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The Village
"Una Aldea", es uno de los libros más controvertidos y conocidos de Iván
Bunin, el primer autor ruso en ser galardonado con el premio Nobel de
Literatura.
La novela transcurre a principios del siglo XX, en una pequeña aldea rusa,
lugar de nacimiento del propio Bunin, durante la Revolución de 1905.
Los protagonistas son Tijon y Kuzma Illich, dos hermanos campesinos, uno,
pequeño comerciante borrachuzo, y otro aspirante a escritor, son el reflejo
de la Rusia de la época.
A través de estos hermanos, Bunin retrata de forma bella e implacable los
tiempos convulsos por los que pasaban millones de habitantes del Imperio
Ruso, y de las tremendas dificultades para sobrevivir en una tierra fía y
dura.
La narración amarga, realista e incisiva de Bunin convirtieron a "Una
Aldea" en una de las novelas más controvertidas entre los escritores y
políticos rusos después de su publicación.
*
Iván Bunin (1870, Voroneje, Rusia Central - 1953, París), fue el primer
escritor ruso en ser galardonado con el premio Nobel de Literatura.
Cursó estudios en la Universidad de Moscú y en el año 1903 recibió el
Premio Pushkin de la Academia rusa por sus traducciones del poeta
estadounidense Henry Wadsworth Longfellow y de los poetas ingleses
Lord Byron y Lord Alfred Tennyson.
En los años que precedieron a la primera guerra europea, viajó por Italia,
Turquía, Palestina, Egipto, Grecia, Argelia, Túnez. Tras la Revolución
bolchevique de 1917, se estableció en París. En 1933 recibiría el Premio
Nobel de Literatura.
Entre sus obras más destacadas se encuentran "El señor de San Francisco y
otros cuentos" (1916) y las novelas "Una aldea" (1910) y "El amor de
Mitya" (1925).
Bunin, el primer autor ruso en ser galardonado con el premio Nobel de
Literatura.
La novela transcurre a principios del siglo XX, en una pequeña aldea rusa,
lugar de nacimiento del propio Bunin, durante la Revolución de 1905.
Los protagonistas son Tijon y Kuzma Illich, dos hermanos campesinos, uno,
pequeño comerciante borrachuzo, y otro aspirante a escritor, son el reflejo
de la Rusia de la época.
A través de estos hermanos, Bunin retrata de forma bella e implacable los
tiempos convulsos por los que pasaban millones de habitantes del Imperio
Ruso, y de las tremendas dificultades para sobrevivir en una tierra fía y
dura.
La narración amarga, realista e incisiva de Bunin convirtieron a "Una
Aldea" en una de las novelas más controvertidas entre los escritores y
políticos rusos después de su publicación.
*
Iván Bunin (1870, Voroneje, Rusia Central - 1953, París), fue el primer
escritor ruso en ser galardonado con el premio Nobel de Literatura.
Cursó estudios en la Universidad de Moscú y en el año 1903 recibió el
Premio Pushkin de la Academia rusa por sus traducciones del poeta
estadounidense Henry Wadsworth Longfellow y de los poetas ingleses
Lord Byron y Lord Alfred Tennyson.
En los años que precedieron a la primera guerra europea, viajó por Italia,
Turquía, Palestina, Egipto, Grecia, Argelia, Túnez. Tras la Revolución
bolchevique de 1917, se estableció en París. En 1933 recibiría el Premio
Nobel de Literatura.
Entre sus obras más destacadas se encuentran "El señor de San Francisco y
otros cuentos" (1916) y las novelas "Una aldea" (1910) y "El amor de
Mitya" (1925).
165 pages, Paperback
First published September 19, 1910
65 people are currently reading
960 people want to read
About the author
Ivan Bunin
525 books324 followersIvan Alekseyevich Bunin (Russian: Иван Алексеевич Бунин) was the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was noted for the strict artistry with which he carried on the classical Russian traditions in the writing of prose and poetry. The texture of his poems and stories, sometimes referred to as "Bunin brocade", is considered to be one of the richest in the language.
Best known for his short novels The Village (1910) and Dry Valley (1912), his autobiographical novel The Life of Arseniev (1933, 1939), the book of short stories Dark Avenues (1946) and his 1917–1918 diary ( Cursed Days, 1926), Bunin was a revered figure among anti-communist White emigres, European critics, and many of his fellow writers, who viewed him as a true heir to the tradition of realism in Russian literature established by Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov.
He died November 8, 1953 in Paris.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 55 reviews
January 6, 2022
Il 2022 si apre con uno dei romanzi più actionless di sempre. Ma se in altri casi la mancanza di azione e di trama è arrivata ad infastidirmi, così non è stato questa volta: la potenza dei paesaggi e la concretezza dei personaggi, pur persi nel loro immobilismo, hanno ampiamente compensato.
D'altro canto, questo romanzo, in quanto "incipit dell'anno" mi ha regalato uno degli incipit più fulminanti che si siano mai letti: "Il bisnonno dei Krassov, soprannominato, fra la servitù, lo Zingaro, era stato sbranato dai mastini del suo signore, il capitano di cavalleria Durnovò. Lo Zingaro gli aveva tolto l'amante. Durnovò ordinò di condurre lo Zingaro in un campo fuori dal villaggio e di farlo sedere su un cumulo di terra, poi egli stesso uscì fuori con la sua muta e gridò: "Taiuh!". Lo Zingaro dopo un momento di sbalordimento si diede alla fuga. Ora, sappiamo che non bisogna mai correre davanti ai cani."
All'inizio mi sembrava una saga familiare incentrata su due fratelli, e ripensavo agli Ashkenazi di Singer, salvo poi rendermi conto, come dicevo, che non c'è trama: qui ci sono due fratelli, Tikhon e Kuzma, punto. Entrambi con un passato da mercanti, Tikhon assomiglia più al viscido Porfirij dei Golovlëv, mentre Kuzma è più "tradizionalmente" tolstojano.
Ancor più dei fratelli, protagonista è la vita nei villaggi nelle campagne russe all'inizio del XX secolo, proprio durante la rivoluzione del 1905 (ambientazione affine a quanto si incontra nel Placido Don di Šolochov, solo che qui il punto di vista è dalla parte dei mužik anziché dei cosacchi: apparentemente nessuna differenza, eppure quanto odio dei secondi nei confronti dei primi, quanto timore dei primi innanzi ai secondi).
Per continuare con le similitudini, si trova molto in comune con i Golovlëv di Saltykov-Ščedrin; non certo nello stile e nel tono del discorso, quanto nei temi: il senso di spreco, il senso di annullamento di una intera vita fatta di errori, e la difficoltà di sostenere paesaggi con steppe immense e ancor più immensi cieli. Cieli neri dell'inverno, cieli violacei al crepuscolo, il paesaggio è qui sempre e comunque una presenza incombente e ingombrante. Paesaggi sempre descritti con la stringata precisione che già avevo imparato a conoscere in Bunin nella cronaca dei Giorni Maledetti.
"La testa s'annebbiava. Ora la vita sembrava spalancarglisi davanti, e tutto era gioia, energia, spensieratezza, ora un'oscura sofferenza, una cupa disperazione gli straziavano il cuore."
"Era oppresso dal bisogno di esprimere i suoi sentimenti personali, la sua anima, di esibire tutto quanto faceva parte del martirio della sua vita. E il più terribile era la semplicità, la banalità di quella vita, la facilità inconcepibile con la quale essa si disperdeva in piccolezze."
"La nebbia del crepuscolo nascondeva i campi senza limiti, tutta quell'immensa solitudine, con le sue nevi, i suoi boschi, i suoi borghi, le sue città, regno della carestia e della morte..."
"Ormai la vita è passata, fratello! Ho avuto con me, sai, una cuoca ch'era muta; avevo regalato a quella sciocca, un bel fazzoletto da testa, e lei lo portava, l'usava, ma al rovescio. Comprendi? Per stupidità e avarizia. Le rincresceva portarlo dal dritto tutti i giorni, aspettava un giorno di gran festa. E la giornata festiva venne, ma non le era rimasto altro che un cencio. Così ho fatto io della mia vita. Come è vero!"
Quasi quasi ci trovo dei punti di contatto anche con Donna Rosita nubile di García Lorca.
Si incontra poi una sfilza di personaggi-comparsa la cui vera utilità è quella di fare una sorta di defilé: si descrive il loro abbigliamento, la barba ed i capelli e gli accessori, qualche accenno alla occupazione (o alla non-occupazione) e al carattere, e via che si passa alla comparsa successiva. Tutti questi figuranti messi assieme sono un caleidoscopico campionario del popolo del villaggio russo. "Ma la Russia, tutta la Russia, non è che un villaggio, ficcatelo bene nella zucca! Guardati attorno; siamo in città, è vero? Credi? E non hai visto quel gregge che tutte le sere sfila per le strade, in modo che la polvere sollevata impedisce di vedere il vicino? ...E mi parli di città?"
