Ivan Bunin is a famous Russian emigrant writer who lived at the beginning of the 20th century. We will consider one of his most serious works - “The Life of Arsenyev”. Summary, analysis of the novel and characterization of the characters will be the main topic of this article.
About the book
The novel was begun in 1927, and completed by 1933. The first chapters began to be published immediately from 1927. This is the most voluminous work that Bunin wrote. The Life of Arsenyev (a summary of the chapters will be described below) brought the writer the Nobel Prize in literature in 1933.
This work took a lot of time and energy from Bunin - the writer several times rewrote the chapters, polished the language, trying to achieve perfection. Close friends later in their memoirs about the writer said that the novel was very difficult for him.
Bunin "The Life of Arseniev": a summary
The main character of the work is Aleksey Aleksandrovich Arseniev. He is a Russian nobleman who was destined to survive the February Revolution and flee abroad. The book is dedicated to his whole life, starting with a description of children's days and ending with the time spent in a foreign land. In the novel there are many discussions of the hero about the abandoned homeland.
Book one
So, we will begin to give a summary. The Life of Arsenyev by Ivan Bunin begins with a description of the protagonist. Alexey was born in the 70s of the XIX century in Russia. His father, Alexander Sergeyevich, owned a manor on a Kamenka farm, where the main character spent his childhood in the silence of Russian nature.
Mother occupied a special place in his life, he felt inseparable from her. Father fascinated his love of life, and the younger sister Olga was her best friend.
Then came the first teacher Alyosha Baskakov. He left his wealthy family as a young man after a quarrel with his father, but in the end did not receive an inheritance. Now Baskakov is forced to wander around the world.
But soon Alexei first faced death - the younger sister Nadia unexpectedly died. After her grandmother died, after which the Arsenievs inherited the estate. After the grief experienced, Alyosha began to read books about the great martyrs and saints. Only a few months later he returned to poetry and fiction.
The carefree days of childhood and communication with family and Baskakov ended when the couple came to go to school.
Book Two
Now the life of Arseniev is radically changing. The summary describes how the parents took Alyosha to the landowner Rostovtsev in the city. It turned out to be a slender tall man of strict life rules, proud of his Russian origin. It was in his house that Alyosha should live while studying at the gymnasium.
He did not like the new place. There were no friends among their peers, and the teachers turned out to be boring people, breechily telling lessons. The boy dreamed of a vacation when he went home. His family at that time already moved to the estate of Baturino, inherited from his grandmother. And he had to sell his native Kamenka, as there was not enough money.
When Alexei was 14 years old, his older brother George, who was accused of involvement in the revolutionaries, was arrested. For Alyosha this was a shock. A year later, the boy left school and returned home. Father first scolded him, and then decided that maybe a new Lermontov or Pushkin could be obtained from his son.
The young man thought a lot about life and death, read a lot and talked a little with outsiders. He soon fell in love. His brother Nicholas married a German woman who had a distant relative Angel. It was in her that Alexei fell in love the whole winter. This feeling helped him survive another loss - a distant relative of the Arsenyevs died, to whom the hero was attached.
Book Three
After the funeral, Arsenyev’s life changes again. A summary of the chapters describes the next blow for a fifteen-year-old boy - separation from his beloved. Not even pleases him with the news of the publication of his first collection of poems.
His father has long left business and most of the time is in a drunken state. Alyosha saw Arsenyev Sr. gradually descend, and with sadness thought about the fate of the aging mother and sister Olga, who should have remained an old maid. And he himself had a hard time. He didn’t even have his own clothes for the exit, and he borrowed Grigory’s old jacket.
Alexei spent the summer on the estate of his brother Nikolai, where he worked with men. In the fall, he went to the city to sell crops. All this gradually aroused in the youth a desire to leave his native Baturino.
