The writer’s heart aches with sadness when he sees vacant lots in the place where only yesterday there were busy noble estates. An unsightly picture opens before his eyes: only ashes remain from the landowners' estates and now they are overgrown with burdocks and nettles.
Sincerely, the author of the story “Antonov Apples” worries about any character in his work, living with him all the trials and anxieties. The writer created a unique work, where one of his impressions, creating a bright and rich picture, is smoothly replaced by another, no less thick and dense.
Criticism of the story "Antonov Apples"
Bunin's contemporaries highly appreciated his work, since the writer especially loves and knows nature and village life. He himself belongs to the last generation of writers who come from noble estates.
But critics' reviews were mixed. Julius Isaevich Aikhenvald, who was in great authority at the beginning of the 20th century, gives this review Bunin's work: “Bunin’s stories dedicated to this antiquity sing its departure.”
Maxim Gorky, in a letter to Bunin, which was written in November 1900, gave his assessment: “Here Ivan Bunin, like a young god, sang. Beautiful, juicy, soulful. No, it’s good when nature creates a person as a nobleman, it’s good!”
But Gorky will re-read Bunin’s work itself many more times. And already in 1901, in a letter to his to the best friend He will write to Pyatnitsky his new impressions:
“Antonov apples smell good - yes! - but - they don’t smell democratic at all... Ah, Bunin!”
Literature lesson 11th grade.
« Lost heaven» I.A. Bunin using the example of a story
"Antonov apples"
Target:
- To introduce the variety of themes of Bunin's prose,
- Teach to identify literary devices, used by Bunin to reveal human psychology, and others character traits Bunin's stories,
- Develop prose text analysis skills.
Tasks:
Cognitive:
1). Identify students’ first impressions of the work they read;
2). Follow how the hero’s age changes and, along with it, the perception of the world;
3). Draw students' attention to the intonation of light sadness in the story;
4). To conclude that this story widely includes landscapes that help to most deeply understand the internal state of the hero and express nostalgia for the bygone past;
5). Consider the image of nature, the image of the human world, the mood of the hero-storyteller, the images and symbols of the story “Antonov Apples”.
Educational:
1). To develop students’ skills in literary critical analysis of a work;
2).to develop in students the skill of complete, competent oral response;
3). Develop the ability to draw conclusions and generalizations.
Educators:
1). Instill in students a sense of beauty;
2). Raising a cultural reader;
writing; interest in the history of language and people
Lesson type : lesson explanation of new material
Technology : the lesson is developed using problem-based learning technology, health-saving, system-activity approach and general pedagogical technologies, as well as with the use of information and communication technologies.
Lesson Methods : reproductive, search, heuristic
Forms of work : frontal, individual, in pairs
Equipment : story by I.A. Bunin "Antonov apples" interactive board, presentation, notebook.
Stages of the lesson and activities of students and teachers
Stage | Target | Form | Method, technique | time min. |
|
1.Organizational moment | Organization of students in the lesson | frontal | |||
2.Motivation | Awakening cognitive interest | Reading a poem | frontal | heuristic | |
3.Updating | Repetition of previously learned and its expansion | Active listening, conversation | Frontal, individual | Reproductive, viewing presentation | |
4.Creating a problem situation | The teacher encourages students to pay attention to the topic of the lesson and explain it | Conversation | frontal | Reproductive, search | |
5. Search, resolution of a problem situation | Form your own opinion; learn to listen to another person; | Work in a notebook, drawing up a table | Individual, group | research | |
6. Generalization, conclusion | Representation of the resulting table, summary, conclusion | Working with an interactive whiteboard | Frontal, individual | Reproductive | |
7. Development of new knowledge in a creative task | Working with individual tasks | Hearing | Personal message | Reproductive | |
8. Summing up | reflection on what was heard in class | Conversation | Frontal, individual | heuristic | |
9.Homework | Variable homework | Paperwork | individual | reproductive |
During the classes.
We just remember happiness.
And happiness is everywhere. Maybe it-
This autumn garden behind the barn
And clean air flowing through the window.
I. Bunin.
Teacher's word: Hello guys! Today we have a very interesting lesson ahead of us, in which we will continue to get acquainted with the work of I.A. Bunin and talk about his story “Antonov Apples”. In order to create the right atmosphere, I suggest listening to the poem by I.A. Bunin's "Evening", an excerpt from which I took as an epigraph to our lesson. (A prepared student reads the poem “Evening”)
EVENING
We always only remember about happiness.
And happiness is everywhere. Maybe it's -
This autumn garden behind the barn
And clean air flowing through the window.
