Story " Dark alleys” opens perhaps Bunin’s most famous cycle of stories, which got its name from this first, “title” work. It is known what importance the writer attached to the initial sound, the first “note” of the narrative, the timbre of which was supposed to determine the entire sound palette of the work. A kind of “beginning” that creates a special lyrical atmosphere of the story were lines from N. Ogarev’s poem “An Ordinary Tale”:
It was a wonderful spring
They sat on the shore
She was in her prime,
His mustache was barely black.
The scarlet rose hips were blooming all around,
There was an alley of dark linden trees...
But, as always with Bunin, “sound” is inseparable from “image”. As he wrote in the notes “The Origin of My Stories,” when he began working on the story, he imagined “some kind of big road, a troika harnessed to a tarantass, and autumn bad weather.” We must add to this the literary impulse, which also played a role: Bunin called L.N.’s “Resurrection” as such. Tolstoy, the heroes of this novel - young Nekhlyudov and Katyusha Maslova. All this came together in the writer’s imagination, and a story was born about lost happiness, the irrevocability of time, lost illusions and the power of the past over man.
A meeting of heroes united once in their youth by a passionate loving feeling, takes place many years later in the most ordinary, perhaps even nondescript setting: in a muddy road, at an inn located on a large road. Bunin does not skimp on “prosaic” details: “a mud-covered tarantass,” “simple horses,” “tails tied up from the slush.” But the portrait of the arriving man is given in detail, clearly designed to arouse sympathy: “a slender old military man,” with black eyebrows, a white mustache, and a shaved chin. His appearance speaks of nobility, and his stern but tired look contrasts with the liveliness of his movements (the author notices how he “threw” his leg out of the tarantass and “ran up” onto the porch). Bunin clearly wants to emphasize the combination of cheerfulness and maturity, youthfulness and sedateness in the hero, which is very important for the overall plan of the story, which is implicated in the desire to collide the past and the present, to strike a spark of memories that will illuminate the past with a bright light and will incinerate and turn into ash what exists Today.
The writer deliberately drags out the exposition: of the three and a half pages devoted to the story, almost a page is occupied by the “introduction”. In addition to the description of the stormy day, the hero’s appearance (and at the same time a detailed description of the coachman’s appearance), which is supplemented with new details as the hero gets rid of his outerwear, it also contains a detailed description of the room where the visitor found himself. Moreover, the refrain of this description is an indication of cleanliness and neatness: a clean tablecloth on the table, cleanly washed benches, a recently whitewashed stove, new image in the corner... The author emphasizes this, since it is known that the owners of Russian inns and hotels were not very tidy and a constant feature of these places were cockroaches and dull windows covered with flies. Consequently, he wants to draw our attention to the almost unique way in which this establishment is maintained by its owners, or rather, as we will soon learn, by its mistress.
But the hero remains indifferent to the surrounding environment, although later he will note the cleanliness and neatness. From his behavior and gestures it is clear that he is irritated, tired (Bunin uses the epithet tired for the second time, now in relation to the entire appearance of the arriving officer), perhaps not very healthy (“pale, thin hand”), and is hostile to everything that is happening (“ “hostilely” called the owners), absent-minded (“inattentively” answers the questions of the hostess who appeared). And only this woman’s unexpected address to him: “Nikolai Alekseevich,” makes him seem to wake up. After all, before that, he asked her questions purely mechanically, without thinking, although he managed to glance at her figure, note her rounded shoulders, light legs in worn Tatar shoes.
The author himself, as if in addition to the “unseeing” gaze of the hero, gives a much more sharply expressive, unexpected, juicy portrait of the woman who entered: not very young, but still beautiful, similar to a gypsy, plump, but not overweight, a woman. Bunin deliberately resorts to naturalistic, almost anti-aesthetic details: large breasts, a triangular belly, like a goose’s. But the anti-aestheticism of the image is “removed”: the breasts are hidden under a red blouse (the diminutive suffix is intended to convey a feeling of lightness), and the stomach is hidden by a black skirt. In general, the combination of black and red in clothes, the fluff above the lip (a sign of passion), and the zoomorphic comparison are aimed at emphasizing the carnal, earthly nature in the heroine.
However, it is she who will reveal - as we will see a little later - the spiritual principle as opposed to the mundane existence that, without realizing it, the hero drags out, without thinking or looking into his past. That's why she's the first! - recognizes him. No wonder she “looked inquisitively at him all the time, squinting slightly,” and he will look at her only after she addresses him by name and patronymic. She - and not he - will name the exact number when it comes to the years they have not seen each other: not thirty-five, but thirty. She will tell you how old he is now. This means that she meticulously calculated everything, which means that every year she left a notch in her memory! And this is at a time when he should never forget what connected them, for in the past he had - no less than - a dishonest act, however, completely ordinary at that time - having fun with a serf girl when visiting friends' estates, sudden departure...
In the terse dialogue between Nadezhda (that’s the name of the owner of the inn) and Nikolai Alekseevich, the details of this story are restored. And the most important thing is the different attitude of the heroes towards the past. If for Nikolai Alekseevich everything that happened is “a vulgar, ordinary story” (however, he is ready to put everything in his life under this standard, as if removing from a person the burden of responsibility for his actions), then for Nadezhda her love became a great test, and a great event, the only one of significance in her life. “Just as I didn’t have anything more valuable than you in the world at that time, so I didn’t have anything later,” she will say.
For Nikolai Alekseevich, the love of a serf was only one of the episodes of his life (Nadezhda directly states this to him: “It’s as if nothing happened for you”). She “wanted to kill herself” several times, and despite her extraordinary beauty, she never got married, never being able to forget her first love. That’s why she refutes Nikolai Alekseevich’s statement that “everything passes over the years” (he, as if trying to convince himself of this, repeats the formula that “everything passes” several times: after all, he really wants to brush aside the past, to imagine everything is not enough significant event), with the words: “Everything passes, but not everything is forgotten.” And she will say them with unshakable confidence. However, Bunin almost never comments on her words, limiting himself to monosyllabic “answered”, “approached”, “paused”. Only once does he slip an indication of the “unkind smile” with which Nadezhda utters the phrase addressed to her seducer: “I was deigned to read all the poems about all sorts of “dark alleys”.”
The writer is also stingy with “historical details.” Only from the words of the heroine of the work: “The gentlemen soon after you gave me my freedom,” and from the mention of the hero’s appearance, which had “a resemblance to Alexander II, which was so common among the military during his reign,” we can get the idea that The story appears to take place in the 60s or 70s years XIX V.
But Bunin is unusually generous in commenting on the condition of Nikolai Alekseevich, for whom a meeting with Nadezhda becomes a meeting with both his past and his conscience. The writer here reveals himself as a “secret psychologist” in all his splendor, making it clear through gestures, intonation of voice, and the behavior of the hero what is happening in his soul. If at first the only thing that interests a visitor at the inn is that “from behind the stove damper there was a sweet smell of cabbage soup” (Bunin even adds this detail: the smell of “boiled cabbage, beef and bay leaf” was felt), from which we can conclude that the guest is clearly hungry), then upon meeting Nadezhda, upon recognizing her, upon further conversation with her, fatigue and absent-mindedness instantly disappear from him, he begins to look fussy, worried, talking a lot and confusedly (“mumbled”, “added quickly” , “hurriedly said”), which is a sharp contrast with the calm majesty of Nadezhda. Bunin points three times to Nikolai Alekseevich’s reaction of embarrassment: “he quickly straightened up, opened his eyes and blushed,” “he stopped and, blushing through his gray hair, began to speak,” “blushed to the point of tears”; emphasizes his dissatisfaction with himself with sudden changes in position: “he walked decisively around the room,” “frowning, he walked again,” “stopping, he grinned painfully.”