Non è opera tale da gridare al capolavoro, forse non diventerà uno dei miei preferiti di sempre, ma è pur sempre un altro importante tassello del puzzle e tornerò certamente a leggere altro di Bunin.
D'altro canto, questo romanzo, in quanto "incipit dell'anno" mi ha regalato uno degli incipit più fulminanti che si siano mai letti: "Il bisnonno dei Krassov, soprannominato, fra la servitù, lo Zingaro, era stato sbranato dai mastini del suo signore, il capitano di cavalleria Durnovò. Lo Zingaro gli aveva tolto l'amante. Durnovò ordinò di condurre lo Zingaro in un campo fuori dal villaggio e di farlo sedere su un cumulo di terra, poi egli stesso uscì fuori con la sua muta e gridò: "Taiuh!". Lo Zingaro dopo un momento di sbalordimento si diede alla fuga. Ora, sappiamo che non bisogna mai correre davanti ai cani."
All'inizio mi sembrava una saga familiare incentrata su due fratelli, e ripensavo agli Ashkenazi di Singer, salvo poi rendermi conto, come dicevo, che non c'è trama: qui ci sono due fratelli, Tikhon e Kuzma, punto. Entrambi con un passato da mercanti, Tikhon assomiglia più al viscido Porfirij dei Golovlëv, mentre Kuzma è più "tradizionalmente" tolstojano.
Ancor più dei fratelli, protagonista è la vita nei villaggi nelle campagne russe all'inizio del XX secolo, proprio durante la rivoluzione del 1905 (ambientazione affine a quanto si incontra nel Placido Don di Šolochov, solo che qui il punto di vista è dalla parte dei mužik anziché dei cosacchi: apparentemente nessuna differenza, eppure quanto odio dei secondi nei confronti dei primi, quanto timore dei primi innanzi ai secondi).
Per continuare con le similitudini, si trova molto in comune con i Golovlëv di Saltykov-Ščedrin; non certo nello stile e nel tono del discorso, quanto nei temi: il senso di spreco, il senso di annullamento di una intera vita fatta di errori, e la difficoltà di sostenere paesaggi con steppe immense e ancor più immensi cieli. Cieli neri dell'inverno, cieli violacei al crepuscolo, il paesaggio è qui sempre e comunque una presenza incombente e ingombrante. Paesaggi sempre descritti con la stringata precisione che già avevo imparato a conoscere in Bunin nella cronaca dei Giorni Maledetti.
"La testa s'annebbiava. Ora la vita sembrava spalancarglisi davanti, e tutto era gioia, energia, spensieratezza, ora un'oscura sofferenza, una cupa disperazione gli straziavano il cuore."
"Era oppresso dal bisogno di esprimere i suoi sentimenti personali, la sua anima, di esibire tutto quanto faceva parte del martirio della sua vita. E il più terribile era la semplicità, la banalità di quella vita, la facilità inconcepibile con la quale essa si disperdeva in piccolezze."
"La nebbia del crepuscolo nascondeva i campi senza limiti, tutta quell'immensa solitudine, con le sue nevi, i suoi boschi, i suoi borghi, le sue città, regno della carestia e della morte..."
"Ormai la vita è passata, fratello! Ho avuto con me, sai, una cuoca ch'era muta; avevo regalato a quella sciocca, un bel fazzoletto da testa, e lei lo portava, l'usava, ma al rovescio. Comprendi? Per stupidità e avarizia. Le rincresceva portarlo dal dritto tutti i giorni, aspettava un giorno di gran festa. E la giornata festiva venne, ma non le era rimasto altro che un cencio. Così ho fatto io della mia vita. Come è vero!"
Quasi quasi ci trovo dei punti di contatto anche con Donna Rosita nubile di García Lorca.
Si incontra poi una sfilza di personaggi-comparsa la cui vera utilità è quella di fare una sorta di defilé: si descrive il loro abbigliamento, la barba ed i capelli e gli accessori, qualche accenno alla occupazione (o alla non-occupazione) e al carattere, e via che si passa alla comparsa successiva. Tutti questi figuranti messi assieme sono un caleidoscopico campionario del popolo del villaggio russo. "Ma la Russia, tutta la Russia, non è che un villaggio, ficcatelo bene nella zucca! Guardati attorno; siamo in città, è vero? Credi? E non hai visto quel gregge che tutte le sere sfila per le strade, in modo che la polvere sollevata impedisce di vedere il vicino? ...E mi parli di città?"
Non è opera tale da gridare al capolavoro, forse non diventerà uno dei miei preferiti di sempre, ma è pur sempre un altro importante tassello del puzzle e tornerò certamente a leggere altro di Bunin.
July 16, 2022
ইভান বুনিনের এই গল্পের সৌন্দর্য্য ভাষায় নয়, নিখুঁত বিবরণীতে নয়, লেখার শৈলীতে তো নয়ই। গল্পটা এক ধরনের পৌনঃপুনিকতার যন্ত্রণা দেয়। মানুষের জীবন প্রতিদিন একটু একটু করে হাতের বাইরে চলে যাবার যে যন্ত্রণা- গল্পটা সেই শুন্যতাকে স্পর্শ করে তেমন কোনো কায়দা না করেই, কেবল আটপৌরে কথা বলেই। এই উপন্যাস পাঠক পড়ে, কিন্তু তার পড়ার অনুভূতি হয় না। কারণ মানুষ এভাবেই তার ভাগ্য ও ভূগোলের শিকার; রাশিয়ায়, দুনিয়ায়। আজ ও চিরকাল।
October 21, 2021
Zu lange her, um noch den Inhalt im Detail zu würdigen. War als Begleitlektüre zu einem Seminar über Stalinismus über die Weihnachtsferien gedacht, das ich als Erstsemester besuchte. Leider verwechselte ich beim Besuch in der Stadtbücherei Bunin mit dem in einem Nebensatz des Seminarleiters für seine Brillanz gelobten Bulgakow, wie sich nach den Ferien heraus stellte. Habe mir mit dieser Lektüre auch sonst keinen Gefallen getan, sondern mich redlich bemüht das Buch gut zu finden. Besonders frustrierend dabei war, dass immer weniger Seiten für Stalins Auftritt blieben.
Ohne diese durch nichts gerechtfertigte Erwartung hätte ich vermutlich nicht bis zum Ende ausgehalten. Wenn man etwas Gutes über das Buch sagen so will, handelt es sich um ein Missing Link zwischen Tolstojs Dorfgeschichten und Doktor Schiwago.
Ohne diese durch nichts gerechtfertigte Erwartung hätte ich vermutlich nicht bis zum Ende ausgehalten. Wenn man etwas Gutes über das Buch sagen so will, handelt es sich um ein Missing Link zwischen Tolstojs Dorfgeschichten und Doktor Schiwago.
April 30, 2023
So much for idealizations of Holy Russia, peasants, rural life.
September 8, 2019
اهم ما يميز هذه الرواية (ان صحت تسميتها رواية) قدرة الكاتب على السخرية الممزوجة بالمأساة. هو أيضا يأخذك من مشهد الى آخر بطريقة متقنة و سريعة حتى ترسم الوجه الكلي للقرية. يحاول الكتاب توضيح طبيعة حياة الروسيين آنذاك بحيث يصور حياة الشقيقين الذان افترقا، فأصبح الأول إقطاعيا و الثاني كاتبا فقيرا. ثم تجمعهم الظروف ليبين بعض آرائهم المتنافرة. ولكن العجيب انه على اختلاف طريقة عيش كل من الأخوين، توصل كلاهما الى عبثية الحياة الموحشة. و سأنقل هنا جملة من الكتاب اعتقد انها تلخص الفكرة بإسهاب تتحدث عن احد الأخوين (لم يعرف الأولاد ولو عرفهم لكان غريبا عنهم غربته عن القريبين منه كلهم الأحياء و الأموات، الناس في العالم كالنجوم في السماء و لكن الحياة قصيرة جدا. انهم بسرعة يكبرون و يكتهلون و يموتون. لا يعرف احدهم عن الآخر الا القليل، و بسرعة ينسون كل ما عاشوه. انه لامر يدعو الى الجنون لو فكر المرء فيه مليا)
أعطيت الرواية ٣ نجوم لسببين. ١) إهمال الكاتب لحبكة القصة. ٢) إلقاء الكثير من الأوصاف لدرجة ضياع القارئ (وان كنت أظن ان الترجمة افقدت الكتاب الكثير من جماله)
أعطيت الرواية ٣ نجوم لسببين. ١) إهمال الكاتب لحبكة القصة. ٢) إلقاء الكثير من الأوصاف لدرجة ضياع القارئ (وان كنت أظن ان الترجمة افقدت الكتاب الكثير من جماله)
July 3, 2018
This is more a portrayal of life in rural Russia during the 1905 Revolution. Fantastic insight to understand the accumulation of social and economic challenges faced by the vast majority of Russians, but as a novel I believe it is quite disjointed. There are many characters that have no relevance to the story. Great for social insight but little more.