In the bottomless sky with a light white edge
The cloud rises and shines. For a long time
I'm watching him... We see little, we know,
And happiness is given only to those who know.
The window is open. She squeaked and sat down
There's a bird on the windowsill. And from books
I look away from my tired gaze for a moment.
The day is getting dark, the sky is empty.
The hum of a threshing machine can be heard on the threshing floor...
I see, I hear, I am happy. Everything is in me.
What mood is this poem permeated with? What is the main idea of this poem? (mood of quiet sadness, sadness. The main idea is that happiness can be found in the simplest things that surround us, the main thing is to be happy yourself).
I.A. Bunin was convinced that there should be no “division fiction on prose and poetry,” and admitted that such a view seems to him “unnatural and outdated.” He wrote: “The poetic element is spontaneously inherent in works of fine literature, equally in both poetic and prose form. The prose should also differ in tone. Many purely fictional things are read as poetry, although neither meter nor rhyme are observed in them... Prose, no less than poetry, must be subject to the requirements of musicality and flexibility of language.”
These requirements were most fully realized in Bunin’s masterpiece of prose – the story “Antonov Apples”. The story was written in 1901. An attentive reader will notice that this story is a single lyrical monologue of the hero, conveying his state of mind. The story is like a poem. First of all, how the plot is built. Many may say that there is no plot here. And they will be wrong. There is a plot. It is based on memory. The rhythm of poetic breathing, the vague unsteadiness of intonation, and impressionistic imagery become significant. The lyrics seem to lead the prose. Thanks to the saturation of the narrative with poetic imagery, a special laconicism is developed, coupled with magical smoothness and bewitching length. Repetitions of words and pauses create expressive musical mode. Let's listen to the excerpt: “I remember an early, fine autumn... I remember an early, fresh, quiet morning. I remember a large, all golden, dried up and thinning garden, I remember maple alleys, the subtle aroma of fallen leaves and the smell of Antonov apples, the smell of honey and autumn freshness.” The extreme concentration of details and the boldness of comparisons give the impression of elegance, a rich decoration of the narrative, while remaining strict, sharp, clear. The aroma of Antonov apples is constantly present in the work, and this smell sounds like a musical leitmotif.
Bunin - greatest master words, attentive to details. This story is often compared to impressionist paintings. If you come very close to the painting, you will see nothing but brush strokes; if you move away a little, individual items, and if you move further away, you will see the whole picture.
At home you read this amazing story, filled with smells, sounds, impressions, memories, tell me what general mood from the story?(sadness, nostalgia, despondency, farewell to the past).
Let's carefully read the topic of today's lesson, what kind of “paradise lost” is the writer talking about?(Heaven is past life, life in the estate, life in harmony with nature)
What is the composition of the work?(the work consists of 4 parts)And if you read the story carefully, you will notice that the mood in each part is different. In order to confirm this thesis, we will conduct a small study. You are divided into 4 groups, each group will work with one part of the story, the result of your work will be a table consisting of the following columns:
Main theme of the part | Basic images of nature | Picture of people | Image-symbol | Hero's age | What is the mood of this part of the story? |
1. Memories of apple picking | Early fine autumn: “fresh morning”, “juicy crackling” of apples. Cool silence, clean air, cheerful echo, (August) | "How popular print", fair, new sundresses. Festive colors: "black and purple, brick color, wide gold "poneva braid" | Something alarming, mystical, scary: the fire of Hell as a symbol of death | teenager | Joyful, cheerful: “How cold, dewy and how good it is to live in the world” |
2.Description of the estate of the aunt - Anna Gerasimovna | The water is clear. Purple fog, turquoise sky (early September) | The people are tidy and cheerful, peasant life is rich, the buildings are homely. Auntie talks about the past, but she is important, friendly, and treats her to a nice dinner. | Image of a mortal old woman with a gravestone | Young man | The theme of fading, aging, fading arises. Words with the root “old” begin to predominate. The mood is intended to confirm the former contentment and well-being of village life. |
3. Magnificent hunting scenes. | Gloomy low clouds, liquid blue sky, icy wind, liquid ash clouds (late September) | Reading books, admiring antique magazines | Dead silence. Ravine - as an image of loneliness | Man in adulthood | The last flash of life before further disappearance. The motive of abandonment intensifies. |
4. The time of ruin, impoverishment, the end of former greatness. | Empty plains, naked garden, First snow | The old people in Vyselki have died, the village resembles a desert. | Adult | Funeral prayer |
Students work with the text, then present their work on the interactive board.