All this indicates what a difficult, painful process is taking place in him. But at first, nothing comes to mind except the divine beauty of the young girl (“How beautiful you were!... What a figure, what eyes!... How everyone looked at you”) and the romantic atmosphere of their rapprochement, and he is inclined brush aside what he had heard, hoping to turn the conversation, if not into a joke, then into the direction of “whoever remembers the old will...” However, after he heard that Nadezhda could never forgive him, because one cannot forgive the one who took away the most dear - the soul, who killed it, he seems to see the light. He is especially shocked, apparently, by the fact that to explain her feeling she resorts to the proverb (obviously, especially loved by Bunin, already used by him once in the story “The Village”) “they don’t carry the dead from the graveyard.” This means that she feels dead, that she never came back to life after those happy spring days and that for her, who knew the great power of love, it was not without reason that his question-exclamation: “You couldn’t love me all your life!” - she firmly answers: “So, she could. No matter how much time passed, I still lived alone,” there is no return to the life of ordinary people. Her love was not easy stronger than death, but stronger than the life that came after what happened and which she, as a Christian, had to continue, no matter what.
And what kind of life this is, we learn from several remarks exchanged between Nikolai Alekseevich, who is leaving the short-term shelter, and the coachman Klim, who says that the owner of the inn is “smart”, that she is “getting rich” because she “gives money on interest”, that she is “cool”, but “fair”, which means she enjoys both respect and honor. But we understand how petty and insignificant for her, who has fallen in love once and for all, all this mercantile frivolity, how incompatible it is with what is going on in her soul. For Nadezhda, her love is from God. No wonder she says: “What does God give to whom... Everyone’s youth passes, but love is another matter.” That is why her unpreparedness for forgiveness, while Nikolai Alekseevich really wants and hopes that God will forgive him, and even more so Nadezhda will forgive him, because, by all standards, he committed not such a great sin, is not condemned by the author. Although such a maximalist position runs counter to Christian doctrine. But, according to Bunin, a crime against love, against memory is much more serious than the sin of “grudge.” And it is precisely the memory of love, of the past, in his opinion, that justifies a lot.
And the fact that a true understanding of what happened gradually awakens in the hero’s mind speaks in his favor. After all, at first the words he said: “I think that in you I too have lost the most precious thing I had in life,” and his act - he kissed Nadezhda’s hand goodbye - do not cause him anything but shame, and even more - the shame of this shame, are perceived by him as false, ostentatious. But then he begins to understand that what came out accidentally, in a hurry, perhaps even for the sake of a catchphrase, is the most genuine “diagnosis” of the past. His internal dialogue, reflecting hesitation and doubt: “Isn’t it true that she gave me the best moments of my life?” - ends with an unshakable: “Yes, of course, the best moments. And not the best, but truly magical.” But right there - and here Bunin acts as a realist who does not believe in romantic transformations and repentance - another, sobering voice told him that all these thoughts were “nonsense”, that he could not do otherwise, that nothing could be corrected then , not now.
So Bunin, in the very first story of the cycle, gives an idea of the unattainable height to which the most ordinary person is capable of rising if his life is illuminated, albeit tragic, by love. And short moments of this love can “outweigh” all the material benefits of future well-being, all the joys of love interests that do not rise above the level of ordinary affairs, and in general the entire subsequent life with its ups and downs.
Bunin draws the subtlest modulations of the characters’ states, relying on the sound “echo”, the consonance of phrases that are born, often without meaning, in response to spoken words. Thus, the words of coachman Klim that if you don’t give Nadezhda the money on time, then “blame yourself,” echo like echolalia when Nikolai Alekseevich pronounces them out loud: “Yes, yes, blame yourself.” And then in his soul they will continue to sound like “crucifying” his words. “Yes, blame yourself,” he thinks, realizing what kind of guilt lies with him. And the brilliant formula created by the author and put into the heroine’s mouth: “Everything passes, but not everything is forgotten,” was born in response to Nikolai Alekseevich’s phrase: “Everything passes. Everything is forgotten,” which was previously supposedly confirmed in a quotation from the book of Job: “as you will remember the flowing water.” And more than once throughout the story words will appear that refer us to the past, to memory: “Over the years, everything passes”; “everyone’s youth passes”; “I called you Nikolenka, and you remember me”; “Do you remember how everyone looked at you”, “How can you forget this”, “Well, why remember.” These echoing phrases seem to be weaving a carpet on which Bunin’s formula about the omnipotence of memory will be forever imprinted.
It is impossible not to notice the obvious similarity of this story with Turgenev’s “Asya”. As we remember, even there the hero at the end tries to convince himself that “fate was good in not uniting him with Asya.” He consoles himself with the thought that “he probably would not be happy with such a wife.” It would seem that the situations are similar: in both cases the idea of misalliance, i.e. the possibility of marrying a woman of a lower class is initially rejected. But what is the result of this, it would seem, from the point of view of the attitudes of the right decision accepted in society? The hero of “Asia” found himself condemned to forever remain a “familyless bastard” dragging out “boring” years utter loneliness. It's all in the past.
For Nikolai Alekseevich from “Dark Alleys” life turned out differently: he achieved a position in society, is surrounded by family, he has a wife and children. True, as he admits to Nadezhda, he was never happy: his wife, whom he loved “without memory,” cheated and left him, his son, on whom great hopes were pinned, turned out to be “a scoundrel, a spendthrift, an insolent person without a heart, without honor, without conscience.” ....” Of course, it can be assumed that Nikolai Alekseevich somewhat exaggerates his feeling of bitterness, his experiences, in order to somehow make amends for Nadezhda, so that it would not be so painful for her to realize the difference in their states, their different assessment of the past. Moreover, at the end of the story, when he tries to “learn a lesson” from the unexpected meeting, to sum up his life, he, reflecting, comes to the conclusion that it would still be impossible to imagine Nadezhda as the mistress of his St. Petersburg house, the mother of his children. Consequently, we understand that his wife, apparently, returned to him, and besides the scoundrel son, there are other children. But why, in this case, is he so initially irritated, bilious, gloomy, why does he have a stern and at the same time tired look? Why is this look “questioning”? Maybe this is a subconscious desire to still give oneself an account of how he lives? And why does he shake his head in bewilderment, as if driving away doubts... Yes, all because the meeting with Nadezhda brightly illuminated his past life. And it became clear to him that there had never been anything in his life better than those “truly magical” minutes when “the scarlet rose hips were in bloom, there was an alley of dark linden trees,” when he passionately loved passionate Nadezhda, and she recklessly gave herself to him with all recklessness youth.
And the hero of Turgenev’s “Asia” cannot remember anything brighter than that“burning, tender, deep feeling”, which was given to him by a childish and serious girl beyond his years...
Both of them have only “flowers of memories” left from the past - a dried geranium flower thrown from Asya’s window, a scarlet rose hip from Ogarev’s poem that accompanied the love story of Nikolai Alekseevich and Nadezhda. Only for the latter it is a flower that has caused unhealed wounds with its thorns.
So, following Turgenev, Bunin paints greatness female soul, capable of loving and remembering, in contrast to the male one, burdened with doubts, entangled in petty predilections, subordinate to social conventions. Thus, already the first story of the cycle reinforces the leading motifs of Bunin’s late work - memory, the omnipotence of the past, the significance of a single moment in comparison with a dull series of everyday life.
I. A. Bunin is the first of the Russian writers to receive Nobel Prize, who achieved popularity and fame at the world level, having fans and associates, but... deeply unhappy, because since 1920 he was cut off from his homeland and yearned for it. All stories from the emigration period are imbued with a feeling of melancholy and nostalgia.
Inspired by the lines of the poem “An Ordinary Tale” by N. Ogarev: “The scarlet rose hips were blooming all around / There was an alley of dark linden trees,” Ivan Bunin conceived the idea of writing a cycle of love stories about subtle human feelings. Love is different, but it is always a strong feeling that changes the lives of heroes.