Want to read
September 25, 2019Free download available at Project Gutenberg
February 1, 2011
The phrase about all the world being a village is one that kept coming to mind as the reader was introduced to the idea that Russia is a country that shares the same characteristics across its many miles. In the village there are those that have worked hard to gain wealth and position, those that are feckless and unable to do anything other than live a life of toil and often drunkenness and those that look to positions of power to change their fortunes.
Up to 1905 all of them believed they knew the lie of the land but as revolution threatened to topple the status quo and certainly introduced talk of more reforms and a Duma which would carve up land more fairly there must have been a palpable sense of fear.
Seen through the eyes of two brothers, Kuzma and Tikhon, The Village introduces the reader to a cast of characters that cover most of the usual Russian types. The richer of the two peasant brothers who has become a landowner, Tikhon, who owns property and a store, is envied and admired and spends most of his time worried about what could happen if the rebellion spreads and his property is burnt down.
Kuzma it turns out has had a harder life and in some ways is saved by his brother from a life of poverty but he is much more sensitive. The differences between them are highlighted most clearly over their attitude towards a servant woman Bride. Tikhon rapes her but Kuzma sees her more in a fatherly light even harboring some feelings towards her that cause him great pain when Bride is forced into a marriage.
This is a brilliant portrayal of a world that is ugly and harsh. There is no gloss here with Russian counts and duchesses dancing at balls this is grim life. Mud, millet and misery are the things you are left thinking about. The brother's each in their own way aspire to escaping that drudgery.
But by the end, regardless of whether or not the Duma, the Russian parliament, will introduce changes or not the brothers sell up and plan to escape the village.
But as we know the brutality, harshness and misery of the village is replicated elsewhere and the brothers might succeed in escaping their own specific situation but not Russia.
Up to 1905 all of them believed they knew the lie of the land but as revolution threatened to topple the status quo and certainly introduced talk of more reforms and a Duma which would carve up land more fairly there must have been a palpable sense of fear.
Seen through the eyes of two brothers, Kuzma and Tikhon, The Village introduces the reader to a cast of characters that cover most of the usual Russian types. The richer of the two peasant brothers who has become a landowner, Tikhon, who owns property and a store, is envied and admired and spends most of his time worried about what could happen if the rebellion spreads and his property is burnt down.
Kuzma it turns out has had a harder life and in some ways is saved by his brother from a life of poverty but he is much more sensitive. The differences between them are highlighted most clearly over their attitude towards a servant woman Bride. Tikhon rapes her but Kuzma sees her more in a fatherly light even harboring some feelings towards her that cause him great pain when Bride is forced into a marriage.
This is a brilliant portrayal of a world that is ugly and harsh. There is no gloss here with Russian counts and duchesses dancing at balls this is grim life. Mud, millet and misery are the things you are left thinking about. The brother's each in their own way aspire to escaping that drudgery.
But by the end, regardless of whether or not the Duma, the Russian parliament, will introduce changes or not the brothers sell up and plan to escape the village.
But as we know the brutality, harshness and misery of the village is replicated elsewhere and the brothers might succeed in escaping their own specific situation but not Russia.
October 13, 2021
Bounine est surtout connu pour ces nouvelles et qu'on on lit Le Village, le premier des trois romans qu'il a écrit, on le comprend encore plus. C'est encore dans la logique du recueil de nouvelles, le Village est une série d'anecdotes montrant la vie d'un village russe et par extension de la campagne russe au tournant du siècle. C'est axé sur le personnage de deux frères, mais c'est surtout des rumeurs, des histoires, des anecdotes. Faut vouloir lire ce genre de livre-là mais ça plonge dans le quotidien russe, ça c'est sur.
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August 13, 2019تفاصيل حميمة عن الحياة اليومية
الرواية مليئة بالاقتباسات الرائعة
الرواية مليئة بالاقتباسات الرائعة
May 15, 2025
وأثارت روايته القصيرة«القرية» التي نشرت في عام 1910 ضجة كبيرة في الاوساط الأدبية وتعتبر بداية شهرة بونين الواسعة في روسيا وخارجها. وكانت بداية نشر مجموعة من الروايات والقصص الأخرى التي «صورت الروح الروسية وأسسها المضيئة والقاتمة وحتى المأساوية في غالب الاحيان» حسب قوله. وكتب مكسيم غوركي عن رواية «القرية» ان أي كاتب آخر لم يتناول موضوع القرية بمثل هذا العمق والاصالة التاريخية. وعالج بونين على نطاق واسع حياة الشعب الروسي المتعلقة بمشاكله التاريخية والوطنية والقضايا الأكثر الحاحا في تلك الفترة أي الحرب والثورة. وقد صور القرية في زمانه بدون أي تزويق. وقد رسخت هذه الرواية التقاليد الواقعية في الأدب الكلاسيكي الروسي. علما ان بونين لم يلتحق بأية مجموعة ادبية في زمانه وكان لديه اسلوبه الخاص ولغته الشعرية ومعالجته لقضايا عصره. واصبح بونين ظاهرة ادبية متميزة بروسيا في النصف الأول من القرن العشرين بالرغم من اضطراره للهجرة من وطنه إلى فرنسا في 21 مايو عام 1918 بعد قيام ثورة أكتوبر البلشفية في عام 1917. حيث استقل مع زوجته السفينة من اوديسا إلى القسطنطينية (إسطنبول) وانتقل منها إلى صوفيا وبلغراد ووصل باريس في 28 مارس 1920 .
September 27, 2025
İvan Bunin, Rus köy yaşamını derin bir gerçekçilikle tasvir etmiş; o dönemin insan ilişkilerine tanık olmak ise insanı ürpertiyor gerçekten.
July 19, 2024
This novel is about the Krasov brothers - the hard-nosed, ambitious Tikhon and the dreamer Kuzma, who struggle to survive in late 19th century Russia, in a very backward rural area. The author dwells on the nauseating surroundings which go far beyond poverty, but are exacerbated by widespread corruption, hypocrisy, ignorance.
Kuzma, who is self-educated, seemingly has more self-awareness and insight into the plight of the populace. He is trying to be an author and eventually self-publishes a book of poetry. He turns from position to position, and sets out to look at a piece of land that might be for sale - which turns out to be unsuitable for what he had in mind (an orchard).
Travel throughout the book is described in vivid detail, because it is always difficult in the muddy roads - unless it occurs in winter, when the hard icy roads make it easier to travel by horse and sled.
Tikhon, who has managed to acquire an estate, Durnovka, eventually invites Kuzma to work for him as an estate manager - but Kuzma falls deathly ill from the cold. He survives.
The brothers arrange a marriage for the Durnovka charwoman (nicknamed Bride) who had been Tikhon's lover. The wedding festivities and rituals are described in colorful detail and there is a climactic conversation between the brothers, which must be the whole point of the book as they arrive at a semblance of peace or resolution.
The above is a bare outline of a very fine novel. The overall impression of the book is of the horrors of life in pre-Revolutionary Russia, and the scheming and criminality that existed throughout society - which had to find ways to get by in a cruel land populated by mostly cruel or inhumane people. If there is any upside to the gloom of the novel, it is in the glimmers of modernity, the references to trains, schools, the burgeoning social movement and so forth. But at this point, the people were overwhelmingly downtrodden ignorant peasants, who had very little going for them.
The biographical essay on Bunin, who lived from 1870 to 1953, that was appended to the novel, was quite informative in contextualizing the novel within the long and interesting life of the author prior to the Revolution and afterwards, when he fled to France with his family. Bunin was a left-liberal prior to the Revolution but disliked the Bolshevik approach to reform, and left Russia in May of 1918, never to return.
Here are the quotes:
"Not infrequently [Tikhon] ...would call his life a torment, a a noose, a golden cage. But he strode along this path ever more surely, and several years passed so monotonously that everything merged into a single working day. An the new major events were things that had never been expected -- war with Japan and revolution."
"[Kuzma to Tikhon:] Never fear. I'm not involved in politics. But you can't stop anyone thinking. An there's no harm in it for you at all. I'll run things meticulously but, I'm telling you straight -- I won't go fleecing anyone."
"[Kuzma to Tikhon:] The times are just the same. You can still fleece people. But no, it's not fitting. I shall manage things, and I'll devote my free time to self-development...to reading, that is."
"[Kuzma to Tikhon:] "But different. I don't mean to say I'm better than you, but -- different. I can see that you're proud to be Russian, while I, brother, am far from being a Slavophile! It doesn't do to chatter a lot, but one thing I will say: for God's sake don't boast about being Russian. We're a savage people!" Frowning, Tikhon Ilyich drummed his fingers the table. "That, I reckon, is true," he said. "A savage people. Wild."
