The great writer Ivan Alekseevich Bunin wrote his work “Antonov Apples” quickly, in just a few months. But he did not complete the work on the story, because he turned to his story again and again, changing the text. Each edition of this story had already changed and edited text. And this could easily be explained by the fact that the writer’s impressions were so vivid and deep that he wanted to show all this to his reader.
But a story like “Antonov Apples,” where there is no plot development, and the basis of the content is Bunin’s impressions and memories, is difficult to analyze. It is difficult to capture the emotions of a person who lives in the past. But Ivan Alekseevich manages to accurately convey sounds and colors, showing his unusual literary skill. Reading the story “Antonov Apples” you can understand what feelings and emotions the writer experienced. This is both pain and sadness that all this is left behind, as well as joy and tenderness for the ways of deep antiquity.
Bunin uses bright colors to describe colors, for example, black-lilac, gray-iron. Bunin’s descriptions are so deep that he even notices how the shadow of many objects falls. For example, from the flames in the garden in the evening he sees black silhouettes, which he compares with giants. By the way, there are a huge number of metaphors in the text. It is worth paying attention to the sundresses that girls wear at fairs: “sundresses that smell like paint.” Even the smell of Bunin's paint does not cause irritation, and this is another memory. And what words does he choose when he conveys his feelings from water! The writer’s character is not simply cold or transparent, but Ivan Alekseevich uses the following description of it: icy, heavy.
What is happening in the narrator’s soul, how strong and deep his experiences are, can be understood if we analyze those details in the work “Antonov Apples”, where he gives a detailed description of them. There is also a main character in the story - a barchuk, but his story is never revealed to the reader.
At the very beginning of his work, the writer uses one of the means of artistic expressiveness of speech. The gradation lies in the fact that the author very often repeats the word “remember,” which allows you to create a feeling of how carefully the writer treats his memories and is afraid of forgetting something.
The second chapter contains not only a description of a wonderful autumn, which is usually mysterious and even fabulous in villages. But the work tells about old women who were living out their lives and preparing to accept death. To do this, they put on a shroud, which was wonderfully painted and starched so that it stood like a stone on the body of the old women. The writer also recalled that, having prepared for death, such old women dragged gravestones into the yard, which now stood awaiting the death of their mistress.
The writer’s memories take the reader in the second part to another estate, which belonged to Ivan Alekseevich’s cousin. Anna Gerasimovna lived on her own, so she was always happy to visit her old estate. The road to this estate still appears before the narrator’s eyes: a lush and spacious blue sky, the well-trodden and well-trodden road seems to the writer the most expensive and so dear. Bunin’s description of both the road and the estate itself evokes a great feeling of regret that all this is a thing of the distant past.
The description of the telegraph poles that the narrator encountered on the way to his aunt is sad and sad to read. They were like silver strings, and the birds sitting on them seemed to the writer like musical notes. But even here, on the aunt’s estate, the narrator again remembers the smell of Antonov apples.
The third part takes the reader into deep autumn, when after cold and prolonged rains, the sun finally begins to appear. And again the estate of another landowner - Arseny Semenovich, who was a great lover of hunting. And again one can see the author’s sadness and regret that the spirit of the landowner, who honored both his roots and the entire Russian culture, has now faded away. But now that former way of life has been lost, and it is now impossible to return the former noble way of life in Rus'.
In the fourth chapter of the story “Antonov Apples,” Bunin sums it up by saying that the smell of Antonov apples has disappeared no more than the smell of childhood, which was associated with the life and everyday life of the local nobility. And it is impossible to see either those old people, or the glorious landowners, or those glorious times. And the last lines of the story “I covered the road with white snow” lead the reader to the fact that it is no longer impossible to return the old Russia, its former life.