The story “Dark Alleys”: summary
The story “Dark Alleys,” the same name in the cycle and the main one, was published on October 20, 1938 in the New York edition “ New land" The main character, Nikolai Alekseevich, accidentally meets Nadezhda, whom he seduced and abandoned many years ago. For the hero then it was just an affair with a serf girl, but the heroine seriously fell in love and carried this feeling throughout her life. After the affair, the girl received her freedom, began to earn her own living, and now owns an inn and “gives money on interest.” Nikolai Alekseevich ruined Nadezhda’s life, but was punished: his beloved wife abandoned him as vilely as he himself had once done, and his son grew up to be a scoundrel. The heroes part, now forever, Nikolai Alekseevich understands what kind of love he missed. However, the hero cannot even in his thoughts overcome social conventions and imagine what would have happened if he had not abandoned Nadezhda.
Bunin, “Dark Alleys” - audiobook
Listening to the story “Dark Alleys” is extremely pleasant, because the poetic language of the author is also manifested in prose.
Image and characteristics of the main character (Nikolai)
The image of Nikolai Alekseevich evokes antipathy: this man does not know how to love, he sees only himself and public opinion. He is afraid of himself, of Nadezhda, no matter what happens. But if everything is outwardly decent, you can do as you please, for example, break the heart of a girl for whom no one will stand up. Life punished the hero, but did not change him, did not add strength of spirit. His image personifies habit, the routine of life.
Image and characteristics of the main character (Nadezhda)
Much stronger is Nadezhda, who was able to survive the shame of an affair with the “master” (although she wanted to kill herself, she came out of this state), and also managed to learn to earn money on her own, and in an honest way. Coachman Klim notes the woman’s intelligence and fairness; she “gives money on interest” and “gets rich,” but does not profit from the poor, but is guided by justice. Nadezhda, despite the tragedy of her love, kept it in her heart for many years, forgave her offender, but did not forget. Its image is the soul, the sublimity, which is not in origin, but in personality.
The main idea and main theme of the story “Dark Alleys”
Love in Bunin’s “Dark Alleys” is a tragic, fatal, but no less important and beautiful feeling. It becomes eternal, because it remains forever in the memory of both heroes; it was the most precious and brightest thing in their lives, although it is gone forever. If a person has ever loved like Nadezhda, he has already experienced happiness. Even if this love ended tragically. The life and fate of the heroes of the story “Dark Alleys” would be completely empty and gray without such a bitter and sick, but still stunning and bright feeling, which is a kind of litmus test that tests a human personality for strength of spirit and moral purity. Nadezhda passes this test, but Nikolai does not. This is the idea of the work. You can read more about the theme of love in the work here:
Bunin Ivan Alekseevich is one of best writers our country. The first collection of his poems appeared in 1881. Then he wrote the stories “To the End of the World”, “Tanka”, “News from the Motherland” and some others. In 1901 it was published new collection"Falling Leaves", for which the author received the Pushkin Prize.
Popularity and recognition come to the writer. He meets M. Gorky, A. P. Chekhov, L. N. Tolstoy.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Ivan Alekseevich created the stories “Zakhar Vorobyov”, “Pines”, “Antonov Apples” and others, which depict the tragedy of the disadvantaged, impoverished people, as well as the ruin of the estates of the nobles.
and emigration
Bunin perceived the October Revolution negatively, as a social drama. He emigrated in 1920 to France. Here he wrote, among other works, a cycle of short stories called “Dark Alleys” (we will analyze the story of the same name from this collection below). The main theme of the cycle is love. Ivan Alekseevich reveals to us not only its bright sides, but also its dark ones, as the name itself suggests.
Bunin's fate was both tragic and happy. He reached unsurpassed heights in his art and was the first Russian writer to receive the prestigious Nobel Prize. But he was forced to live for thirty years in a foreign land, with longing for his homeland and spiritual closeness with her.
Collection "Dark Alleys"
These experiences served as the impetus for the creation of the “Dark Alleys” cycle, which we will analyze. This collection, in a truncated form, first appeared in New York in 1943. In 1946, the next edition was published in Paris, which included 38 stories. The collection differed sharply in its content from how the topic of love was usually covered in Soviet literature.
Bunin's view of love
Bunin had his own, different from others, own view to this feeling. Its ending was one - death or separation, no matter how much the characters loved each other. Ivan Alekseevich thought that it looked like a flash, but that’s what was wonderful. Over time, love is replaced by affection, which gradually turns into everyday life. Bunin's heroes lack this. They experience only a flash and part, having enjoyed it.
Let's consider the analysis of the story that opens the cycle of the same name, starting with brief description plots.
The plot of the story "Dark Alleys"
Its plot is simple. General Nikolai Alekseevich, already an old man, arrives at the postal station and meets here his beloved, whom he has not seen for about 35 years. He will not recognize hope right away. Now she is the mistress of where their first meeting once took place. The hero finds out that all this time she loved only him.
The story "Dark Alleys" continues. Nikolai Alekseevich is trying to justify himself to the woman for not visiting her for so many years. “Everything passes,” he says. But these explanations are very insincere and clumsy. Nadezhda wisely answers the general, saying that youth passes for everyone, but love does not. A woman reproaches her lover for leaving her heartlessly, so she wanted to commit suicide many times, but she realizes that it is now too late to reproach.
Let's take a closer look at the story "Dark Alleys". shows that Nikolai Alekseevich does not seem to feel remorse, but Nadezhda is right when she says that not everything is forgotten. The general also could not forget this woman, his first love. In vain he asks her: “Please go away.” And he says that if only God would forgive him, and Nadezhda, apparently, has already forgiven him. But it turns out that no. The woman admits that she could not do this. Therefore, the general is forced to make excuses, apologize to his former lover, saying that he was never happy, but he loved his wife deeply, and she left Nikolai Alekseevich and cheated on him. He adored his son, had high hopes, but he turned out to be an insolent man, a spendthrift, without honor, heart, or conscience.
Is the old love still there?
Let's analyze the work "Dark Alleys". Analysis of the story shows that the feelings of the main characters have not faded away. It becomes clear to us that the old love has been preserved, the heroes of this work love each other as before. Leaving, the general admits to himself that this woman gave him the best moments of his life. Fate takes revenge on the hero for betraying his first love. Doesn't find happiness in life family Nikolai Alekseevich (“Dark Alleys”). An analysis of his experiences proves this. He realizes that he missed the chance once given by fate. When the coachman tells the general that this landlady gives money at interest and is very “cool”, although she is fair: he didn’t return it on time - that means you have yourself to blame, Nikolai Alekseevich projects these words onto his life, reflects on what would have happened , if he had not left this woman.
What prevented the happiness of the main characters?
At one time, class prejudices prevented the future general from uniting his fate with a commoner. But love did not leave the protagonist’s heart and prevented him from becoming happy with another woman and raising his son with dignity, as our analysis shows. "Dark Alleys" (Bunin) is a work that has a tragic connotation.
Nadezhda also carried love throughout her life and in the end she also found herself alone. She could not forgive the hero for the suffering he caused, since he remained the most important thing in her life. dear person. Nikolai Alekseevich was unable to break the rules established in society and did not risk acting against them. After all, if the general had married Nadezhda, he would have met with contempt and misunderstanding from those around him. And the poor girl had no choice but to submit to fate. In those days, bright alleys of love between a peasant woman and a gentleman were impossible. This problem is already public, not personal.
The dramatic destinies of the main characters
In his work, Bunin wanted to show the dramatic destinies of the main characters, who were forced to part, being in love with each other. In this world, love turned out to be doomed and especially fragile. But she illuminated their whole life and forever remained in their memory as the best moments. This story is romantically beautiful, although dramatic.
In Bunin's work "Dark Alleys" (we are now analyzing this story), the theme of love is a cross-cutting motif. It permeates all creativity, thereby connecting the emigrant and Russian periods. It is this that allows the writer to correlate spiritual experiences with the phenomena of external life, and also to get closer to the secret of the human soul, based on the influence of objective reality on him.
This concludes the analysis of “Dark Alleys”. Everyone understands love in their own way. This amazing feeling has not yet been solved. The theme of love will always be relevant, since it is the driving force of many human actions, the meaning of our lives. In particular, our analysis leads to this conclusion. “Dark Alleys” by Bunin is a story that even in its title reflects the idea that this feeling cannot be fully understood, it is “dark”, but at the same time beautiful.