"Bast shoes!" Kuzma responded caustically. "We're wearing them, brother, for the second thousand years, may they be thrice accursed. And who's to blame? The Tatars, you see, crushed us! We're a young people, you see! But here too, you know, in Europe, I reckon there's been quite a bit of crushing going on as well -- all sorts of Mongols. And the Germans are probably no older... Well, but that's a different conversation!"
"[Kuzma to Tikhon:] How do you wound a man really viciously? With poverty!"
"[Tikhon had] ... spent ten yeas meaning in vain to go to the little birch wood that was over the highway. He was forever hoping to snatch a free evening somehow, take a rug with him, the samovar, and sit on the grass in the cool, in the greenery -- and he never had snatched one... The days slip by like water through your fingers, and before you'd had time to realize it -- you'd hit fifty, and it'd soon be the end of everything, yet was it really so long ago he was running around with no trousers on? It seemed like yesterday!"
"[Tikhon] ... was no longer young, after all! How many of his contemporaries had already passed on! And there was no salvation from death and old age. Children wouldn't have saved him either. He wouldn't have known his children either, and he'd have been a stranger to his children, as he was to all his nearest and dearest -- both living and dead. People on earth are like the stars in the sky; but life is so short, people grow up, reach manhood and die so quickly, they know each other so little and forget all they've lived through so quickly, that you'll go mad if you think about it properly!"
"[Tikhon] ... had worked for Matorin for almost ten yeas, but those ten years had merged into a day or two as well..."
"Kuzma had dreamt all his life of studying and writing. Poetry was nothing! He was only "fooling around" with poetry. He wanted to recount the way he was perishing, to depict with unprecedented mercilessness his poverty and the way of life, terrible in its ordinariness, that was crippling him, making him a fruitless fig tree."
"[Balashkin:] Mercibul God! They killed Pushkin, they killed Lermontov; they drowned Pisarev, they hanged Ryleyev...They dragged Dostoevsky off to be shot, they drove Gogol out of his mind...And Shevchenko? And Poleshayev? You reckon the government's to blame? But you can tell the master by his man, people get what they deserve. Oh, and in all the world is there another country such as this, a race such as this, may it be thrice accursed?"
"Yes, yes," droned [Balashkin] ... already squinting his benumbed eye sleepily, moving his jaw with difficulty and unable to get the tobacco into his cigarette. "It's said: learn ev'ry hour, think ev'ry hour..just look around -- at all our woes and wretchedness..."
"For whom and for what is this man [Kuzma] alive in the world, thin, already grey-haired from hunger and stern thoughts, calling himself an anarchist and not really knowing how to explain what the word means?"
"...to avoid falling out pointlessly with a neighbor, [Yakov] ... would hurry to walk away from Grey. But Grey would remark calmly and pointedly in his wake: "A drunkard, brother, will sleep it of, but a fool never will."
"[Tikhon to Kuzma:] Bear it in mind: mill the wind and it'll still be wind. My word is sacred for ever and aye. Once I've said it, I'll do it. I won't light a candle for my sin, but do a good deed. I may only offer one mite, but for that mite the Lord will remember me."
"There I lay dying," Kuzma continued, not listening, "did I think abut Him much? I thought just the one thing: I don't know anything abut Him, and I don't know how to think!" shouted Kuzma. "I've not been taught!"
"Remember this, brother," [Kuzma] ...said, and his cheekbones flushed. "Remember this: our song is over. And no candles are going to save you and me. Do you hear? We're men of Durnovka!"
"The people! They're foul-mouthed, idle liars, and so shameless that they don't trust each other, not one of them! Mark my words," [Tikhon] ... yelled, not seeing that the wick he had lit was blazing and belching soot almost to the very ceiling, "not us, but each other! And they're all like that, all of them!"
"[Tikhon to Kuzma, reading passages from the Order for the Burial of the Dead (Laymen) in the Book of Needs:] Of a truth, all things are vanity, and life is but a shadow and a dream. For in vain doth everyone who is born of earth disquiet himself, as saith the Scriptures; when we have acquired the world, then do we take up our abode in the grave, where kings and beggars lie down together..."
"Kings and beggars!" Tikhon Ilyich repeated in rapturous sorrow, and shook his head. "My life's lost brother dear! I had a mute cook once, you see, and I gave the idiot a foreign-made shawl, and she went and wore holes in it turned inside out... You see? Out of stupidity and meanness. It's a waste to have the right side showing on ordinary days, like, I'll wait for a holiday -- but when the holiday came, there were only rags left... And I've done the same...with my life. It's truly so!"
From appended biographical essay "Ivan Bunin's Life" by Andrei Rogatchevski:
"Bunin's perception of the West hardly provides any alternative. The Tolstoyan theme of the uselessness of material wealth in the face of looming death, obvious in the "The Village," is developed further in 'The Gentleman from San Francisco,' Bunin's most famous short story, written with "the intensity of an apocalyptic vision of the horror and falsity of modern civilization (John Middleton Murry in 'The Times Literary Supplement' of 20th April 1922)."
"The jobless, alcoholic sea captain in the story 'Chang's Dreams' .... seems to express Bunin's own pessimistic view of human nature when he says: "I've been across the entire globe. Life is the same everywhere!...People have neither God, nor conscience, nor any practical goal in life, nor love, nor friendship, nor honesty -- not even simple pity."
"It appears that in "Arsenyev's Life," Bunin feels nostalgic about the Russia of his youth not so much because the Bolsheviks have taken over the country and have changed it beyond recognition, but because his detailed memories of it, which he carries inside him, are bound to disappear when he dies."
Kuzma, who is self-educated, seemingly has more self-awareness and insight into the plight of the populace. He is trying to be an author and eventually self-publishes a book of poetry. He turns from position to position, and sets out to look at a piece of land that might be for sale - which turns out to be unsuitable for what he had in mind (an orchard).
Travel throughout the book is described in vivid detail, because it is always difficult in the muddy roads - unless it occurs in winter, when the hard icy roads make it easier to travel by horse and sled.
Tikhon, who has managed to acquire an estate, Durnovka, eventually invites Kuzma to work for him as an estate manager - but Kuzma falls deathly ill from the cold. He survives.
The brothers arrange a marriage for the Durnovka charwoman (nicknamed Bride) who had been Tikhon's lover. The wedding festivities and rituals are described in colorful detail and there is a climactic conversation between the brothers, which must be the whole point of the book as they arrive at a semblance of peace or resolution.
The above is a bare outline of a very fine novel. The overall impression of the book is of the horrors of life in pre-Revolutionary Russia, and the scheming and criminality that existed throughout society - which had to find ways to get by in a cruel land populated by mostly cruel or inhumane people. If there is any upside to the gloom of the novel, it is in the glimmers of modernity, the references to trains, schools, the burgeoning social movement and so forth. But at this point, the people were overwhelmingly downtrodden ignorant peasants, who had very little going for them.
The biographical essay on Bunin, who lived from 1870 to 1953, that was appended to the novel, was quite informative in contextualizing the novel within the long and interesting life of the author prior to the Revolution and afterwards, when he fled to France with his family. Bunin was a left-liberal prior to the Revolution but disliked the Bolshevik approach to reform, and left Russia in May of 1918, never to return.
Here are the quotes:
"Not infrequently [Tikhon] ...would call his life a torment, a a noose, a golden cage. But he strode along this path ever more surely, and several years passed so monotonously that everything merged into a single working day. An the new major events were things that had never been expected -- war with Japan and revolution."
"[Kuzma to Tikhon:] Never fear. I'm not involved in politics. But you can't stop anyone thinking. An there's no harm in it for you at all. I'll run things meticulously but, I'm telling you straight -- I won't go fleecing anyone."
"[Kuzma to Tikhon:] The times are just the same. You can still fleece people. But no, it's not fitting. I shall manage things, and I'll devote my free time to self-development...to reading, that is."
"[Kuzma to Tikhon:] "But different. I don't mean to say I'm better than you, but -- different. I can see that you're proud to be Russian, while I, brother, am far from being a Slavophile! It doesn't do to chatter a lot, but one thing I will say: for God's sake don't boast about being Russian. We're a savage people!" Frowning, Tikhon Ilyich drummed his fingers the table. "That, I reckon, is true," he said. "A savage people. Wild."
"Bast shoes!" Kuzma responded caustically. "We're wearing them, brother, for the second thousand years, may they be thrice accursed. And who's to blame? The Tatars, you see, crushed us! We're a young people, you see! But here too, you know, in Europe, I reckon there's been quite a bit of crushing going on as well -- all sorts of Mongols. And the Germans are probably no older... Well, but that's a different conversation!"
