Nature's Embrace: The Poetry of Ivan Bunin

by Ivan Bunin, Patrick Wang (Translator)

Ivan Bunin was the first Russian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. For his poetry, he was twice awarded Russia’s highest literary honor, the Pushkin Prize. While Bunin’s prose writing is well known, his poetry—though highly praised by critics and contemporaries such as Blok, Gorky and Nabokov—has been unjustly ignored. This collection of over 100 verse translations is the first English language book of Bunin’s poetry. Spanning a long period of poetic output (1886-1952), this selection includes both published and unpublished poems. In a variety of forms, they cover an astonishing range of topics and reveal a writer with singular artistic precision and deep humanity.

136 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 2, 2020

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

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This low rating has nothing to do with Bunin’s work. This is my rating for the translation of the poetry and the fact my brain didn’t like it at all. I haven’t read Bunin before and I’m so mad this was where I started. Talk about starting off on the wrong foot. This didn’t work for me, but I will still try some novels by Bunin. I’m not giving up…but maybe giving up on poetry. Ugh! My brain isn’t wired for it unless it rhymes and tells a story. Like when someone has a Wocket in their Pocket or tries to force a poor guy to eat green eggs and ham. That I get, because I’m pathetic.

[Descending Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though Bunin is Russia's first Nobel prize for literature winner, he doesn't seem to be talked about or read, which is a shame. This collection of his poetry is great.