General conclusion: The four-part composition of Antonov Apples is complete deep meaning. The fate of the specific village of Vyselki and specific people is perceived as the common fate of the entire noble class, and of all of Russia as a whole. Bunin’s conclusion is clear: only in the imagination, only in memory remains the time of happy, carefree youth, thrills and experiences, harmonious existence with nature, life ordinary people, the grandeur of space. Estate life seems to be a kind of “lost paradise”, the bliss of which, of course, cannot be returned by the pitiful attempts of small-scale nobles, who are perceived rather as a parody of past luxury. The breath of beauty that once filled the ancient noble estates, the aroma of Antonov apples gave way to the smells of rottenness, mold, and desolation.
Do you think there is a central image in this work?(Yes, this is an image of a GARDEN).Implementation homework, students prepared in advance make a presentation.
Student message:In Antonovsky Apples the lexical center is the word SAD, one of the key words not only in Bunin’s work, but in Russian culture as a whole. The word “garden” revived memories of something dear and close to the soul.
The garden is associated with a friendly family, home, and with the dream of serene heavenly happiness, which humanity may lose in the future.
You can find many symbolic shades of the word garden: beauty, the idea of time, memory of generations, homeland. But most often the famous Chekhov image comes to mind: the garden noble nests, which recently experienced a period of prosperity, and now have fallen into decline.
Bunin's garden is a mirror that reflects what is happening to the estates and their inhabitants.
In the story “Antonov Apples” he appears as a living being with his own mood and character. The garden is shown each time through the prism of the author’s moods. During the blessed time of Indian summer, he is a symbol of well-being, contentment, prosperity: “...I remember a large, all golden, dried up and thinning garden, I remember maple alleys, the subtle aroma of fallen leaves and the smell of Antonov apples, the smell of honey and autumn freshness.”In the early morning, it is cool and filled with a “purple fog,” as if stripping away the secrets of nature.
But " farewell holiday of autumn"came to an end and“The black garden will shine through the turquoise sky and dutifully wait for winter, warming itself in the sunshine”
In the last chapter, the garden is empty, dull... On the threshold of a new century, only memories of the once brilliant garden remained. The motives of the abandoned noble estate are consonant famous poem I. Bunin’s “Desolation” (1903):
The silent silence torments me.
The nests of the native are languishing in desolation.
I grew up here. But he looks out the window
A dead garden. Decay hangs over the house...
Critics received this work differently. Bunin was accused of glorifying serfdom. A. Kuprin wrote a parody “Pies with Mushrooms”.
But Bunin wrote not about the serf past, not about nature in its “pure form,” but about beauty. He realized early on that writing about beauty means writing about everything that exists, since beauty is dissolved in every phenomenon of existence:
I catch the joy of life in everything -
In the starry sky, in flowers, aromas.
And further:
There's a rainbow... It's fun to live
And it's fun to think about the sky,
About the sun, about ripening bread
And cherish simple happiness:
Wander with your head open,
Look how the children scattered
There is golden sand in the gazebo...
There is no other happiness in the world.
Thus, contempt for degenerating modernity and the disappearance of the past, to which all the artist’s thoughts are directed, led to the emergence of “timeless values” in the writer’s work. Bunin managed to reveal, under the ordinary course of life in the past, what was truly beautiful and indestructible by time.
It is interesting that back in 1891, Bunin conceived the story “Antonov Apples,” but wrote and published it only in 1900. The story was subtitled “Pictures from the Book of Epitaphs.” Why? What did the writer want to emphasize with this subtitle?
(An epitaph is a saying (often in poetry) written on the occasion of someone's death and used as a funeral inscription.)
Homework:1) Write a short essay on the topic “Ivan Bunin’s Lost Paradise” or “What brings together the comedy of A.P. Chekhov " The Cherry Orchard"and the story of I.A. Bunin's "Antonov Apples"?.
I breathed sharply with coolness
The smell of decay hits my face;
But I wasn’t looking for spring decorations,
And memories of past years.
E.A.Baratynsky
I.A. Bunin is often called the last Russian classic, a representative of the outgoing noble culture. His works are imbued with a tragic sense of the doom of the old world, close and dear to the writer, with whom he was connected by origin and upbringing: “The spirit of this environment, romanticized by my imagination, seemed to me all the more beautiful because it disappeared forever before my eyes.” An elegiac motif of longing for the past runs through all of Bunin’s work.