Bunin worked in the 19th and 20th centuries. His attitude to love was special: in the beginning people loved each other very much, but in the end either one of the heroes dies or breaks up. For Bunin, love is a passionate feeling, but similar to a flash.
To analyze Bunin's work "Dark Alleys", you need to touch on the plot.
General Nikolai Alekseevich - main character, he comes to hometown and meets the woman he loved many years ago. Nadezhda is the mistress of the yard; he does not recognize her right away. But Nadezhda did not forget him and loved Nikolai, even tried to commit suicide. The main characters seem to feel guilty for leaving her. Therefore, he tries to apologize, saying that any feelings pass.
It turns out that Nikolai’s life was not so easy, he loved his wife, but she cheated on him, and his son grew up to be a scoundrel and an insolent man. He is forced to blame himself for what he did in the past, because Nadezhda could not forgive him.
Bunin's work shows that after 35 years the love between the heroes has not faded. When the general leaves the city, he realizes that Nadezhda is the best thing that happened in his life. He reflects on the life that could have been if the connection between them had not been broken.
Bunin put tragedy into his work, because the lovers never got back together.
Nadezhda was able to maintain love, but this did not help create a union - she was left alone. I didn’t forgive Nikolai either, because the pain was very strong. But Nikolai himself turned out to be weak, did not leave his wife, was afraid of contempt and could not resist society. They could only be submissive to fate.
Bunin shows sad story the fates of two people. Love in the world could not resist the foundations of the old society, so it became fragile and hopeless. But there is also positive trait- love brought a lot of good things into the lives of the heroes, it left its mark, which they will always remember.
Almost all of Bunin’s work touches on the problem of love, and “Dark Alleys” shows how important love is in a person’s life. For Blok, love comes first, because it is what helps a person improve, change his life for the better, gain experience, and also teaches him to be kind and sensitive.
Analysis of the story Dark Alleys
In one of Ogarev’s poems, Bunin was “hooked” by the phrase “...there was an alley of dark linden trees...” Then his imagination painted autumn, rain, a road, and an old soldier in a tarantass. This formed the basis of the story.
This was the idea. The hero of the story in his youth seduced a peasant girl. He had already forgotten about her. But life has a way of bringing surprises. By chance, after many years of driving through familiar places, he stopped in a passing hut. And in beautiful woman, the owner of the hut, recognized the same girl.
The old soldier felt ashamed, he blushed, turned pale, and muttered something like a guilty schoolboy. Life punished him for his deed. He married for love, but never knew the warmth of a family hearth. His wife didn’t love him and cheated on him. And, in the end, she left him. The son grew up to be a scoundrel and a slacker. Everything in life comes back like a boomerang.
What about Nadezhda? She still loves the former master. It didn't work out for her personal life. No family, no beloved husband. But at the same time she could not forgive the master. These are the kind of women who love and hate at the same time.
The military man plunges into memories. Mentally relives their relationship. They warm the soul like the sun a minute before sunset. But he doesn’t allow for a second the thought that everything could have turned out differently. The society of that time would have condemned their relationship. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't need them, these relationships. Then it was possible to put an end to a military career.
He lives as they dictate social rules and foundations. He is a coward by nature. You have to fight for love.
Bunin does not allow love to flow along the family channel and form into a happy marriage. Why does he deprive his heroes of human happiness? Perhaps he thinks that fleeting passion is better? Is this eternal unfinished love better? She did not bring happiness to Nadezhda, but she still loves. What does she hope for? Personally, I don’t understand this; I don’t share the author’s views.
The old servant finally sees the light and realizes what he has lost. He speaks about this with such bitterness to Nadezhda. He realized that she was the dearest, brightest person to him. But he still didn’t understand what trump cards he had up his sleeve. Life gave him a second chance at happiness, but he didn’t take advantage of it.
What meaning does Bunin put into the title of the story “Dark Alleys”? What does he mean? Dark recesses of the human soul and human memory. Every person has his own secrets. And they sometimes emerge for him in the most unexpected ways. There is nothing random in life. Accident is a pattern well planned by God, fate or the cosmos.
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Botova Yulia
“Dark Alleys” was written in 1937 - 1949. Built on a single theme- love, they represent not only a single whole, but also a certain stage in Bunin’s work. The stories of “Dark Alleys” seemed to flow from everything that was created immediately before them, and absorbed the lyricism organically inherent in the writer’s talent. The originality, originality, and extraordinary frankness of the book made it a masterpiece. late creativity writer and became for many the work with which the name of Bunin is associated.
The study of I. A. Bunin’s cycle “Dark Alleys” is of great interest, since it is associated with the solution of many important problems modern literary criticism, in particular, solving the problem of the prose cycle.
The choice of topic is due to the fact that it involves consideration of the history of the development of the cycle as a genre phenomenon in Russian literature and the history of the study of the cycle in literary criticism. In addition, this topic allows us to turn to the work of I. A. Bunin of the late emigrant period and identify some problems associated with the features of the novelistic cycle.
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City Department of Education
urban district of Saransk
Municipal educational institution "Yalga secondary school"
City scientific and practical conference
“City schoolchildren – science of the 21st century”
Research
“Dark Alleys” by I. A. Bunin: problems of the originality of the novelistic cycle
Performed: 11th grade student
Botova Yulia
Supervisor: literature teacher
Khalzova N.S.
Saransk, 2010
Page
Introduction 3
1. Prose cycle as a genre phenomenon 5
1.1. Scientific controversy about the composition and structure of cycle 5
2. Cycle-forming factors in “Dark Alleys” by I. A. Bunin 10
2.1. Thematic unity of the stories of cycle 10
Introduction
“Dark Alleys” was written in 1937 - 1949. Built on a single theme - love, they represent not only a single whole, but also a certain stage in Bunin’s work. The stories of “Dark Alleys” seemed to flow from everything that was created immediately before them, and absorbed the lyricism organically inherent in the writer’s talent. The originality, originality, and extraordinary frankness of the book made it a masterpiece of the writer’s late work and became for many the work with which Bunin’s name is associated.
The study of I. A. Bunin’s cycle “Dark Alleys” is of great interest, since it is associated with the solution of many important problems of modern literary criticism, in particular the solution to the problem of the prose cycle.
The choice of topic is due to the fact that it involves consideration of the history of the development of the cycle as a genre phenomenon in Russian literature and the history of the study of the cycle in literary criticism. In addition, this topic allows us to turn to the work of I. A. Bunin of the late emigrant period and identify some problems associated with the features of the novelistic cycle.
We reviewed critical and research literature on or directly related to this topic. The first responses to the new, original work appeared during the life of I. A. Bunin. The first serious response to the cycle after the death of the author was an article by G. Adamovich, in which he spoke out against critical statements about the “Dark Alleys” that existed at that time. G. Adamovich denies the opinion that the range of Bunin's creativity has narrowed and his passion for love stories borders on the obsession with an obsession.
In the 1960s and 70s, little was written about “Dark Alleys”; A notable phenomenon against this background can be called the work of M. I. Iofyev, which analyzes the works of both the pre-revolutionary period of creativity and the emigrant era. The researcher turned directly to the entire “Dark Alleys” cycle. There are interesting comments in the work of L.K. Dolgopolov, who included Bunin’s book in a number of remarkable cycles of the “Silver Age”. Major studies dedicated to creativity Bunin, including the “Dark Alleys” cycle, appeared in the last 10-15 years. Among them are the works of O. N. Mikhailov, A. A. Saakyants, L. A. Smirnova. At the moment, there is no monograph devoted to our topic. Interesting comments about the “Dark Alleys” cycle can be found in the articles recent years, owned by O. V. Slivitskaya, I. Sukhikh and others.
Relevance of the topicdue to the fact that, having been created in the 30-40s of the 20th century, “Dark Alleys” were not sufficiently studied due to historical conditions in our country. And such a question as cyclicality of this work, began to be developed by researchers only in recent years.