"[Kuzma to Tikhon:] How do you wound a man really viciously? With poverty!"
"[Tikhon had] ... spent ten yeas meaning in vain to go to the little birch wood that was over the highway. He was forever hoping to snatch a free evening somehow, take a rug with him, the samovar, and sit on the grass in the cool, in the greenery -- and he never had snatched one... The days slip by like water through your fingers, and before you'd had time to realize it -- you'd hit fifty, and it'd soon be the end of everything, yet was it really so long ago he was running around with no trousers on? It seemed like yesterday!"
"[Tikhon] ... was no longer young, after all! How many of his contemporaries had already passed on! And there was no salvation from death and old age. Children wouldn't have saved him either. He wouldn't have known his children either, and he'd have been a stranger to his children, as he was to all his nearest and dearest -- both living and dead. People on earth are like the stars in the sky; but life is so short, people grow up, reach manhood and die so quickly, they know each other so little and forget all they've lived through so quickly, that you'll go mad if you think about it properly!"
"[Tikhon] ... had worked for Matorin for almost ten yeas, but those ten years had merged into a day or two as well..."
"Kuzma had dreamt all his life of studying and writing. Poetry was nothing! He was only "fooling around" with poetry. He wanted to recount the way he was perishing, to depict with unprecedented mercilessness his poverty and the way of life, terrible in its ordinariness, that was crippling him, making him a fruitless fig tree."
"[Balashkin:] Mercibul God! They killed Pushkin, they killed Lermontov; they drowned Pisarev, they hanged Ryleyev...They dragged Dostoevsky off to be shot, they drove Gogol out of his mind...And Shevchenko? And Poleshayev? You reckon the government's to blame? But you can tell the master by his man, people get what they deserve. Oh, and in all the world is there another country such as this, a race such as this, may it be thrice accursed?"
"Yes, yes," droned [Balashkin] ... already squinting his benumbed eye sleepily, moving his jaw with difficulty and unable to get the tobacco into his cigarette. "It's said: learn ev'ry hour, think ev'ry hour..just look around -- at all our woes and wretchedness..."
"For whom and for what is this man [Kuzma] alive in the world, thin, already grey-haired from hunger and stern thoughts, calling himself an anarchist and not really knowing how to explain what the word means?"
"...to avoid falling out pointlessly with a neighbor, [Yakov] ... would hurry to walk away from Grey. But Grey would remark calmly and pointedly in his wake: "A drunkard, brother, will sleep it of, but a fool never will."
"[Tikhon to Kuzma:] Bear it in mind: mill the wind and it'll still be wind. My word is sacred for ever and aye. Once I've said it, I'll do it. I won't light a candle for my sin, but do a good deed. I may only offer one mite, but for that mite the Lord will remember me."
"There I lay dying," Kuzma continued, not listening, "did I think abut Him much? I thought just the one thing: I don't know anything abut Him, and I don't know how to think!" shouted Kuzma. "I've not been taught!"
"Remember this, brother," [Kuzma] ...said, and his cheekbones flushed. "Remember this: our song is over. And no candles are going to save you and me. Do you hear? We're men of Durnovka!"
"The people! They're foul-mouthed, idle liars, and so shameless that they don't trust each other, not one of them! Mark my words," [Tikhon] ... yelled, not seeing that the wick he had lit was blazing and belching soot almost to the very ceiling, "not us, but each other! And they're all like that, all of them!"
"[Tikhon to Kuzma, reading passages from the Order for the Burial of the Dead (Laymen) in the Book of Needs:] Of a truth, all things are vanity, and life is but a shadow and a dream. For in vain doth everyone who is born of earth disquiet himself, as saith the Scriptures; when we have acquired the world, then do we take up our abode in the grave, where kings and beggars lie down together..."
"Kings and beggars!" Tikhon Ilyich repeated in rapturous sorrow, and shook his head. "My life's lost brother dear! I had a mute cook once, you see, and I gave the idiot a foreign-made shawl, and she went and wore holes in it turned inside out... You see? Out of stupidity and meanness. It's a waste to have the right side showing on ordinary days, like, I'll wait for a holiday -- but when the holiday came, there were only rags left... And I've done the same...with my life. It's truly so!"
From appended biographical essay "Ivan Bunin's Life" by Andrei Rogatchevski:
"Bunin's perception of the West hardly provides any alternative. The Tolstoyan theme of the uselessness of material wealth in the face of looming death, obvious in the "The Village," is developed further in 'The Gentleman from San Francisco,' Bunin's most famous short story, written with "the intensity of an apocalyptic vision of the horror and falsity of modern civilization (John Middleton Murry in 'The Times Literary Supplement' of 20th April 1922)."
"The jobless, alcoholic sea captain in the story 'Chang's Dreams' .... seems to express Bunin's own pessimistic view of human nature when he says: "I've been across the entire globe. Life is the same everywhere!...People have neither God, nor conscience, nor any practical goal in life, nor love, nor friendship, nor honesty -- not even simple pity."
"It appears that in "Arsenyev's Life," Bunin feels nostalgic about the Russia of his youth not so much because the Bolsheviks have taken over the country and have changed it beyond recognition, but because his detailed memories of it, which he carries inside him, are bound to disappear when he dies."
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September 2, 2019القرية....
ايفان بونين....
يعد الشاعر والأديب الروسي ايفان بونين المولود عام 1870 من الكتاب الذين اعتنوا عناية خاصة بالبيئة وخاصة الريف الروسي ...إذ يجد القارىء صدى المكان الريفي بتفاصيله الدقيقة بين ثنايا صفحات مؤلفاته... وقد أشار بونين نفسه إلى عمق علاقته بالأرض الريفية بقوله:"
إن ذكريات الطفولة ارتبطت منذ أن كنت في سن السابعة بالحقول وبيوت الفلاحين وساكنيها." فلا عجب اذا أن يلحظ القارىء الحضور القوي للفلاح والأرض والحقول في جل ماكتبه...وتعد روايته " القرية" التي أثارت ضجة كبيرة في الأوساط الأدبية انذاك مثالا على تجاهه الروائي القريب من المدرسة الواقعية الطبيعية والتى تُعد أيضا السبب الحقيقي وراء شهرته الواسعة في روسيا وخارجها...
في هذه الرواية جعل بونين من البيئة البطل الحقيقي للقصة وأفرغ لها مساحات كثيرة وخاض في أدق تفاصيلها ....تربتها...مناخها...محاصيلها...بيوت ساكنيها...مأكلهم ومشربهم...قدم لنا لوحة متكاملة عن الحياة هناك بصعوباتها وببساطتها كذلك...رصد بدء التحول من النظام الإقطاعي والعبودية الإقطاعية والانقلاب الصناعي حينئذ وأثر ذلك على السكان وأهالي الأرياف...فمن خلال الأخوين كراسوف "تيخون التاجر الإقطاعي وكوزما الشاعر الباحث عن الحياة بين الكلمات" درس الكاتب العلاقة بين الإنسان والأرض ...حاول أن ينقل لنا دقائق مايحدث يوميا في أرض ولادة خيرة لكن أهلها جوعى كماجاء على لسان تيخون : " أرضنا خصبة لكننا نموت من الجوع."
بأناة وصبر وقف بالقارىء على يوميات الروسي الباحث عن لقمة العيش ....صور البيئة ببرودتها وعنف عواصفها ونهارها المشمس على استحياء...اطلعه على العادات والتقاليد السائدة هناك...جعله يتذوق طعامهم وشرابهم ...وتنقل معه بين المزارع وحظائر الحيوانات...فألف تلك المعيشة وكأنه يحياها بخصوصيتها ...
صاغ فلسفته للحياة بأسلوب معلمه تولستوي وقدوته بوشكين الذي كان الأقرب له..
اقترب بفكره من معاني الموت الذي يجرد الأشياء من جمالها ويقصيها بعيدا....فالموت لا يكون في هيئة واحدة تعتمد على سلب الجسد فقط ومواراته التراب...بل
له أشكال عدة بمعاني مختلفة...فهو يتجسد في ترك الإنسان عاجزا عن تأمين قوت يومه ..تنعكس صورته في حرمان الفرد من الذرية وتركه جذرا يابسا لا ثمار له مهما سعى للحيلولة دون حدوث ذلك...الموت في رغبة الإنسان إحداث تغيير في ذاته ينأى به عن المذلة والمهانة...وبالتالي موت الروح وابتعادها كليا ...فالمتتبع لأحداث هذه الرواية من بداية سطورها وحتى النهاية يستطيع أن يلمح مظاهر الفكر الخاص بالكاتب وعقيدته التي يؤمن بها ....فانعدام بريق الحياة يمتد ليشمل البيئة والإنسان معا وكأنهما يشكلان حلفا واحدا يستمد أحدهما قوته من الاخر...وضعف أحدهما يؤثر بالآخر كذلك.....
