Collected Stories of Ivan Bunin

Among the great Russian authors, Ivan Bunin (b. 1870, d. 1953) is arguably the least known and appreciated in the West. He was born into the Russian rural gentry in the midst of its decline. As an author, he distinguished himself as a poet, novelist, and writer of short stories. After the Bolshevik Revolution Bunin fled Moscow, ending up in France, after stops in Kiev, Odessa, Constantinople, Sofia, and Belgrade (a route taken by many other White Russian émigrés). In France, he continued to write, mostly about the Old Russia from before the Great War. In 1933 Bunin was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first Russian author ever to receive the award. During World War II, he and his wife retreated to the Maritime Alps and hid Jews in their home. For White Russian exiles, Bunin was probably the most revered of all authors. (In his "Manifesto of the Russian Emigration", Bunin called Lenin "a moral idiot from birth".)I am slowly reading through the high points of Russian literature, beginning with Pushkin. My sampling of Bunin is this collection of his short stories. He is, in short, tremendous. Of the Russian authors I have read so far, the only ones who rank higher in my pantheon are Dostoevsky and perhaps Chekhov.The thirty-five stories range from one- or two-page sketches to a couple stories of over fifty pages that qualify as novellas. Most, but not all, are set in Russia. (A few are about Russian émigrés in Paris.) Many were written after Bunin left Russia, but in almost all the action pre-dates the Russian Revolution. Many are very evocative of the Old Russia, and in some the atmosphere is thick with nostalgia.But what stands out most is the sensuality, bordering on voluptuousness, of many of the stories. Bunin's men and women are sexual creatures. Two of the more common scenarios involve either beautiful, sensuous, vibrant women toying with a male admirer or upper-class men taking advantage of pretty peasant or servant girls (and several of them truly are girls, not yet women). When a man and woman meet and then bed on even terms, it is likely to be a one-night stand.In many of the longer stories, Bunin employs a rather intricate structure, occasionally with narrations nestled inside other narrations like wooden nested Russian dolls. The prose is often quite poetic, though at times it is verbose by today's standards. There are occasional flares of dry humor. Some of the stories have a twist at the end and in a few the ending is quite sudden and lethal (with at least three suicides).The best of Bunin's stories can stand with the very best short stories in world literature. "The Gentleman from San Francisco" is a classic, as perfect a short story as I have ever encountered. "The Scent of Apples", "Chang's Dream", "Sunstroke", "In Paris", "Tanya", and a few others are not far behind.Now to voice a complaint, though it is not a major one: I have never seen more poorly executed annotations. At the end of the book, there is a section "Notes to the Stories", in which the stories are arranged in alphabetical order (ignoring, however, "The" if a story begins with that word) rather than the order in which the story appeared in the collection. Worse, there are no markers in the text itself to indicate that a reference or a word or phrase has been annotated at the back of the book. Finally, to complete the inanity, many of the things that are annotated did not need to be, whereas other rather abstruse references or Russian words are not annotated.

Ivan Bunin was the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and since he was a "White" living in exile in France at the time, the Soviets were pretty teed off that he had been awarded. But however political the award may have seemed, Bunin certainly deserved it. He was a master of the short story; his works are slices of life colored with beauty and eroticism, sadness and regret. His descriptions of the natural world are as vivid as his depictions of the psychological states of being. He embodies the truisms (or cliches) of the Russian soul. Bunin's stories are equal to those of his contemporary and friend Anton Chekhov. One might be tempted to say that Bunin won the Nobel as a substitute for Chekhov, who had been disqualified by an early death, but that again denigrates Bunin's accomplishments. Bunin deserves a place among the Russian greats Chekhov, Gorky, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy, the Nobel laureates Mann, Munro, Kipling, and Tagore, and those who fall into both categories, Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn. Read these stories and see for yourself!

This is a very fine collection of Bunin's writing. A great Russian poet at a time of social upheaval, intellectual disruption and terror, like Pasternak,for me he is the more interesting writer of the two, though his (their) art is less to my personal taste than other Russian I prefer. For me he is a little too taken up with his own subjective impressions and poetical artistry rather than forensic insight. My preference is more for Lermontov, Turgenyev and Checkov. Nevertheless there's no question he is a great literary force. His mastery of evocative and atmospheric nature transcends the limitations inherent in translating from poetical Russian to English. For me this translation is excellent and reading him very satisfying. But I prefer the earlier writers and, more recent Russians: Bulgakov especially.

Excellent and smooth translation. Bunin is a Russian author who gets little notice here in the West. This collection contains the popular "Gentleman From San Francisco", but also contains stories that are hard to find in translation. This book is probably one of the better priced Bunin collections I found.

These were short stories, some better than others. One-word descriptions don't apply. There was a lot of unrequited love throughout the stories.

The stories are ok. Useful for translations. Not especially noteworthy compared to other Russian literature. Nostalgic in construction.Some other people may like it.

Ivan Bunin is a great writer. If it had not been for my teacher in my literature class, I would not have found this book..

Brilliant author, not well know in the outside eastern Europe.. Detailed, emotional, vivid depictions of ordinary people in an extraordinary time!

I've only just begun my acquaintance with Ivan Bunin who carries on the heritage of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and other Russian realists. This book will, I am sure, realize many promises and will give more incitament for further deepening in Bunin's works.

In the introduction to a translation of Bunin's work where the translator himself argues to "the problems of translation" being the sole reason for Bunin's lack of fame in the West, it's hard to wonder why the translator has even undertaken such a task, which is obviously beyond his capacity. The words, he translated (well, some of them anyhow.. although he did leave a good number in Russian), the problem is with the phrases - there's not a single one that has any feeling for the language - English that is. As for the Russian, hard to tell. That's why I need a talented translator. To any curious reader desiring to discover Bunin, I can only recommend to read Alpin's far more habile translation of Dark Avenues.

I've come to appreciate Bunin's writing. Many stories seem lost in translation---some are only a paragraph, but the effect from the Russian I'm sure is lacking in an English version. Still thankful that such a collection exists though!

The stories are just like beautiful pieces of art, it is like a picture but painted with the words and reading of it bring a good mood!