The theme of love in the works of Bunin: tragedy and romanticism, merged into one

The theme of love in the works of Bunin for the first time in the history of Russian literature reveals not only the platonic, but also the bodily aspect of love relations. The writer tries to correlate in his work what is happening in the heart of a person, to the demands that society makes on him, whose life is built on the relations of buying and selling, and in which dark wild instincts often come to the fore. Nevertheless, the author deals with the intimate aspect of relations between people with an unusual tact.

The theme of love in the works of Bunin is the first bold statement that not always bodily passion comes after a rush of the soul, which sometimes happens in life and vice versa. For example, this happens with the heroes of his story "Sunstroke." Ivan Alekseevich in his works describes love in all its multifacetedness - then it appears in the guise of great joy, it turns into a cruel disappointment, it is both a spring and an autumn in a person's life.

Early Creativity

The theme of love in Bunin's works of the early period of his work can not remain indifferent. The stories "Dawn All Night", "In August", "Autumn" and several others - very brief, simple, but significant. The feelings experienced by the heroes are often ambiguous. Rarely Bunin characters come to a harmonious relationship - their impulses are much more likely to disappear before they have time to really arise. However, in their hearts, the thirst for love continues to burn. Sad farewell to the beloved ends with dreams ("In August"), the meeting leaves a strong imprint in memory, for it indicates a touch to the present feeling ("Autumn"). And, for example, the heroine of the story "Dawn All Night" is imbued with a premonition of strong love, which the young girl is ready to pour out on her future elect. However, disappointment comes to young heroes as quickly as the hobby itself. Bunin uniquely talented reveals this difference between reality and dreams. After the full singing of the nightingales and in the spring of a gentle thrill of the night in the garden, Tata's son can hear the sound of shots through his sleep. Her fiancé shoots at the jackdaws, and the girl suddenly realizes that she is not capable of loving this ordinary, down-to-earth person.

"Mitin's Love" (1924) - one of the best works of Bunin about love

In the 1920s, during the emigration of the writer, the theme of love in the works of Bunin is enriched with new shades. In his novel "Mitin Love" (1924), the author successively talks about how the spiritual development of the main character is gradually realized, how life leads him from love of collapse. Sublime feelings in this narrative closely intertwine with reality. Mitya's love for Katya and his bright hopes are like a vague sense of anxiety. Dreaming of the career of a great actress, the girl is in the epicenter of a false metropolitan life and changes her lover. Even the connection with another woman - a mild, though prominent Alyonka - was not able to alleviate Mitya's spiritual torments. As a result, the hero, unprotected, unprepared for a clash with a brutal reality, decides to lay hands on himself.

The theme of love triangles in the works of I. Bunin

Sometimes the theme of love in Bunin's works reveals from the other side, in them the eternal problem of love triangles (husband-wife-lover) is shown. Bright examples of such stories can serve as "Caucasus", "Ida", "The Most Beautiful Sun". Marriage in these creations becomes an insurmountable barrier to the desired happiness. It is in these stories that the image of love for the first time arises as a "sun stroke", which finds its further development in the cycle "Dark alleys".

"Dark alleys" - the most famous cycle of stories of the writer

The theme of love in Bunin's stories of this cycle (Dark Alleys, Tanya, Late Hour, Rusya, Business Cards, etc.) is an instant flash, bodily pleasures, to which heroes are pushed by a genuine hot passion. But this does not end there. "Sunstroke" gradually leads the characters to unspeakable self-effacement tenderness, and then to true love. The author refers to the images of single people and ordinary life. And so the recollections of the past, fanned by romantic impressions, seem so wonderful to his heroes. However, even here, after people come together in spiritual and bodily terms, as if nature itself leads them to inevitable parting, and sometimes to death.

"Sir from San Francisco" - a bold interpretation of love relationships

The mastery of describing the details of everyday life, as well as the life-threatening description of love, which is inherent in all the stories of the cycle, reaches its apogee in 1944, when Bunin finishes work on the story "Net Monday", narrating about the fate of a woman who has left life and love in a monastery.

And especially brightly the theme of love in the understanding of Bunin was revealed with the help of the story "Sir from San Francisco." It is a narration about the lowest and ugliest manifestations of a warped great feeling. Falsity, deceit, automatism and lifelessness, which became the cause of the inability to love, are especially strongly emphasized in the images of the "Lord of San Francisco."

Bunin himself considered love to be the feeling that frees a man from the captivity of all that is superfluous, makes him unusually natural and brings him closer to nature.