Бунин

The subject of research in the article is the image of the Dry Valley in Bunin’s short novel and its possible sources. The author believes that the main precedent texts for Bunin’s short novel and the concept of national life and national character embodied in it, are the novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov (as the researchers have already noted) and The Silver Dove by Andrey Bely. Bunin both argues with the writers and develops their ideas about the essence of the Russian character and the Russian life.

In the Manuscripts and Rare Books Division of the Regional Scientific Library of Saratov State University, an early autograph of Ivan Bunin, which has not yet been introduced in scientific circulation, has been discovered. This is a signed copy of the translation of G. G. Byron’s Manfred published by the “Znanie” Partnership. It is known that Fyodor Batyushkov, holding the post of the editor-in-chief of the magazine Mir Bojiy (The World of God), wrote reviews of the works of authors nominated for the Pushkin Prize.