The Elagin Affair

Ivan Bunin’s writing style has always been marked by realism. When it came to an aging village, he painted vivid pictures of decline; when it came to love, he created scenes of joy and light.

In "The Case of Cornet Yelagin," Bunin decided to describe a court case in which Yelagin was tried for killing his lover—and he showed it in truly tragic terms, as if it wasn’t the cornet, but fate itself that had condemned the main heroine.