The purpose of the work is to consider “Dark Alleys” as a novelistic cycle, identifying its features.
In accordance with this topic, we have set specific tasks:
- identify the problem of the originality of the novelistic cycle “Dark Alleys”;
- determine the debate around the structure and composition of the cycle;
- identify cycle-forming factors in the book.
Research methods:structural, linguistic-stylistic, biographical.
Work structure:the work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, and a list of sources used.
1. Prose cycle as a genre phenomenon
1.1 Scientific controversy about the composition and structure of the cycle “Dark Alleys”
The cycle of stories “Dark Alleys” was written by I. Bunin in exile. His prose of this period is distinguished by a deeply subjective vision of the world. His stories of this time are characterized by an appeal to memory, to the past, to the emotions of a person inextricably linked with the irrevocable world. Most of the stories in the book “Dark Alleys” were created by the writer in a very difficult time - during the Second World War, in occupied France.
Contact with the world was maintained through letters that Bunin received and wrote almost daily. Boris Nikolaevich and Vera Andreevna Zaitsev, Mark Aleksandrovich Aldanov, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Teffi, Fyodor Avgustovich Stepun - the letters of these people, scattered across different continents, found each other even during the war and post-war times. In one of his letters in 1952 to F. A. Stepun, philosopher, sociologist, literary critic, and historian, I. A. Bunin presents the composition and structure of the collection.
"Book "Dark Alleys"
Dark alleys. Caucasus. Ballad. Styopa. Muse. Late hour. Russia. Gorgeous. Stupid girl. Antigone. Emerald. Guest. Wolves. Business Cards. Zoyka and Valeria. Tanya. In Paris. Galya Ganskaya. Henry. Natalie. On a familiar street. River tavern. Kuma. Start. "Oak trees." Young lady Clara. "Madrid". Second coffee pot. Iron Wool. Cold autumn. Steamship "Saratov". Crow. Camargue. One hundred rupees. Revenge. Swing. Clean Monday. Chapel.
Bunin considered almost two-thirds of the listed stories in the book to be the most and especially valuable. And this revealed the writer’s attitude towards “Dark Alleys” as “the last literary joy”, the best of everything he had written.
“When we are alone for a long time, we fill the emptiness with ghosts” - that’s why I make up stories most of all,”Bunin wrote to his closest people. (From a letter to the Zaitsevs dated July 14, 1944). It was these “stories,” “gags,” as he called them, that made up a tragic book about love, death, separation, and the irrevocability of the past.
“This whole book is called after the first story - “Dark Alleys” - in which the “heroine” reminds her first lover how he once read her poems about “Dark Alleys” (“The scarlet rose hips were blooming all around, There were alleys of dark linden trees. .."")(Inaccurate quote from N. P. Ogarev’s poem “An Ordinary Tale”) - Defining the main pathos of the cycle, Bunin writes:“And all the stories in this book are only about love, about its “dark” and most often very gloomy and cruel alleys.”(From a letter to Teffi dated February 23, 1944).
While in exile, Bunin could only publish his stories in foreign publishing houses. Bunin's friends made attempts to publish his stories in the USA and France. But his fate was “extraordinarily sad” last book" Stories at that time were of little interest to publishers, while Bunin then had only “ little novel, too small for separate publication" The writer reasoned this way:“If the publisher is interested, and the publication is more or less worthwhile, and most importantly not fraudulent, and pays something in advance, then you can add several stories to this little novel, under the cover of Natalie, novel, also love stories, 25 of them, that I have written recently in my “trans-Alpine solitude.”(From a letter to the Zaitsevs dated November 8, 1943). .
It was not published in this form either in France or in the USA, but in New York in 1943 the first volume of the book “Dark Alleys” was published, which included the “little novel” “Natalie” along with other love stories. The book consisted of two sections and included the following works:
- Dark alleys. Caucasus. Ballad. April. Styopa. Muse. Late hour.
- Russia. Tanya. In Paris. Natalie.
According to the assumption of Bunin, who sent other stories to the publishers, the book should have included the following works: “Mother’s Chest”, “On the Pavement Street”, “Antigone”, “Smaragd”, “Guest”, “Business Cards”, “Wolves”, “Zoyka and Valeria”, “Galya Ganskaya”, “Henry”, “Three rubles”, “On such a night...”, “Three rubles”, “Lita”, “April”.
The publishing house "Novaya Zemlya", which published Bunin's "Dark Alleys" (New York, 1943), accompanied the book with an afterword: "Dark Alleys" is published without the author's proofreading. The publishing house, unfortunately, does not have the opportunity to communicate with I. A. Bunin. Meanwhile, it was forced to divide the book famous writer into two volumes. This volume contains only half of the stories that make up this book. Its author, naturally, does not bear any responsibility for its section and for other shortcomings that the publication may have. The editorial board of Novaya Zemlya considers itself obligated to bring this to the attention of readers in the hope that they, like Ivan Alekseevich Bunin himself, will take into account the exceptional conditions of our time. May 1943. From the publisher." .
It’s easy to imagine how Bunin, who, by his own admission, reacted to the publication of texts without author’s proofreading,"idiotic, psychopathic about his lyrics"(From a letter to M.A. Aldanov dated July 31, August 1, 1947) and understood that“sometimes ten infidels or unnecessary words ruin all the music."Having received the book in 1945, Bunin exclaims in one of his letters to Aldanov:“I really regret that I decided to do thisedition! And then there’s the publisher’s “afterword”: “we’ll publish the remaining stories as a separate book.” God forbid, I’m very afraid - what if they really publish it! I don’t want this under any circumstances!”(Dated August 16, 1945).
The second edition of Dark Alleys took place in 1946 in Paris.
Bunin excluded the story “April” from the first section. The content of the second section has been significantly expanded compared to the first edition of the book. In the second edition, the story “Mom’s Chest” was called “Beauty”, the story “On the Pavement Street” was called “Fool”; The composition of the section has been changed. The story “Three Rubles” was removed from the book. The story “Lita” was not published at all during Bunin’s lifetime. The third section appeared for the first time, which included 18 stories.
- Dark alleys. Caucasus. Ballad. Styopa. Muse. Late hour.
- Russia. Gorgeous. Stupid girl. Antigone. Emerald. Guest. Wolves. Business Cards. Zoyka and Valeria. Tanya. In Paris. Galya Ganskaya. Henry. Natalie.
- On a familiar street. River tavern. Kuma. Start. "Oak trees." Young lady Clara. "Madrid". Second coffee pot. Iron Wool. Cold autumn. Steamship "Saratov". Crow. Camargue. One hundred rupees. Revenge. Swing. Clean Monday. Chapel.
In addition to publishing “Dark Alleys” in book form, individual works, included in its composition, were also published independently. The stories “Caucasus”, “Ballad”, “Styopa”, “Muse”, “Late Hour” were published in Paris in 1937. In 1942 - “Rusya”, “Wolves”, “In Paris”, “Natalie”. In 1945 - “Madrid”, “Second Coffee Pot”, “River Inn”, “Oaks”, “Steamboat Saratov”, “Clean Monday”. In 1946 - “Galya Ganskaya”, “Revenge”.
In literary criticism, the problem of the composition of the “Dark Alleys” cycle has not been completely resolved.
The question of inclusion or non-inclusion of later stories in the cycle - “In the Spring, in Judea” (1946) and “Overnight” (1949) - deserves special discussion.
Firstly, it should be noted that already in 1943 (at the first edition), “Dark Alleys”, according to the author’s plan, was a BOOK, although most of the stories included in the subsequent edition were not written (the entire third section in the second edition - 1946 - written after May 1943). Nevertheless, the stories that supplemented the book at the will of the author organically entered the cycle.