قرية بونين ليست سطورا وصفية بل هي تأريخ للمكان واعتناء به وتعظيم لفكرة العدم التي نستطيع رؤيتها في مشاهد الرواية .... وتبجيل لغير الأحياء باعتبار الأرض الرحم الأوسع والحضن الأكبر ولعل هذا مامنحها الحظوة بين النقاد وجعلها البوابة التي ولج من خلالها الكاتب عالم الشهرة...
بونين هو الارستقراطي الذي عشق الريف فتنفس قلمه ذاك الهوى وصاغه لوحات أدبية ذات أبعاد أدبية تستحق أن تدرس....
ايفان بونين....
يعد الشاعر والأديب الروسي ايفان بونين المولود عام 1870 من الكتاب الذين اعتنوا عناية خاصة بالبيئة وخاصة الريف الروسي ...إذ يجد القارىء صدى المكان الريفي بتفاصيله الدقيقة بين ثنايا صفحات مؤلفاته... وقد أشار بونين نفسه إلى عمق علاقته بالأرض الريفية بقوله:"
إن ذكريات الطفولة ارتبطت منذ أن كنت في سن السابعة بالحقول وبيوت الفلاحين وساكنيها." فلا عجب اذا أن يلحظ القارىء الحضور القوي للفلاح والأرض والحقول في جل ماكتبه...وتعد روايته " القرية" التي أثارت ضجة كبيرة في الأوساط الأدبية انذاك مثالا على تجاهه الروائي القريب من المدرسة الواقعية الطبيعية والتى تُعد أيضا السبب الحقيقي وراء شهرته الواسعة في روسيا وخارجها...
في هذه الرواية جعل بونين من البيئة البطل الحقيقي للقصة وأفرغ لها مساحات كثيرة وخاض في أدق تفاصيلها ....تربتها...مناخها...محاصيلها...بيوت ساكنيها...مأكلهم ومشربهم...قدم لنا لوحة متكاملة عن الحياة هناك بصعوباتها وببساطتها كذلك...رصد بدء التحول من النظام الإقطاعي والعبودية الإقطاعية والانقلاب الصناعي حينئذ وأثر ذلك على السكان وأهالي الأرياف...فمن خلال الأخوين كراسوف "تيخون التاجر الإقطاعي وكوزما الشاعر الباحث عن الحياة بين الكلمات" درس الكاتب العلاقة بين الإنسان والأرض ...حاول أن ينقل لنا دقائق مايحدث يوميا في أرض ولادة خيرة لكن أهلها جوعى كماجاء على لسان تيخون : " أرضنا خصبة لكننا نموت من الجوع."
بأناة وصبر وقف بالقارىء على يوميات الروسي الباحث عن لقمة العيش ....صور البيئة ببرودتها وعنف عواصفها ونهارها المشمس على استحياء...اطلعه على العادات والتقاليد السائدة هناك...جعله يتذوق طعامهم وشرابهم ...وتنقل معه بين المزارع وحظائر الحيوانات...فألف تلك المعيشة وكأنه يحياها بخصوصيتها ...
صاغ فلسفته للحياة بأسلوب معلمه تولستوي وقدوته بوشكين الذي كان الأقرب له..
اقترب بفكره من معاني الموت الذي يجرد الأشياء من جمالها ويقصيها بعيدا....فالموت لا يكون في هيئة واحدة تعتمد على سلب الجسد فقط ومواراته التراب...بل
له أشكال عدة بمعاني مختلفة...فهو يتجسد في ترك الإنسان عاجزا عن تأمين قوت يومه ..تنعكس صورته في حرمان الفرد من الذرية وتركه جذرا يابسا لا ثمار له مهما سعى للحيلولة دون حدوث ذلك...الموت في رغبة الإنسان إحداث تغيير في ذاته ينأى به عن المذلة والمهانة...وبالتالي موت الروح وابتعادها كليا ...فالمتتبع لأحداث هذه الرواية من بداية سطورها وحتى النهاية يستطيع أن يلمح مظاهر الفكر الخاص بالكاتب وعقيدته التي يؤمن بها ....فانعدام بريق الحياة يمتد ليشمل البيئة والإنسان معا وكأنهما يشكلان حلفا واحدا يستمد أحدهما قوته من الاخر...وضعف أحدهما يؤثر بالآخر كذلك.....
قرية بونين ليست سطورا وصفية بل هي تأريخ للمكان واعتناء به وتعظيم لفكرة العدم التي نستطيع رؤيتها في مشاهد الرواية .... وتبجيل لغير الأحياء باعتبار الأرض الرحم الأوسع والحضن الأكبر ولعل هذا مامنحها الحظوة بين النقاد وجعلها البوابة التي ولج من خلالها الكاتب عالم الشهرة...
بونين هو الارستقراطي الذي عشق الريف فتنفس قلمه ذاك الهوى وصاغه لوحات أدبية ذات أبعاد أدبية تستحق أن تدرس....
October 25, 2013
This comment makes me feel a bit like a middle school teacher, but Ivan where are your paragraphs? Where are your chapters? Do you not understand that 1 paragraph encompassing multiple conversations over a period of several weeks may be a little confusing? Trust me, it is a serious endurance test.
I didn't hate this book but it was hard work. I was hoping I would be enlightened and suddenly have total understanding of Russia in 1905, if anything I'm more confused.
Okay, so maybe it is a little presumptuous of me to assume that 1 book can hold all the information I need about Russian history and this book is a fantastic source for providing an impression of living conditions and the attitudes of peasants in Russia during 1905...but still it was confusing.
However impression is why I'm awarding the book 3 stars, despite my increasingly frustrated and confused status updates. Do not start reading this book lightly, thinking 'oh look she thought it was a fun read'. You have to have some kind of goal in mind to survive it. There are some (dare I say it) beautiful, striking quotes, but you really have to fight to get to them and I'm not sure whether it was worth it for me.
'The wind blew evermore gustily, sprinkling splashes from the bright-green trees, and beyond the orchard, somewhere low down, taut thunder was rumbling, flashes of pale blue lightning lit up the avenue and everywhere the nightingales were singing. It was quite incomprehensible how they could chatter, trill and spill out their song so diligently, in such a persistent state of oblivion, so sweetly and powerfully under this heavy, leaden, cloudy sky'
I love that quote but that is two sentences...and I cut the second one off short.
By all means read this, have ago at some Russian Literature, but don't say I didn't warn you; I am glad I've finished it.
(If you are now depressed because I have put you off reading anything Russian ever try this...There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby)
I didn't hate this book but it was hard work. I was hoping I would be enlightened and suddenly have total understanding of Russia in 1905, if anything I'm more confused.
Okay, so maybe it is a little presumptuous of me to assume that 1 book can hold all the information I need about Russian history and this book is a fantastic source for providing an impression of living conditions and the attitudes of peasants in Russia during 1905...but still it was confusing.
However impression is why I'm awarding the book 3 stars, despite my increasingly frustrated and confused status updates. Do not start reading this book lightly, thinking 'oh look she thought it was a fun read'. You have to have some kind of goal in mind to survive it. There are some (dare I say it) beautiful, striking quotes, but you really have to fight to get to them and I'm not sure whether it was worth it for me.
'The wind blew evermore gustily, sprinkling splashes from the bright-green trees, and beyond the orchard, somewhere low down, taut thunder was rumbling, flashes of pale blue lightning lit up the avenue and everywhere the nightingales were singing. It was quite incomprehensible how they could chatter, trill and spill out their song so diligently, in such a persistent state of oblivion, so sweetly and powerfully under this heavy, leaden, cloudy sky'
I love that quote but that is two sentences...and I cut the second one off short.
By all means read this, have ago at some Russian Literature, but don't say I didn't warn you; I am glad I've finished it.
(If you are now depressed because I have put you off reading anything Russian ever try this...There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby)
August 14, 2017
It was perhaps the density of Bunin's prose, the unremitting solemnity and savage squalidity of his leaden description, and the variably-intelligible translation all put together, which has acted as a dead weight on my trip through the literature of the 1910s. It's Naturalism, I suppose, but with a specific strategic aim: to show how worthless and unsustainable provincial peasant life in Tsarist Russia was. Bunin wasn't particularly enamored of the Revolution either (unlike Gorky, he kept a brow-furrowed distance from the Bolsheviks and their heirs), but for the twenty-first century reader of The Village, it's hard to escape the conclusion that anything would have been better than the squalid, diseased, stupefying life he (no doubt unfairly and very much partially) portrays.
August 6, 2022
Realistisk stil, till den grad att man förstår varför Ryssland var redo för en revolution. Även om revolutionen 1905, som den här texten leder fram till, misslyckades. Fattigare, skitigare, mer depressivt om ryska landsbygden, än jag någonsin läst. Men hur objektiv eller subjektiv är texten? Efter den stora revolutionen 1917, kom Bunin att lämna Ryssland 1920, och bosätta sig i Frankrike resten av sitt liv.