A year later, Nikolai bought a neighboring estate, where he took with him Alexei. Here, the brother hired a young and married maid Tonka. Alexei immediately began an affair with this girl. The hero himself speaks of his passion as insanity. He was looking forward to meeting, dying of jealousy, and could not reason himself. Tonka gradually realized how much Alexei loved her, and began to torment him. Nikolai ended their relationship, having calculated a maid at the request of her angry husband.
Book Four
We continue to outline a summary of Bunin's novel, "The Life of Arsenyev." Alexei was thinking more and more about leaving a ruining house and starting to live independently. The hero goes to Oryol, where he is going to work in the local newspaper Golos. However, Alexei arrived at the station late and found only a train to Kharkov. Suddenly, the hero decides to go there. In addition, brother Gregory lives there.
As soon as the young man arrived in Kharkov, a wave of new impressions and acquaintances fell upon him. Gregory's friends were very different from the village environment. Many of them participated in the unrest and visited the links. These people were intolerant and straightforward, talked about the future of Russia, made plans, were going to fight for a constitutional republic. However, the people who so zealously defended, they did not know at all.
Alexey did not like this company, but he had no choice. Winter has passed. Alex spent a lot of time in the public library, and his brother serves in the Zemstvo administration. In the spring, news came of the ruin of the estate, the father had to lay Baturino. It also turned out that Gregory lives with a married woman who shares his ideals.
Alex decides to return home to Baturino. But on the way he stopped in Oryol, where he met with the editor of the Voice, Nadezhda Avilova. A woman introduced him to Lika Obolenskaya (her cousin), and the young man fell in love again.
Book Five
We turn to the description of the final part of the novel "The Life of Arsenyev" (summary). Alex got a place in the "Voice". Now he constantly rushes between Orel and Baturin. Lika pushes him away, then brings him closer.
Autumn has passed. One day, Leakey's father invited Alexei into the house and announced that he would not agree to their marriage, because he did not want his daughter to live in poverty. When Lika found out about this, she said that she could not go against her father’s will. However, in November, the lovers became close again when Alex finally moved to Oryol. But young people have not reached mutual understanding. As a result, Lika left Eagle with her father.
Alexei was tormented by a feeling of loneliness. He worked in the Voice, talked with Avilova. The hero began to write again, but this did not satisfy him. A little time passed, and Alex decides to go travel. Avilova offers to go to Moscow together, but the hero is frightened and refuses.
While in Vitebsk and going to Petersburg, Alex sent Lika a telegram about his imminent arrival. The lovers met at the station and realized that they could not live without each other.
A new life began in the southern town, where Gregory settled. Lika and Alex worked in the local Zemstvo administration. However, his constant absence and treason forced Lika to leave the city. Soon, the young man learned that Lika fell ill with pneumonia and died.
Alex returned home. He was 20 years old. But the love of this woman remained with him forever.
So ends the novel "The Life of Arseniev." The summary of the books set forth by us makes it possible to analyze the work.
Analysis
“The Life of Arseniev” is an artistic biography and biography of the Russian nobility, which confirms the brief content of the book. “The Life of Arsenyev” is a statement, while not only the everyday plan of the landlord’s way of life. Bunin turns the description of the era into scenery for religious, spiritual and philosophical matters. The hero throughout the novel comprehends such categories as death, life, love.
Bunin is also concerned about questions of national pride, which are so relevant for a person who saw the February Revolution and who is trying to comprehend what happened.
Characteristics of Heroes
Alexey Arsenyev is the protagonist of the novel Life of Arsenyev. The summary gives us the right to call this character autobiographical, as the writer endowed him to some extent with his life experience. In the work we see how the hero goes through several stages of development - from a child to a young man. In parallel with this, Alexei comprehends the world around him.
The culmination of Alexey’s internal struggle occurs when he falls in love with Lika. To be with this woman, he needs to overcome his own egoism and desires. However, he does not succeed, which leads to the death of his beloved.
As for the other characters, they are all seen by the reader through the eyes of the protagonist. Therefore, it is not surprising that members of his family, who seemed ideal to him in childhood, gradually “fade” and degrade under the influence of circumstances.