Secondly, Bunin was very attentive to the choice of stories included in the cycle, the composition of the book, and the place of the stories within each section. Apparently, with the advent of new stories, the concept of the book also changed. As a result, as we have already said, the stories “April” and “Three Rubles” were excluded from the book. The stories "On a Night Like This..." and "Lita", which were sent to the USA for the first edition, were not included in the book (at the behest of the publishers, who published only a small part of the stories) and never appeared in the second edition (already apparently at the will of the author). Thus, it can be assumed that the stories “In the Spring, in Judea” and “Overnight,” written after the second edition of the book, supplemented it general concept, Soas BY THE WILL OF THE AUTHOR they should have been included in the book in its subsequent editions. In the 1946 edition, Bunin made handwritten corrections and wrote on one of the pages: “At the end of this book (following the chronology) it is necessary to add “In the spring, in Judea” and “Overnight.” The texts of these stories are taken from my collections (of the same titles), published by Chekhov Publishing House in New York.”
This publication of “Dark Alleys” - the first in Russia - marked the beginning of a tradition that exists to this day: the stories “In Spring, in Judea” and “Overnight” are formally included in the cycle, but are not touched upon in the research of scientists. And the stories “Young Lady Clara”, “Guest”, “Iron Wool” are not included in the publications, but are considered in the works of scientists.
Characteristic from this point of view is the opinion of I. Sukhikh: “Included in posthumous editions according to the author’s wishes, the later stories “In the Spring, in Judea” and “Overnight” do not have a permanent place and generally seem alien in the collection.”
Even in the publications of recent years, the tradition of excluding three stories - “Young Lady Clara”, “The Guest”, “Iron Wool” - is preserved, and this has become so accepted that it is already perceived as the author’s intention. An example of this is the annotation to one of the editions of Bunin’s works: “The volume consisted of prose works written by Bunin after leaving Russia. Among them are the book “Dark Alleys” (printed in full) and other stories that brought Bunin worldwide fame...”, with 37 stories published.The situation with the 1982 edition is even more incomprehensible: the compiler A. K. Baboreko included 37 stories in the 3-volume collected works, although he writes in the comments: “The thirty-eight stories that made up the collection “Dark Alleys” were written in 1937 - 1945.” That is, not theoretically included in the collection, the stories “In the Spring, in Judea” and “Overnight” were published in the 3rd volume of the publication. But other stories were not published - “Young Lady Clara”, “The Guest”, “Iron Wool” - apparently due to moral considerations.
In the 6-volume collected works of Bunin in 1988, editors Yu. Bondarev, O. Mikhailov, V. Rynkevich included 40 stories in the “Dark Alleys” cycle. But already in the 1991 edition, the same O. N. Mikhailov, in a commentary to the book “Selected Works” by I. A. Bunin, writes: “Thirty-seven short stories in this collection provide a magnificent variety of unforgettable female images..." and includes 37 stories.
40 stories of the cycle were published in 1994, and the composition, preface to the publication and notes belong to the same O. N. Mikhailov.
We believe that a cycle is deliberate creative act, that is, we consider author's cycle, Therefore, we consider included in the book “Dark Alleys” 40 stories, including “In the Spring, in Judea” and “Overnight”, which meet the requirements of the unity of the cycle - their correspondence to the cycle-forming factors.
Based on the above facts, we can make the assumption that the “Dark Alleys” cycle was compiled according to the author’s plan, that the composition and structure are based on the author’s concept. We will try to determine the main content of this concept in the following sections of our work.
2. Cycle-forming factors in “Dark Alleys” by I. A. Bunin
1.1. Thematic unity of the stories in the cycle
In an article from 1955, G. Adamovich testifies to how this book was received: “Many respectable people shook their heads sadly and, without denying the artistic merits of the stories, were surprised at their themes, their character...”. Most researchers agree that all the themes of the cycle can ultimately be reduced to the theme of love and death, but each scientist views it in his own way.
Speaking about love in the “Dark Alleys” cycle, L. Smirnova notes that Bunin is inclined to emphasize the randomness, sometimes even the frivolity of the first embrace, caused by a sensual impulse. “But if such an impulse leads to deep excitement, tenderness, admiration, self-forgetfulness, then it inevitably ends in “love that remains somewhere in the heart for the rest of your life.”
In many stories, L. Smirnova believes, Bunin “writes about the distortion and death of the natural gift of love.”
In one case, the seduction of young Galya Ganskaya is regarded as a trifle by an adult, talented artist("Galya Ganskaya"). Out of revenge for the man who rejected her, she thoughtlessly, selfishly gives herself to Valeria Levitsky (“Zoika and Valeria”).
In another case, Bunin’s version of stories about corrupt women who habitually and meekly, not even without satisfaction, perform the duties of their humiliating craft (“Madrid”, “The Second Coffee Pot”) is frightening.
“And a completely inhuman appearance is awarded to those who, apart from carnal, animal instincts, do not experience anything ("Ballad", "Styopa", "Muse", "Antigone", "Overnight")."
Quoting an excerpt from Bunin’s letter (“And is this only depravity, and not something a thousand times different, almost terrible...”), L. Smirnova then asks: “But is it possible that when the “terrible” becomes the only content of the relationship, in Do spiritual illnesses of the individual and society not manifest themselves? Bunin conveyed his thoughts in those stories where we are talking about “remarkable natures”, about the struggle between the light and dark principles of life (“Natalie”, “Clean Monday”).”
In the cycle of stories "Dark Alleys" Bunin does not tell different love stories, but creates a mosaic picture here, where each link is independent and at the same time necessary for recreating the general state of the world. It is catastrophic not at all due to some mysterious, fatal inseparability of love and death. And because of the very real destruction of spiritual values, their “replacement” with hasty and frivolous pleasures.
O. Mikhailov speaks about another reason for the closeness of love and death: “Their involvement seemed to be a particular manifestation of the general catastrophic nature of existence, the fragility of existence itself.” The scientist speaks about love as “light breathing”, “a short dazzling flash that illuminates the soul of lovers to the bottom”: “...the theme of pure and beautiful love. Unusual Power and sincerity of feeling is characteristic of the heroes of these stories."
The philosophy of love in the true sense of the word, from Mikhailov’s point of view, is “a natural fusion of the frankly sensual and the ideal,” so the impression is created: “the spirit penetrates the flesh and ennobles it.” We agree with the opinion of O. N. Mikhailov and consider not entirely correct the view of L. A. Smirnova, who views the ideal and the sensual not in unity, but in confrontation, and only in the victory of “high feeling” over “purely carnal pleasures” does she see human overcoming “imperfections of one’s consciousness” (“Natalie”).
A. A. Saakyants writes about the “harmony of two opposite principles”: “Bunin is attracted by genuine earthly love, which, he believes, represents the fusion, the inseparability of “earth” and “sky,” a certain absolute of love.”
A modern researcher of “Dark Alleys” I. Sukhikh writes: “The sun and the luminaries of his world are driven by love-passion, the indivisible unity of the spiritual and the carnal, a feeling that does not know about morality and responsibilities, about duty, about the future, recognizing only the right to meet, to a fight between him and her, into painful, sweet mutual torture and pleasure."
In the scientific literature there are different points of view on the nature of the doom of love in Bunin’s stories.
O. V. Slivitskaya states: “If fate sends love, which by the highest human standards is love, that is, a personal, human feeling, including Eros (which is also poetic as an intense manifestation of life), but also much more, then this love intensifies the feeling of life so much that on its own it is no longer able to quench and exhaust it. So the feeling of life grows in spirals, increasing to an unbearable acuteness. An excess of life leads to death, because the “extremes” converge. Therefore... the hero of Bunin’s short story is his. falling in love with Natalie pushed me towards Sonya... And that means a catastrophic resolution of the situation is inevitable."
O.N. also speaks about the impossibility of long-term existence of such love. Mikhailov: “Something external, which does not even require explanation, is ready to invade and stop what is happening if love itself cannot exhaust itself,” - so O.N. Mikhailov defines the basis of the motif of “Dark Alleys” - “hidden and existing independently of the love plot. It is this that determines the final tonality of the work." Another motif in the stories of "Dark Alleys" is "the vicissitudes of love, its ebbs and flows, its surprises and whims" - against the backdrop of the first, tragic. "This is not just rock (like the ancient one), written "in line" for heroes - death and collapsedo not flow from love, they invade from the outside and independently of it. It’s more like fate..." 5, 236]. I. Sukhikh speaks about fate: “Separation, like a clockwork mechanism, is built into the happiest meeting. Crazy fate is watching around every corner."