Å andra sidan har i alla fall den svenska upplagan undertiteln, 'En prosadikt', och språket är vackert i sin bildliga enkelhet - men jag läser ju den svenska översättningen, så hur mycket som liknar originalet vet jag inte.
Å andra sidan har i alla fall den svenska upplagan undertiteln, 'En prosadikt', och språket är vackert i sin bildliga enkelhet - men jag läser ju den svenska översättningen, så hur mycket som liknar originalet vet jag inte.
February 22, 2017
Tolstoy should have won Russia's first Nobel Prize for Literature, but in fact that honour went to Ivan Bunin for this portrait of rural peasant life. It is considerably less idealised than than Tolstoy, Bunin's peasants are more likely to be ignorant and brutish than noble, but both authors are telling the truth as they saw it. This was first published in 1910, but set around 1905 and the first Russian Revolution.
September 3, 2015
green withers pink hooves yellow turkeys , lilac skies, this is a funny and black book by a master .... the Bunin " brocade" began here , I imagine Chagall being Russian Orthodox and a writer and voila! No magical realism but beautiful nonetheless
February 28, 2017
A good book but not great. The story follows two brothers during the time that the revolution was about to happen and is more a description of the harsh life of rural Russia without much of a real plot. The edition I read could have used a good editor because of the numerous misspellings.
January 3, 2022
very unique piece of russian literature. highly recommended
December 26, 2023
È sorprendente vedere che ci sono altri autori russi oltre ai soliti noti, quelli considerati e tradotti in Italia si intende. Nonostante il premio Nobel conseguito nel 1933 e nonostante il suo primato di essere il primo russo a ricevere tale tale titolo onorifico, Ivan Alekseevič Bunin fuori dalla sua patria non è molto considerato e "Il Villaggio" è una delle pochissime sue opere tradotte qui (e reperibili commercialmente), insieme a una raccolta di racconti e un saggio.
Non è la sua principale opera questa, si tratta di un romanzo breve che tocca fugacemente la vita nella Russia rurale all'alba della Rivoluzione del 1905. Un villaggio che si erge a exemplum, in quanto, secondo l'autore, tutta la Russia, oggi super potenza mondiale, altro non era che: "un villaggio". Siamo quindi ben lontani, stilisticamente parlando, dai toni epici di un Lev Nikolàevič Tolstòj, dagli anfratti psicologi ben delineati di Fëdor Michajlovič Dostoevskij e dalle fantasie di Michail Afanas'evič Bulgàkov. Più vicino a Ivan Sergeevič Turgenev e concettualmente vicino alla scuola di Dickens, Verga e Gaskell, "Il Villaggio" segue le vicende di due fratelli, discendenti da una famiglia di servi della gleba.
Da qui si snoda una vicenda sociale del tutto verghiana. Entrambi alla ricerca del successo, di un riscatto sociale, infatti, finiscono per trovarsi o infelici, o nella miseria più nera. E se si potrebbe pensare che l'autore abbia fatto un errore di valutazione nel pensare alla Russia come un grande e immenso villaggio, non è difficile accorgersi che fuori dalla mischia rivoluzionaria delle grandi città, qualsiasi posto abitato entro i confini russi risulti come un organismo a sé stante. Il che fa comprendere il rovescio della medaglia. Mentre nei centri urbani si respirava, finalmente, aria di cambiamento, fuori da questi, tutto rimane non solo immutato, ma anche indifferente.
E dalla lettura di questo romanzo risulta ancora più incredibile pensare che proprio nella Russia zarista si siano affermate in maniera così radicale le idee di Marx e che nel tempo si siano applicate così rigorosamente.
Ma la Storia a volte sorprende, sfugge ai calcoli matematici.
Non è la sua principale opera questa, si tratta di un romanzo breve che tocca fugacemente la vita nella Russia rurale all'alba della Rivoluzione del 1905. Un villaggio che si erge a exemplum, in quanto, secondo l'autore, tutta la Russia, oggi super potenza mondiale, altro non era che: "un villaggio". Siamo quindi ben lontani, stilisticamente parlando, dai toni epici di un Lev Nikolàevič Tolstòj, dagli anfratti psicologi ben delineati di Fëdor Michajlovič Dostoevskij e dalle fantasie di Michail Afanas'evič Bulgàkov. Più vicino a Ivan Sergeevič Turgenev e concettualmente vicino alla scuola di Dickens, Verga e Gaskell, "Il Villaggio" segue le vicende di due fratelli, discendenti da una famiglia di servi della gleba.
Da qui si snoda una vicenda sociale del tutto verghiana. Entrambi alla ricerca del successo, di un riscatto sociale, infatti, finiscono per trovarsi o infelici, o nella miseria più nera. E se si potrebbe pensare che l'autore abbia fatto un errore di valutazione nel pensare alla Russia come un grande e immenso villaggio, non è difficile accorgersi che fuori dalla mischia rivoluzionaria delle grandi città, qualsiasi posto abitato entro i confini russi risulti come un organismo a sé stante. Il che fa comprendere il rovescio della medaglia. Mentre nei centri urbani si respirava, finalmente, aria di cambiamento, fuori da questi, tutto rimane non solo immutato, ma anche indifferente.
E dalla lettura di questo romanzo risulta ancora più incredibile pensare che proprio nella Russia zarista si siano affermate in maniera così radicale le idee di Marx e che nel tempo si siano applicate così rigorosamente.
Ma la Storia a volte sorprende, sfugge ai calcoli matematici.
October 23, 2025
No entiendo por qué me propuse continuar leyendo esta novela si desde el principio no me gustó nada. Venía de leer otra historia de Bunin relacionada con una pequeña aldea de Rusia. Esto es básicamente lo mismo, pero en una versión más extensa. Retoma eso de meternos de lleno a una población, pero no desde lo pintoresco, sino de lo más anodino y seco posible. Quizá eso sea la verdadera alma de esas regiones.
Tenemos dos personajes principales, pero como si no lo fueran. Tijon y Kuzma, hermanos que tienen dos personalidades distintas, pero entre tanto gris parecen ser los mismos. Mucho de lo que se narra son las situaciones dentro de ese micro universo, magnificados pese a que no tienen relevancia. Se trata mas que de una trama de una ambientación, lo feo también es narrable, lo insulso llevado a su máxima representación.
Creo que por eso le dieron el Nobel. Sus temas no tienen la potencia de otros narradores rusos ni siquiera alcanza una prosa bella. Pero pudo mostrar el panorama de esa gran Rusia que es incomprensible para los europeos, ya no digamos para el mundo entero. Y lo mejor, no hay condescendencia ni patriotismo, es una crítica a esa nación desconocida, la que está fuera de las capitales, la que apenas se sostenía por milagro.
No me gustó, quise abandonarla siempre, me estaba desquiciando. Pero estuve ahí porque era otro ángulo a lo que he leído de los rusos. No sé si él inauguró el existencialismo, pero parece que de Bunin salió la desesperanza y el sopor, y la nada.
Tenemos dos personajes principales, pero como si no lo fueran. Tijon y Kuzma, hermanos que tienen dos personalidades distintas, pero entre tanto gris parecen ser los mismos. Mucho de lo que se narra son las situaciones dentro de ese micro universo, magnificados pese a que no tienen relevancia. Se trata mas que de una trama de una ambientación, lo feo también es narrable, lo insulso llevado a su máxima representación.
Creo que por eso le dieron el Nobel. Sus temas no tienen la potencia de otros narradores rusos ni siquiera alcanza una prosa bella. Pero pudo mostrar el panorama de esa gran Rusia que es incomprensible para los europeos, ya no digamos para el mundo entero. Y lo mejor, no hay condescendencia ni patriotismo, es una crítica a esa nación desconocida, la que está fuera de las capitales, la que apenas se sostenía por milagro.
No me gustó, quise abandonarla siempre, me estaba desquiciando. Pero estuve ahí porque era otro ángulo a lo que he leído de los rusos. No sé si él inauguró el existencialismo, pero parece que de Bunin salió la desesperanza y el sopor, y la nada.
October 12, 2020
Интересненько
"Прадеда Красовых, прозванного на дворе Цыганом, затравил борзыми барин Дурново. Цыган отбил у него, у своего господина, любовницу. Дурново приказал вывести Цыгана в поле, за Дурновку, и посадить на бугре. Сам же выехал со сворой и крикнул: "Ату его!" Цыган, сидевший в оцепенении, кинулся бежать. А бегать от борзых не следует."
"Ездил по уезду, жил одно время в родной Дурновке,завёл было там лавочку, но прогорел, запил, воротился в город и помер."
