Ivan Bunin, novel "The Life of Arseniev": a summary, analysis and characterization of the characters

Ivan Bunin is a famous Russian emigre writer who lived at the beginning of the 20th century. We will consider one of his most serious works - "The Life of Arseniev." Summary, analysis of the novel and characterization of the characters will be the main topic of this article.

About the book

The novel was started in 1927, and completed by 1933. The first chapters began to be published immediately in 1927. This is the most voluminous work that Bunin wrote. "Life of Arseniev" (a summary of the chapters will be set out below) brought the writer a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933.

A lot of time and effort took from Bunin this work - the writer rewrote chapters several times, polishing the language, trying to achieve perfection. Close friends later in their memories of the writer told that the novel was given to him very difficult.

Bunin "Life of Arseniev": a summary

The protagonist of the work is Alexei Alexandrovich Arsenyev. He is a Russian nobleman who was destined to survive the February revolution and flee abroad. The book is devoted to his entire life, beginning with the description of children's days and ending with the time spent in a foreign land. In the novel there are many arguments of the hero about the abandoned homeland.

Book One

So, let's start with a short summary. "Life of Arseniev" Ivan Bunin begins with the description of the main character. Alexey was born in the seventies of the XIX century in Russia. His father Alexander Sergeevich owned a farmstead on the Kamenka farm, where he spent his childhood the main character in the quiet of Russian nature.

Mother took a special place in his life, he felt himself inseparable from her. Father fascinated his love of life, and younger sister Olga was the best friend.

Then the first teacher Alyosha Baskakov appeared. He left his wealthy family in his youth after quarreling with his father, and as a result he did not receive an inheritance. Now Baskakov is forced to wander around the world.

But soon Alexei first encountered death - unexpectedly died younger sister Nadia. After her, the grandmother died, after which the Arsenievs received the estate as an inheritance. After the experience, Alyosha began to read books about the martyrs and saints. Only a few months later he returned to poetry and fiction.

Carefree days of childhood and communication with the family and Baskakov ended when the couple came to enter the gymnasium.

Book Two

Now the life of Arseniev is radically changing. The brief description tells how the parents took Alyosha to the landowner Rostovtsev to the city. It turned out to be a slender tall man of strict life rules, proud of his Russian origin. It is in his house that Alyosha must live while he studies at the gymnasium.

He did not like the new place. Friends among peers were not found, and the teachers were boring people, publicly telling lessons. The boy dreamed of a vacation when he went home. His family at that time had already moved to the estate of Baturino, inherited from her grandmother. And the native Kamenka had to be sold, as there was not enough money.

When Alexei was 14 years old, his elder brother George was arrested, who was accused of involvement in the revolutionaries. For Alyosha, this was a shock. A year later the boy left the gymnasium and returned home. Father first scolded him, and then decided that he could get a new son from Lermontov or Pushkin.

The young man pondered a lot about life and death, read a lot and had little contact with outsiders. Soon he fell in love. His brother Nicholas married a German woman, who had a distant relative Angel. It was in her that Alex was in love the whole winter. This feeling helped him survive another loss - the distant relative of Arseniev died, to whom the hero was tied.

Book Three

After the funeral Arsenyev's life changes again. The summary of the chapters describes another blow for a fifteen-year-old boy - separation from his beloved. Even the news of the publication of his first collection of poems does not please him.

His father had long ago left economic affairs and was in a drunken state most of the time. Alyosha saw how Arseniev the elder sank gradually, and with sorrow he thought about the fate of the aging mother and sister Olga, who was supposed to remain an old maid. And he himself had a hard time. He did not even have his own clothes on the way out, and he borrowed Grigory's old jacket.

Alexei spent the summer in the estate of his brother Nikolai, where he worked together with the peasants. In the autumn he went to the city to sell the harvest. All this gradually gave rise in the young man's desire to leave his native Baturino.

A year later, Nicholas bought a neighboring estate, where he took with him and Alexei. Here the brother hired a young and married maid Tonka. With this girl, Alexei immediately began a novel. The hero himself speaks of his passion as a madness. He was looking forward to meetings, dying of jealousy, and could not reason with himself. Tonka gradually realized how much Alexei loved her, and began to torment him. Nikolay, who calculated the maid at the request of her angry husband, graduated from them.

Book Four

We continue to present a brief summary of the novel Bunin's Life of Arseniev. More and more, Alexei thought about leaving the ruined house and starting to live independently. The hero goes to Orel, where he is going to work in the local newspaper Golos. However, Alex arrived late at the station and only found a train to Kharkov. Suddenly, the hero decides to go there. In addition, Brother Grigory lives there.

As soon as the young man arrived in Kharkov, a wave of new impressions and acquaintances came upon him. Friends of Gregory were very different from the rural environment. Many of them participated in the riots and visited 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.

Alexei did not like this company, but he had no choice. Winter has passed. Alexei spent a lot of time in the public library, and his brother serves in the zemstvo board. In the spring, news came of the ruin of the estate, his father had to lay Baturino. It also turned out that Grigory lives with a married woman who shares his ideals.

Alex decides to return home in Baturino. But on the way he drove to Eagle, where he met with the editor of "Golos" Nadezhda Avilova. The woman introduced him to Lika Obolenskaya (her cousin), and the young man fell in love again.

Book five

We now turn to the description of the concluding part of the novel "The Life of Arseniev" (short content). Alex received a place in the "Voice". Now he constantly rushes between Eagle and Baturin. Face then pushes him, then draws him closer to himself.

Autumn has passed. One day, Leka'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 the will of her father. However, in November, lovers once again became friends, when Alex finally moved to Orel. But the young people did not reach mutual understanding. As a result, Lika left with her father Orel.

Alexei was tormented by a sense of loneliness. He worked in Golos, talked with Avilova. The hero began to write again, but this did not satisfy him. A little time passed, and Alex decides to go on a journey. Avilov proposes to go to Moscow together, but the hero is frightened and refuses.

Being in Vitebsk and going to Petersburg, Alexey sent a telegram to Lika about the imminent arrival. Lovers met at the station and realized that they could not live without each other.

A new life began in the southern town, where Grigory settled. Lika and Alexey worked in the local zemstvo council. However, his constant absence and treason forced Lika to leave the city. Soon the young man learned that Lika was ill with pneumonia and died.

Alexei returned home. He was 20 years old. But the love for this woman remained with him forever.

Thus ends the novel "The Life of Arseniev." The summary of the books, which we outlined, provides an opportunity for analyzing the work.

Analysis

"Life of Arsenyev" - an artistic biography and biography of the Russian nobility, which confirms the brief content of the book. "Life of Arseniev" is an exposition, not only of the household plan of the landowner's way. Bunin turns the description of the era into scenery for religious, spiritual and philosophical questions. The hero throughout the novel comprehends categories such as death, life, love.

Disturb Bunin and issues of national pride, which are so relevant for a person who saw the February revolution and trying to comprehend what happened.

Characteristics of heroes

Alexei Arseniev is the main character of the novel "The Life of Arseniev." The brief content gives us the right to call this character autobiographical, since the writer endowed him to some extent with his life experience. In the work we see how the hero passes through several stages of development - from the child to the young man. Parallel to this, Alexei also comprehends the world around him.

The culmination of Alexei's inner struggle occurs when he falls in love with Lika. To be with this woman, he needs to overcome his own selfishness and desire. However, he does not succeed, which leads to the death of a loved one.

As for the other characters, they are all seen by the reader as the protagonist. Therefore, it is not surprising that members of his family, who seemed to him ideal in childhood, gradually "fade" and degrade under the influence of circumstances.