Thus, in the scientific literature there is no unambiguous view on the nature of the doom of love in the stories of the cycle. The feeling of life, strengthened by love, leads to death - this opinion of O. V. Slivitskaya is probably close to the view of A. A. Sahakyants: “... love is short-lived. Moreover: the stronger, more unusual it is, the sooner it is destined break off." The opposite point of view - about the independence of death and ruin from love - belongs to O. Mikhailov. I. Sukhikh speaks of the obvious doom of any meeting. L. Smirnova reflects on the suicide of some heroes of Bunin’s stories (“Galya Ganskaya”, “Zoika and Valeria”): “and it seems to happen unexpectedly, after long, usually fluid, filled with everyday details - days, which is often seen as the intervention of “fate” In fact, what is conveyed here is an instantaneous outbreak of unbearable pain, incompatible with life."
Speaking about “fate,” O. Mikhailov argues that here “reflects Bunin’s idea of the general catastrophic nature of existence, the fragility of everything that hitherto seemed established, unshakable, and, ultimately, sounds reflected and indirectly, an echo of great social upheavals, which the new, twentieth century brought to humanity." L. Dolgopolov agrees with him: “... Bunin not only writes about the unfortunate woman, tragic love. In his novels and stories of the emigrant period, he creates a generalized psychological, and in the most serious cases, a unique historical type of person of the 20th century, in which national Russian traits are generalized to pan-European traits, and the drama of fate itself is presented as characteristic era as a whole."
A.A. Sahakyants explains the writer’s view of love as a lightning: “it flared up and disappeared” by its “poetic, emotional nature.” “Bunin, by the nature of his nature, acutely felt all the instability, instability, drama of life itself... and therefore love in this unreliable, although wonderful world turned out, in his opinion, to be the most fragile, short-lived, doomed."
Words that can serve, according to A. A. Saakyants, “the epigraph, the cross-cutting theme and the tuning fork of “Dark Alleys” are the words from Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”: “Love does not understand death. Love is life.”
The researcher calls Bunin's cycle an "encyclopedia of love." “The most varied moments and shades of feelings that arise between a man and a woman occupy the writer; he peers, listens, guesses, tries to imagine the whole “gamut” of complex relationships between the hero and the heroine. They are the most different, the most unexpected. Poetic, sublime experiences in stories.” Russia", "Late Hour", "Cold Autumn". Contradictory, unexpected, sometimes cruel feelings ("Muse"). Quite primitive drives and emotions (stories "Kuma", "Beginning") - right down to animal instinct ("Young Lady Clara ", "Iron Wool)".
Speaking about love as a “lightning” of happiness, Sahakyants notes that such love can illuminate a person’s entire memory and life. “So, throughout her life, Nadezhda, the owner of the inn, carried her love for the “master” who once seduced her in the story “Dark Alleys.” For twenty years, “he”, once a young tutor in her family, has not been able to forget Rusya... And the heroine of the story “Cold Autumn”... believes that in her life there was only that cold autumn evening, and the rest is just “unnecessary” dream"" .
Reflecting on the pages of the story "Tanya", the author of the article notes that "to tie oneself up, to destroy oneself forever" for the hero does not mean marriage with a maid, but that "to tie oneself up forever" even with the woman one loves means "to kill the very Love, to turn the feeling into habit, celebration into everyday life, excitement into serenity.” Other researchers also talk about the reasons for the separation of heroes in Bunin’s cycle.
I. Sukhikh means “the mystery of the female soul” main theme books. Most of all, in his opinion, the author is interested in the mystery of Woman, the mystery of Eternal Femininity. The author of the article argues with A. A. Saakyants: “The opinion of the book as an “encyclopedia of love” seems, however, exaggerated. The definition found by Bunin back in the sixteenth year is more accurate: not an encyclopedia, but a grammar of love, not accumulation and the desire for completeness, but on the contrary , a search in the variety of private, unique stories for a certain formula, paradigm, archetype that defines and explains everything." Late Bunin writes about the incomprehensible. But for him it does not exist in the purple shine of the black earth, not in the Stranger with blue bottomless eyes onon the far bank, and in the wife of the secretary of the zemstvo district government, who accidentally met on a Volga steamer.
“In “Dark Alleys” there is no happy and long-lasting love... Lust - this is how a person is designed - is satisfied quickly. Love also does not last long. Sunstroke, as a rule, has two endings: parting (for a long time or forever) or death (parting forever ).
They part forever in “Styopa”, “Muse”, “Business Cards”, “Tana”, “Clean Monday”.
They die even more often - they die during childbirth, in war, they simply close their eyes in a subway car, commit suicide, kill wives, mistresses, prostitutes. ...The world of “Dark Alleys” is ruled by love and death.”
Despite the noted tragic connection between love and death, many scientists talk about a bright impression from the stories of the cycle. G. Adamovich says about Bunin and his cycle “Dark Alleys”: “Towards the end of his life, he became, as it were, less absent-minded than he had been before, and with greater exclusivity or persistence than before, he began to peer into the source and root of being, leaving its shell." Such a source, according to Adamovich, was for Bunin “love - a great happiness, a “gift of the gods,” even if it is not shared. That is why Bunin’s book emanates happiness, that is why it is imbued with gratitude to life, to the world, in which, for all its happiness comes from imperfections."
L. Smirnova, in her study of Bunin’s work, also writes about the joy given by love. “Bunin writes about the unforgettable, which has left a deep mark on the human soul. Often the very moment of memory is captured, a sad touch to a long-gone joy. It is given by love, and preserved for the rest of one’s life by a special, sensory memory, which makes one perceive differently over the years much of what is “left behind.”
Thanks to this sensory memory of what was once felt, touched, the past, overshadowed by the young, strong feelings, truly drawn finest hour, merges with the smells, sounds, colors of nature. Or, on the contrary, the earthly and heavenly elements predict misfortune with thunderstorms and autumn cold. In such a “frame”, love is perceived as part of a large harmonious world, accordingly irresistible, eternal in its truth, but always experienced by a person as a discovery.
On a thematic basis, we offer the following conditional classification of the stories included in the “Dark Alleys” cycle.
1. Love "heavenly"
“Late Hour”, “Cold Autumn”, “Russia”, “Dark Alleys”, “Tanya”, “Clean Monday”, “Henry”, “Natalie”, “In Paris”, “Galya Ganskaya”, “Chapel”.
2. Love "earthly"
Hobby (“Business Cards”, “Madrid”, “Smaragd”, “In
no familiar street", "Raven", "Muse", "Zoyka and Valeria", "Wolves", "Rechnoy"
tavern", "Revenge", "Second coffee pot", "Caucasus", "Swing").
Passion (“Dubki”, “Kuma”, “Antigone”, “Camargue”, “Spring in Judea”, “Steamboat “Saratov”).
Lust (“Styopa”, “Young Lady Clara”, “Guest”, “Fool”, “Iron Wool”, “Ballad”, “Overnight”, “Beginning”).
3. “Heavenly” love is sublime, poetic. She gave happiness - brief, unforgettable. This is a love that time has not destroyed, a love that death has not conquered. (Cold autumn)
The heroine of the story “Cold Autumn” recalls the late evening of one very cold and early autumn - then she said goodbye to her beloved, who was leaving for the war. She describes in detail this piece of the past: the glass fogged up from the heat in the house, and the clear icy stars sparkling “brightly and sharply,” and “the air is completely winter.” And the heroine does not talk about her love, but remembers what she felt and thought then (“my soul was getting heavier, I responded indifferently,” she answered, “frightened by my thought,” I cried bitterly”) - the sadness of parting against the backdrop of a bright, illuminating eventhis separation of love... The description of the subsequent thirty-year life takes up less space in the story than this evening - because only he WAS in life, the rest is an “unnecessary dream.”
