The Life of Arseniev
14 hrs. 23 min.
Language
Russian
Author
Ivan Bunin
Author
Ivan Bunin
Narrator
Ilya Prudovsky
Narrator
Ilya Prudovsky
Description
The Life of Arseniev is a novel by Ivan Bunin in five books, written in France. Most of the work was completed in 1929. The first publications of individual chapters began in 1927 in the Paris newspaper Russia. Three years later the author began work on a continuation of the novel — the concluding part, Lika. The Life of Arseniev was published as a separate book in 1930 (Paris, Sovremennye Zapiski publishing house). The first complete edition of the novel was issued by the Chekhov Publishing House in New York (1952).
In 1933 Bunin — the first of Russian writers — was awarded the Nobel Prize; this recognition, in the writer’s opinion, was connected above all with the novel The Life of Arseniev.
In the novel, which Vladislav Khodasevich defined as “the autobiography of a fictional person,” many facts and details from Bunin’s own life are captured. Researchers established that Kamenka, where Alexei Arseniev was born and spent his infancy, is the hamlet of Butyrki in Yelets district. Baturino resembles the Ozerki estate, where his grandmother lived. Young Arseniev’s move to the city and his life among чужих, unkind people are a clear echo of Bunin’s memories of life in Yelets in the house of the townsman Byakin and his studies at the local gymnasium. The prototype of the home tutor Baskakov is the teacher Romashkov. Brother Georgy in the novel is brother Yuly in real life: he, like his prototype, became a Narodnaya Volya member and was indeed arrested.
Several chapters of the book are devoted to describing young Alexei’s first half-childish love: the object of his affection was a young girl named Ankhen. Her prototype was the neighbors’ governess Emilia. Having parted — according to the novel’s plot — in youth, the real-life figures met again decades later; as Vera Nikolaevna Bunina-Muromtseva recalled, Emilia, now stouter and older, came in 1938 to the writer’s appearance in Revel.
In 1933 Bunin — the first of Russian writers — was awarded the Nobel Prize; this recognition, in the writer’s opinion, was connected above all with the novel The Life of Arseniev.
In the novel, which Vladislav Khodasevich defined as “the autobiography of a fictional person,” many facts and details from Bunin’s own life are captured. Researchers established that Kamenka, where Alexei Arseniev was born and spent his infancy, is the hamlet of Butyrki in Yelets district. Baturino resembles the Ozerki estate, where his grandmother lived. Young Arseniev’s move to the city and his life among чужих, unkind people are a clear echo of Bunin’s memories of life in Yelets in the house of the townsman Byakin and his studies at the local gymnasium. The prototype of the home tutor Baskakov is the teacher Romashkov. Brother Georgy in the novel is brother Yuly in real life: he, like his prototype, became a Narodnaya Volya member and was indeed arrested.
Several chapters of the book are devoted to describing young Alexei’s first half-childish love: the object of his affection was a young girl named Ankhen. Her prototype was the neighbors’ governess Emilia. Having parted — according to the novel’s plot — in youth, the real-life figures met again decades later; as Vera Nikolaevna Bunina-Muromtseva recalled, Emilia, now stouter and older, came in 1938 to the writer’s appearance in Revel.
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