Light Breathing & Other Stories

by Ivan Bunin, Olga Shartse (Translator)

English (translation)
Original Russian

Genres: Short Stories, Russian Literature, Classics

412 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Ivan 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.

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

About the story Light Breathing.

Very short story written in good, soulful language. What you feel there is – softness, hopes and expectations, a little bit of recklessness.
Ola is a girl who has everything, it seems her life will be perfect as now she is perfect – everyone likes her, she enjoys life, is bright and happy, sometimes rash and sharp because of all the admiration around. And she even has the most important thing a woman should have – a light breathing.
Life irony is that her bright future could not be fulfilled. This central problem is what makes you to think – what is better – to have a life without having everything people admire or to seem perfect for people around and not having life?

[Richa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is more about lust than love, or romance. The author seems to have confused the two very contrary emotions. Love grows and keeps growing throughout one's life, whereas, lust is instantaneous and easily gratified. Considering the author is one of Russia's classic writers, I was a bit disappointed by this collection of stories. It might be that I expected a completely different projection of more lofty ideals than what I encountered in this book. Or maybe, it is a Russian fantasy of "meeting a once-in-a-life-time love" while travelling or visiting, which is nothing more than a fling. Another thing which jarred upon my sensitivities, was this constant factor among the stories where, the men seem to be taking unfair advantage of the misfortune of the fairer sex. Hence, I got a misogynistic feel from the author.

[Paul Narvaez · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Bunin reading. In a way, it is so simple and concise that it resembles how Chekhov works. These little glimpses of people's lives capture something universal in their emotions, which lingers long after you've read them. And at the same time, I feel some of qualities of the language tended are not fully coming out in English translation. I have the sense that I'm not fully getting it.

[Jimgosailing · Rating 5 out of 5]

“And now this light breathing has been wafted anew through world, in this cloudy sky, in this cold spring wind.”

Boy, oh boy, can the Russians write about death.

[Olga · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love him...