In 1915, a short story by I.A. Bunina "The Master of San Francisco." When reading the title of the work, one immediately thinks of a fascinating plot where a mysterious citizen from a distant country becomes the main character of amazing and somewhere dangerous events ... However, the plot of the story is far from the intended options. Who is this man from San Francisco? Summary will help us understand. This is not difficult.
Passing a summary of “The Master from San Francisco,” it should be noted that the author, introducing the main character, from the first lines as it warns the reader that no one remembered the name of this person, either in Naples or in Capri. On the one hand, this seems surprising - it cannot be that a person in whose life there were no acts discrediting him, who has a good strong family, wife and daughter, whose aspirations were aimed at work and further on a well-deserved rest, could not to be remembered by others. But continuing to read line by line, you understand that his life went so colorless and empty that, on the contrary, if someone remembered his name - it would be amazing. All his life he strove to work tirelessly, but not in order to come to deserved success, to some unprecedented achievements and discoveries, and in the end - to inner satisfaction that life was not lived in vain, but in order to be equal with respected people and then until the end of their days to be in the same pleasures and idle pleasures as other "respectable" citizens. And then comes the long-awaited moment in his life, when it seemed that a lot has been done, and his condition is close to that figure when he can afford to go on a long journey. And again, a journey across the ocean in his understanding is not new lands, not an acquaintance with another culture and distant traditions, but rather an indispensable attribute of the life of any rich person.
The main character, along with his wife and adult daughter, gets on the famous ship “Atlantis” and sets off for the Old World. He plans to visit the cultural monuments of Italy and Ancient Greece, take part in car and sailing races in Nice and Monte Carlo, enjoy the delights of young Neapolitans and be sure to swim in the waters of the English islands, and acquaintance with the local refined society can be of considerable benefit for him and so for his daughter - a girl of marriageable age ... And it seemed that nothing and no one could interfere with his plans - after all, he had dreamed about this all his life.
Continuing with a brief summary, “Mr. from San Francisco,” we are transported onto a ship that takes our hero and his family to Naples.
Life on the ship, which resembles a real hotel with all the amenities and all kinds of entertainment, is measured. In the morning - a compulsory two-hour walk around the deck to stimulate appetite, then breakfast, after breakfast everyone looks at fresh newspapers, again a walk and a short rest under rugs in long armchairs on the deck ... The second breakfast is replaced by hot tea with cookies, conversations - walks, and at the end that long-awaited moment comes, a real apotheosis of everything - a hearty dinner and an evening of dancing.
Soon the floating hotel arrives in Italy, and a citizen from San Francisco is at the epicenter of his fulfilled dream: Naples, expensive hotel, helpful staff, all the same serene-luxurious lifestyle, breakfasts, dinners, dances, visits to cathedrals and museums ... But not one feels the pleasure of life that he dreamed of: on the street it constantly rains, the wind howls, and the endless gloom around. And the nameless man with his family decides to go to the island of Capri, where, as they assured, it is sunny and warm. And again they are on a small boat, sailing in the hope of finding that oasis in the desert to which they have been going for so long. But the terrible pitching, gale and seasickness do not bode well ...
Capri cordially meets a gentleman from San Francisco, but, as the protagonist himself notes, the pitiful shacks of fishermen on the coast cause only irritation and feelings, far from the expected admiration.
But, having arrived at the hotel, where he was greeted with all the appropriate honors and even more, the master is sure that the annoying feelings are behind, and ahead is only pleasure and enjoyment. With all his pomp, he prepares for dinner, shaves, washes, puts on dress coats,
ballroom shoes, fastens cufflinks ... Without waiting for his wife and daughter, he goes down to a cozy reading room, sits down, puts on his pince-nez, opens a newspaper ... And here something terrible and unexpected happens before everything becomes cloudy with his eyes, and he, all wriggling, falls to the floor ... Around the noise, surprised exclamations and screams, but they do not feel compassion and desire to help. No, rather fear and disappointment that the evening is hopelessly spoiled, and maybe even have to leave the hotel.
The gentleman from San Francisco is transferred to a very small and damp room, where he soon dies. The women, terrified in horror, the wife and daughter, no longer hear in the owner’s voice those helpful and servile notes, only irritation and displeasure that the hotel’s reputation can be permanently damaged. He does not allow his body to be transferred to another room and refuses to help with the search for the coffin, having offered in return a long box from under the bottles. This is how the protagonist spends his last night on Capri - a cold, musty room and a simple drawer. It would seem that on this brief summary of "Mr. from San Francisco" comes to an end. But do not rush, because ahead, albeit insignificant scenes, but the deepest, leading the reader to the most important thing ...
The next day, his wife, daughter and a dead old man - as the author now calls him, are sent back to San Francisco by boat. Concluding the summary “The Master from San Francisco”, one should certainly describe the very same “Atlantis”, on board which are the same idle faces, the same breakfasts and walks, and the same heroes .... But no one suspects, and no one is interested in what is happening in the soul of each of those present and who is hidden in a tarred coffin deep down in a dark, cold hold ...
In conclusion, I would like to say that if I. A. Bunin called his work differently, and, say, instead of “Mr. from San Francisco” at the moment you would read Citizen of San Francisco, a brief summary, the main idea of the work would not have changed. The grayness, emptiness and aimlessness of existence lead only to one end - in the far hold there is a coffin not with a man, but with a body without a name ...