The story "Antonov apples" Bunin wrote in 1900. The author gradually immerses the reader in his nostalgic memories, creating the right atmosphere by describing sensations, colors, smells and sounds.
“Antonov apples”: summary (1 chapter)
The lyrical hero recalls how they used to live in a landowner estate. He recalls an early warm autumn. The garden is dry, he thinned. There is a subtle smell of leaves and antonovka scent. Gardeners sell apples directly in the garden, then pour them into carts and send them to the city.
Having run out into the night garden and talking with the watchmen, the hero stares for a long time into the deep and dark blue of the sky, strewn with stars. He looks until the earth begins to spin under his feet. And there will be no feeling of happiness.
“Antonov apples”: summary (2 chapter)
If a good harvest of Antonov apples - and there will be a harvest for bread. So the year will be good.
The hero recalls his village of Vyselki, which, during the life of his grandfather, everyone considered rich. A century of old and old women lasted there for a long time, which was considered the first sign of prosperity. The houses of the peasants were solid, brick. The life of the middle-class courtyards was not much different from the life of wealthy men. Anna Gerasimovna, the aunt of the hero, the estate was small, solid, although old. Centennial trees surrounded her.
Her aunt's garden was known for its wonderful apple trees, nightingale and pebble song, and the thatched roof of her house was incredibly thick and very tall. Under the influence of time, it hardened and blackened. The house smelled mostly of apples, and then other aromas were also felt: the smell of mahogany in old furniture and linden blossom.
"Antonov apples": a summary (chapter 3)
He recalled the storyteller and his late brother-in-law, Arseniy Semenovich. He was a landowner and a desperate hunter. A lot of people gathered in his spacious house. At first, everyone had a hearty dinner together, and then went hunting. A horn in the yard has already trumpeted, a polyphonic dog barking is heard. Favorite master black greyhound jumped onto the table and straight from the dish eats up a hare baked in sauce. The hero recalls how he rides astride a strong, squat and terribly evil Kyrgyz: before the eyes the trees flicker, and in the distance you can hear dog barking and the cries of other hunters. From deep ravines it draws with dampness, it smells of mushrooms and raw bark of trees. It begins to get dark, hunters all in a row rush into the idle estate of someone from the company and sometimes live with him for several days.
If you spend the whole day on the hunt, then the heat of the densely populated house becomes especially pleasant.
If you accidentally oversleep the hunt, then you will spend the whole day in the owner’s library, flipping through magazines and books of past years, examining the notes of previous readers in the fields. Sad memories of her grandmother's polonaises that she played the clavichord and her languid reading of Pushkin’s poems will fill her soul.
And a long dreamy noble life comes before my eyes ... The beautiful souls of women and girls then lived in large and rich noble estates! Their portraits are still looking from the walls.
"Antonov apples": a summary (chapter 4)
But the old men all died in the Settlements, Anna Gerasimovna also died out, put a bullet in his forehead Arseniy Semenovich.
The time is coming for the poor, impoverished nobles, who own small estates. But this life, small, is good! The hero had the opportunity to observe the life of a neighbor while visiting him. Getting up early, he orders immediately to set the samovar. Then, wearing boots, he goes out onto the porch, where the hounds come running to him. Yes, the day promises to be wonderful for hunting! But, the hunter laments, it is necessary to hunt along the black-trophy with greyhounds, and not with hounds, but he does not have them! As soon as winter comes, again, as in ancient times, small-scale locals gather together. They drink the rest of the money and disappear for days on winter hunting in the fields. And in the late evening, the windows of some deaf farm glowing in the dark are far visible. An unsteady fire burns dimly in the wing, smoke swirls, they sing, and the guitar sounds ...
"Antonov apples" ... a brief description is not able to recreate the world of an old noble estate. Is it possible, while reading it, to penetrate deep into the subtlest Bunin lyric poetry, where all long-standing events are experienced by the reader as if they were happening before his eyes?