In the story “Antonov Apples” the writer recalls the old, good time, when the nobility was at the ideal time of its existence. “I remember a large room, illuminated by the pre-autumn sun...” - this is how a detailed, slow and unhurried narrative begins. Bunin’s lyrical prose is generally impossible to read quickly: the constant interpenetration from the present to the past is disrupted. This is one of the main problems of the writer’s work - the need to connect times and generations, preserving the memory of a bygone culture. The author emphasizes the idea of the doom of beauty in the “iron” age, the displacement of everything lost, aesthetic, by a crude thirst for profit. And all that remains from the old world is the subtle smell of Antonov apples. The smell is ethereal, and therefore nothing remains of the previous way of life.
At the beginning of the story we note the technique of anaphora, characteristic of poetic works: “I remember a large, all golden, dried up and thinning garden, I remember maple alleys, the subtle aroma of fallen leaves and the smell of Antonov apples.” A number of nouns attract attention here. Behind each of them is a visible image, colored with bright epithets (“fresh, quiet morning”, “golden garden”, etc.) This makes prose work like a poem. Here you can see an undoubted similarity with “Poems in Prose” by I.S. Turgenev. Not only a love of words and beauty united the two great writers - they were also brought together by a passion for hunting. It is no coincidence that Turgenev called his cycle of stories “Notes of a Hunter,” and Bunin noted that “for last years only one thing supported the fading spirit of the landowners - hunting.” Hunting is an ancient and favorite pastime of Russian nobles. Autumn time Bunin calls it “golden”. Big stage hunting is given against the backdrop of the beginning of October - the farewell holiday of autumn. The writer makes us, as it were, accomplices of this joyful, gambling spectacle, hence the narration in the 2nd person: “You are riding a horse, you feel “sweet fatigue,” “you won’t notice how you will drown... in a sweet, healthy sleep...”.
Landscape sketch The 1st part (exposition) is replaced by portrait sketches. Bunin lovingly shows an old man – a long-liver who lived in Vyselki, where “from time immemorial” the peasants were “famous” for their age – “wealth”. Such longevity was considered a sign of a happy, prosperous life; the author describes in detail the
good courtyards, depicts the measured, leisurely existence of wealthy men. It is important for Bunin to compare this familiar way of life with the life of the local nobility using the example of his aunt Anna Gerasimovna.
The story is based on the author’s impressions of visiting his brother’s estate. Before us, against the background of an open area, a “spacious and deep” sky (a favorite image of Bunin’s prose and poetry), the aunt’s estate appears. The description of the estate is typical, we saw something similar in both Turgenev and L. Tolstoy: white lordly two-storey house with columns, neglected garden with a pond, linden alley, bench. The narrative includes a description of the interior: old “mahogany” furniture, “blue and purple glass windows, dried linden blossom” outside the window frames. Special attention We turn our attention to the library - grandfather’s books in thick bindings that “smell so nice.” This collection of books highlights the interests and hobbies of the nobles. Sometimes the choice of volumes is random: “satirical and philosophical works Voltaire”, and next to them are your loved ones romantic works Zhukovsky and Pushkin. “And the old, dreamy life rises before you,” and you imagine how “aristocratically beautiful heads,” sadly and tenderly looking from portraits in tarnished gilded frames, thoughtfully froze over the open pages.
The ellipsis that ends Chapter 3 is significant. This is a longing for a bygone life, the symbol of which for Bunin was the smell of Antonov apples: “These days were so recent, and yet it seems that almost a whole century has passed since then.” Therefore, the next chapter is based on contrast: exquisitely aristocratic “ the life of the fathers" and the "beggarly small-scale life" of the "children." But in this too, Bunin knows how to find attractive features. Hence the abundance of exclamatory sentences: “The small-scale life is good!” (these words sound like a refrain), “It will be a glorious day of hunting!” The usual sound of autumn work merges with the sounds of hunting horns in the fields. And although the small estates still come together and disappear for whole days in the snow-covered fields, now they “drink with their last money,” and their song about the wild wind is full of hopeless sadness:
Opened my gates wider,
The path was covered with white snow...
The ending of the story is symbolic. It echoes the beginning. There is the cool silence of the morning, here it is late evening, when they “glow in the dark” winter night outbuilding windows." This is the dawn and dusk of noble life, and more and more often, towards the end of the story, ellipses appear. If at the beginning of the work they give the character of memories, now they carry in themselves understatement and sadness for a bygone noble life, for a vanished youth.
Thus, the work reflected main topic creativity of I.A. Bunin of the 900s - the theme of the patriarchal past of Russia. The writer regrets his passing life, idealizing the noble way of life. His best memories are associated with the smell of Antonov apples. But Bunin hopes that, along with the dying Russia of the past, the roots of the nation will still be preserved in its memory.