"А женившись, взяв приданого, "доконал" потомка обнищавших Дурново,полного, ласкового барчука, лысого на двадцать пятом году, но с великолепной каштановой бородой. И мужики так и ахнули от гордости, когда взял он дурновское именьице: ведь чуть не вся Дурновка состоит из Красовых!"
"Без детей человек - не человек. Так, обсевок какой-то..."
"Это было не умно, но он уже давно заметил, что есть в нём ещё кто-то - глупей его."
"Как коротка и бестолкова жизнь!"
"- Ну я так не думаю, возразил Кузьма. - Я, брат, - как бы это тебе сказать? - странный русский тип.
- Я и сам русский человек, имей в виду, - вставил Тихон Ильич.
- Да иной. Не хочу сказать, что я лучше тебя, но - иной. Ты вот, вижу, гордишься, что ты русский, а я, брат, ох, далеко не славянофил! Много баять не подобает, но скажу одно: не хвалитесь вы, за-ради бога, что вы - русские. Дикий мы народ!"
"Русская, брат, музыка: жить по-свинячьи скверно, а всё-таки живу и буду жить по-свинячьи!"
"Прадеда Красовых, прозванного на дворе Цыганом, затравил борзыми барин Дурново. Цыган отбил у него, у своего господина, любовницу. Дурново приказал вывести Цыгана в поле, за Дурновку, и посадить на бугре. Сам же выехал со сворой и крикнул: "Ату его!" Цыган, сидевший в оцепенении, кинулся бежать. А бегать от борзых не следует."
"Ездил по уезду, жил одно время в родной Дурновке,завёл было там лавочку, но прогорел, запил, воротился в город и помер."
"А женившись, взяв приданого, "доконал" потомка обнищавших Дурново,полного, ласкового барчука, лысого на двадцать пятом году, но с великолепной каштановой бородой. И мужики так и ахнули от гордости, когда взял он дурновское именьице: ведь чуть не вся Дурновка состоит из Красовых!"
"Без детей человек - не человек. Так, обсевок какой-то..."
"Это было не умно, но он уже давно заметил, что есть в нём ещё кто-то - глупей его."
"Как коротка и бестолкова жизнь!"
"- Ну я так не думаю, возразил Кузьма. - Я, брат, - как бы это тебе сказать? - странный русский тип.
- Я и сам русский человек, имей в виду, - вставил Тихон Ильич.
- Да иной. Не хочу сказать, что я лучше тебя, но - иной. Ты вот, вижу, гордишься, что ты русский, а я, брат, ох, далеко не славянофил! Много баять не подобает, но скажу одно: не хвалитесь вы, за-ради бога, что вы - русские. Дикий мы народ!"
"Русская, брат, музыка: жить по-свинячьи скверно, а всё-таки живу и буду жить по-свинячьи!"
December 7, 2025
Ser ganador del premio nobel de literatura no es garantía para tener obras buenas en todo momento. Este es el caso de una aldea, pues a pesar de mostrar las costumbres rusas y de contextualizarlo durante un periodo de grandes cambios sociales y revolucionarios con perspectivas de los medianos terratenientes y los campesinos, no logra representar una historia envolvente y memorable. Incluso, se podrían generar relaciones con El llano en llamas de Juan Rulfo cuando representa la vida rural, y con el pasaje específico de la tragedia que representa para las familias la muerte de una vaca, y con las bellas imágenes que presenta mientras se va pasando en el recorrido en el carruaje, pero no son suficientes. También la evocación de la charca del diablo de George Sand con el tema propio del matrimonio es interesante, pero tampoco suficiente. También me gustó la metáfora de la vida como el pañuelo que se viste y que la muchacha lo vestía al revés para reservarlo para un día de fiesta y cuando lo iba a usar ya era un guiñapo, pero tampoco es suficiente. Eso es lo que yo opino de la obra, pero seguramente eso no es suficiente.
Espero sus comentarios
Espero sus comentarios
November 29, 2024
القرية لِـ إيفان بونين
منشورات ذات السلاسل 301 صفحة.
أفضل مافي الكتاب أنه هدية واسوأ ما فيه أن لا يناسب ذوقي وقد رأيت ذلك منذ البداية ولكنني قررت المضي قدمًا وقراءة شيء آخر غير ما تعودت عليه، من اختيار شخص آخر غيري.
هذي المرة الأولى التي أتعرف فيها على الكاتب ورغم براعته في الوصف الا أنني أعتقد أنهُ يبالغ بحيث يستغرق في الوصف وينسى الموضوع الأساسي، في بعض الصفات 5 سطور لوصف ملابس رجل!
والمشكلة الأساسية في نظري أن الكتاب يصف الحياة البائسة في الريف، والدقة في الوصف سببت لي الضيق، كما أتكرار المشاهد والأماكن المزعجة سبب لي القرف، كوصف روث الخيول ورائحة حظائر الحيوانات، والاشخاص عديمي النظافة والروائح المنفرة عامة، والاماكن المتسخة، ولكنه نجح في وصف البؤس وجلعني أشعر بهِ رغم أن الرواية لا تحتوي على قصة او القصة ضائعة في الوصف المبالغ فيه.
للأسف هذي التجربة الأولى والأخيرة للكتاب، حتى أنني لم أستطع إكمال الكتاب، رغم أنني في العادة لا أترك الكتب في منتصفها أو دون إكمالها حتى وإن لم تعجبني، ولكنني تركته، ولا يمكنني ترشيحة لأي شخص.
زهراء الشيخ
29 نوفمبر 2024
منشورات ذات السلاسل 301 صفحة.
أفضل مافي الكتاب أنه هدية واسوأ ما فيه أن لا يناسب ذوقي وقد رأيت ذلك منذ البداية ولكنني قررت المضي قدمًا وقراءة شيء آخر غير ما تعودت عليه، من اختيار شخص آخر غيري.
هذي المرة الأولى التي أتعرف فيها على الكاتب ورغم براعته في الوصف الا أنني أعتقد أنهُ يبالغ بحيث يستغرق في الوصف وينسى الموضوع الأساسي، في بعض الصفات 5 سطور لوصف ملابس رجل!
والمشكلة الأساسية في نظري أن الكتاب يصف الحياة البائسة في الريف، والدقة في الوصف سببت لي الضيق، كما أتكرار المشاهد والأماكن المزعجة سبب لي القرف، كوصف روث الخيول ورائحة حظائر الحيوانات، والاشخاص عديمي النظافة والروائح المنفرة عامة، والاماكن المتسخة، ولكنه نجح في وصف البؤس وجلعني أشعر بهِ رغم أن الرواية لا تحتوي على قصة او القصة ضائعة في الوصف المبالغ فيه.
للأسف هذي التجربة الأولى والأخيرة للكتاب، حتى أنني لم أستطع إكمال الكتاب، رغم أنني في العادة لا أترك الكتب في منتصفها أو دون إكمالها حتى وإن لم تعجبني، ولكنني تركته، ولا يمكنني ترشيحة لأي شخص.
زهراء الشيخ
29 نوفمبر 2024
January 18, 2024
I have recently read the book by Ivan Bunin called "The Village". This novel is one of the most beautiful and lyrical works that shows all the beauties of the "Russian village". At the same time it emphasises all the major problems that were present in the village at that time. The story is told in first person and many believe the author is talking about his childhood, his studies in the city and his holiday trip home to his native village. This work describes the life of two brothers. And their life is an endless routine, hard work, hunger, cold, need. It leaves a lot of reflections, it is one of the strongest narratives about the life of the Russian village and its inhabitants. I highly recommend this work to everyone who wants to get better understanding of the Russian soul. Whatever trial fall to the share of the Russian man, he will go through everything.
October 13, 2022
Ivan Bunin was the first Russian to win the Nobel prize for literature. This novella is typical of his work - talking about Russia and its poverty
In this work the plot isfocused on two brothers, Tokin and Kuzma who are both peasants except that Kuzma has self educated himself but still remains in poverty. The novel explores not only this aspect of the peasants life but also their attitudes, personality and culture
A short but interesting insight into the nineteenth century rural life of Russia
In this work the plot isfocused on two brothers, Tokin and Kuzma who are both peasants except that Kuzma has self educated himself but still remains in poverty. The novel explores not only this aspect of the peasants life but also their attitudes, personality and culture
A short but interesting insight into the nineteenth century rural life of Russia
June 4, 2022
Повість про життя російське село і його апатичних мешканців в 1900-х роках, яка актуальна і в 2000-х.
Відраза від всього, включаючи персонажів, про злидні, безграмотність, невігластво російського периферійного населення.
Мені здалось що автор сам сповнений ненависті до цих селян і місця, де відбуваються дії.
Відраза від всього, включаючи персонажів, про злидні, безграмотність, невігластво російського периферійного населення.
Мені здалось що автор сам сповнений ненависті до цих селян і місця, де відбуваються дії.
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