Discovering Russian Literature discussion

Sunstroke is considered as one of the best stories by Ivan Bunin. Enjoy the reading!

Sunstroke

A summer of passion for ten years of wisdom. Not a bad deal, I'd say.

An interesting story, the tone of it somewhat reminded me of a D.H. Lawrence story. Though I might have to go back and reread it as I am not sure I entirely grasped the meaning of the ending.

I've read this one before. Bunin is, surprisingly, less known among the English readers. Really like his short stories.

I got behind the reading schedule. Anyway I'll just add my thoughts.

Silver wrote: "An interesting story, the tone of it somewhat reminded me of a D.H. Lawrence story. "

Absolutely! Bunin's stories are beautiful, lyrical, like poetry written in prose form. I have read a great collection of short stories (translation in my mother tongue) they were amazing. Unfortunately English readers don't generally know the the works of Bunin.

As for this one, I guess love is like a sunstroke. "Mitya's Love", another short story by Bunin, has a similar theme.

So much of the significance of "Sunstroke" is that languorous day after the tryst. I can still see the officer sitting in the cafe smoking, drinking, and trying to regain a sense of himself. The mood is heavy, and yet he has nothing to do but wait, the rest of his life ahead of him.

So many of Bunin's stories make an accordion of time, contracting, then stretching it; "Sunstroke" takes 24 hours, but we get a sorrowful sense of a whole life passing ("10 years of wisdom" as it were). In other stories too, decades pass in paragraphs, and yet as a reader I feel like I get the whole picture. Stories like "A Cold Autumn Evening" illustrate what I mean.