In "The Late Hour", as in some other stories, the hero travels into the past. The old, familiar city, the streets, the monastery, the market - everything is the same. And a lace of memories is woven about what was here once upon a time, at such a late hour.
What the hero sees is reflected in his memory as if in a mirror. It is reflected associatively: behind every object there is a picture, behind every step there is a path to the past... And the lace of the story is woven like a patterned motley shadow: the present is the past, the present is the past...“And ahead, on the hill, the city is darkened by gardens. A fire tower sticks out above the garden. My God, what an unspeakable happiness it was! It was during the night fire that I first kissed your hand, and you squeezed mine in response...” “And I walked in the shade, he walked along the spotted sidewalk - it was see-throughly covered with black silk lace. She had the same evening dress, very elegant, long and slender.” “And the night was almost the same as that one. Only that one was at the end of August, when the whole city smells of apples that lie in mountains in the markets, and it was so warm that it was a pleasure to walk in just a blouse, belted with a Caucasian strap...”. And the eternal star in the eternalin the world was as radiant as before, but now - “mute, motionless”, because the world had changed: it no longer had the radiant twinkle of her eyes - the only thing that was in the world for him then.
In addition to “heavenly” love, Bunin also depicts “earthly” love - so different: frivolous, promising, desperate, strange, crazy (or thoughtless), inexplicable, instinctive. Love is diverse, life is vast...
The story "Kuma" reminds Chekhov's plays: outwardly calm course of life with its private dramas. There is no traditional description for Bunin (except short description nights with constant quiet rain), the story of betrayal is conveyed in the dialogue of the characters. And traditional for the beginning of the play -"Evening at the end of June. The samovar has not yet been removed from the table on the terrace. The hostess is peeling berries for jam. The husband's friend, who came to visit the dacha for a few days, smokes and looks at her sleek round arms, bare to the elbows. (An expert and collector of ancient Russian icons, an elegant and lean man with a small trimmed mustache, with a lively look, dressed as if for tennis.)". And the banal story would have ended very banally if not for the last phrase of the hero:“And there I am, in these patent leather boots, in a riding habit and in a bowler hat, I’ll probably immediately hate her fiercely.”. The hero's awareness of the vulgarity of the situation, the unnecessary connection and its continuation - in the bitter, angry confidence of disappointment.
Thus, Bunin managed to show different sides of love - and very often it is associated with death. This theme, present in each story, unites them into a single cycle.
In the scientific literature there are different points of view on the image of the author in the “Dark Alleys” cycle. Scientist V.V. Krasnyansky believes that in the 30-50s there was a change in the author’s style and these stylistic features“are predetermined by the different correlation between the sphere of the author’s speech and the speech of the characters, the “construction” of the author’s image.” The scientist compares two stories by Bunin, similar in theme and composition - “The Grammar of Love” (1915) and “Dark Alleys” (1938).
In the first story, the author is close to the lyrical hero, “Bunin begins to describe as if from the character’s point of view, the landscape description is permeated with the character’s subjective plan. In “Dark Alleys” the author’s distance from the characters is manifested not only in the fact that the author and the main character never get closer , but also equally distant from all the characters in the story. In “The Grammar of Love” the author is close to the main character, but does not get closer to the sphere of the third character.
The portraits of the heroes in these stories are given differently. In "The Grammar of Love" the main character - "a certain Ivlev" - is designated conventionally as lyrical hero; portraits of other characters are given subjectively, through his perception.
In “Dark Alleys” it’s the other way around: portrait characteristic both the coachman and the main character are given outwardly objectified: the hero is “a slender old military man, in a large cap and a Nikolaev gray overcoat with a beaver stand-up collar, still black-browed, but with a white mustache that was connected to the same sideburns...” and another the character is a coachman: “On the box of the tarantass sat a strong man in a tightly belted overcoat, serious and dark-faced, with a sparse pitch beard, looking like an old robber...”
Thus, the story “The Grammar of Love” is a transitional stage from the lyrical story early period(90-900s) to the objectified narrative in Bunin’s late short story (ZO-50s), believes V.V. Krasnyansky.
Speaking about the image of the author in the story “Caucasus,” researcher O. V. Slivitskaya notes that the narrative is “relegated to the author”: “In the final fragment, after a long pause in events, there is a sharp jump in the plot. Its tragic denouement is presented through a meager listing of facts. And this can explained by the fact that, although the narrator was not a witness to these events, he could have been aware of them. But where then are such rare, but salient details as those that on his last day the husband swam, put on a snow-white jacket, and drank. coffee with chartreuse and shot himself with two pistols? If before this the story was strictly consistent with “I am the Form” and everything was in the awareness of the narrator - a participant in the events, then these details indicate that the narrative was entrusted to the author and not the conventional one. the author, namely Bunin. Because these details “do not serve” the event and do not enhance its tragic meaning, and do not contrast with it. They also have something independent of events and free from a narrow aesthetic purpose, something that. testifies to the beauty and sweetness of existence, which goes back to the world of Bunin in its integrity..."
Thus, O.V. Slivitskaya clearly distinguishes between the narrator and the author. Meanwhile, there is also the problem of distinguishing between the protagonist and the narrator. I. Sukhikh speaks about this: “Bunin’s narrator and the main character either coincide or diverge.”
Bunin himself insisted on the fictionality of most of the plots of “Dark Alleys”:“...And suddenly the plot of “The Muse” came to mind - how and why, I don’t understand at all: here, too, it was completely made up...” - “Ballad” was made up from word to word - and all at once in one hour...” - "In the New Journal" (second book) - "Natalie". And again, again: no one wants to believe that everything in it, from word to word, is “made up, as in almost all my stories, both previous and present.”. In 1947, Bunin admitted:"...only God knows where it [the fiction] came from when I took up the pen, very, very oftenstill not knowing at all what would come of the story that had begun, how it would end (and very often it ended, completely unexpectedly for me, with some clever shot, which I did not expect). How can I, after this, after such joy and pride of mine, not be upset when everyone thinks that I paint “from nature,” what happened to me, or what I knew and saw!”.
Thus, Bunin denied the autobiographical nature of his stories. However, A.A. Sahakyants finds autobiographical features that Bunin endowed with his heroes. So, the hero of the story “Tanya” Pyotr Alekseevich said: “I don’t have a home... I’ve been traveling from place to place all my life... In Moscow I live in rooms...” - and A.A. Sahakyants notes: “Autobiographical detail: Bunin did not have his own house, his own apartment, he lived with friends, with relatives, in hotels.”
The hero of the story “Henry,” the poet, “young, vigorous, dry-bred,” said: “And I hated all these Fra Angelico, Ghirlandaio, Trecento, Quattra Cento and even Beatrice and Dry-faced Dante in a woman’s hood” - A. A. Sahakyants quotes V.N. Muromtseva-Bunina, who, recalling a trip to Italy in 1909, writes that Bunin once “began to say that he was so tired of lovers of Italy who began to rave about trecento, quattrocento, that “I’m about to hate Fra Angelico, Giotto and even Beatrice herself, together with Dante." There are also statements from the hero in this story that are close to Bunin: ""Human wives, a network of human seduction!" This "network" is something truly inexplicable, divine and devilish, and when I write about it , I’m trying to express it, I’m reproached for shamelessness, for low motives... Vile souls!” (V.I. Odoevtseva quotes Bunin’s words: “...and they, idiots, believe that this is pornography and, moreover, senile, powerless voluptuousness.” Here I would like to point out the words of G. Adamovich: “And the reproaches of shamelessness, obviously and those that reached Bunin himself, we will leave on the conscience of those who considered it necessary and possible to do them...” Bunin’s hero continues:"Well said in one old book: “The writer has such every right to be bold in his verbal depictions of love and its faces, which at all times was granted in this case to painters and sculptors: only vile souls see vileness even in the beautiful or terrible.”.