The story “Antonov Apples” is a kind of ode, enthusiastic, but sad and sad, imbued with love, which is dedicated to Russian nature, life in the villages and the patriarchal way of life that existed in Rus'. The story is small in volume, but quite a lot is conveyed in it. Bunin has pleasant memories of that time; they are filled with spirituality and poetry.
“Antonov Apples” is Bunin’s hymn to his homeland, which, although it remained in the past, far from him, still remained forever in the memory of Ivan Alekseevich, and was for him like the best and purest time, the time of his spiritual development.
Such works, created in the early period of Ivan Alekseevich’s work, include the story “Antonov Apples”, in which the sadness and grief of the writer himself is felt. The main theme of this Bunin masterpiece is that the writer points out the main problem of society of that time - the disappearance of the former estate life, and this is the tragedy of the Russian village.
History of the story
In the early autumn of 1891, Bunin visited the village with his brother Evgeniy Alekseevich. And at the same time, he writes a letter to his common-law wife Varvara Pashchenko, in which he shares his impressions of the morning smell of Antonov apples. He saw how the autumn morning began in the villages and he was struck by the cold and gray dawn. The old grandfather’s estate, which now stands abandoned, also evokes pleasant feelings, but once upon a time it hummed and lived.
He writes that with great pleasure he would return to the time when landowners were honored. He writes to Varvara about what he experienced then, going out onto the porch early in the morning: “I would like to live like the old landowner! Get up at dawn, leave for the “departing field”, do not get out of the saddle all day, and in the evening with a healthy appetite, with a healthy fresh mood, return home through the darkened fields.”
And only nine years later, in 1899 or 1900, Bunin decides to write the story “Antonov Apples”, which was based on reflections and impressions from visiting his brother’s village estate. It is believed that the prototype of the hero of Arseny Semenych’s story was a distant relative of the writer himself.
Despite the fact that the work was published in the year it was written, Bunin continued to edit the text for another twenty years. The first publication of the work took place in 1900 in the tenth issue of the St. Petersburg magazine “Life”. This story also had a subtitle: “Pictures from the book “Epitaphs.” For the second time, this work, already revised by Bunin, was included in the collection “The Pass” without a subtitle. It is known that in this edition the writer removed several paragraphs from the beginning of the work.
But if you compare the text of the story with the 1915 edition, when the story “Antonov Apples” was published in the Complete Works of Bunin, or with the text of the work in 1921, which was published in the collection “Initial Love,” then you can see their significant difference.
Plot of the story
The story takes place in early autumn, when the rains were still warm. In the first chapter, the narrator shares his feelings that he experiences in a village estate. So, the morning is fresh and damp, and the gardens are golden and already noticeably thinned out. But most of all, the smell of Antonov apples is imprinted in the narrator’s memory. The bourgeois gardeners hired peasants to harvest the crops, so voices and the creaking of carts can be heard everywhere in the garden. At night, carts loaded with apples leave for the city. At this time, a man can eat plenty of apples.
Usually a large hut is placed in the middle of the garden, which becomes settled over the summer. An earthen stove appears next to it, all sorts of belongings are lying around, and in the hut itself there are single beds. At lunchtime, this is where food is prepared, and in the evening they put out a samovar and the smoke from it pleasantly spreads throughout the area. And on holidays, fairs are held near such a hut. Serf girls dress up in bright sundresses. An “old woman” also arrives, which somewhat resembles a Kholmogory cow. But not so much people buy something, but come here more for fun. They dance and sing. Closer to dawn it begins to get fresh, and the people disperse.
The narrator also hurries home and in the depths of the garden observes an incredibly fabulous picture: “As if in a corner of hell, a crimson flame is burning near the hut, surrounded by darkness, and someone’s black silhouettes, as if carved from ebony wood, are moving around the fire.”
And he also sees a picture: “Then a black hand several arshins in size will fall across the entire tree, then two legs will clearly appear - two black pillars.”
Having reached the hut, the narrator will playfully fire a rifle a couple of times. He will spend a long time admiring the constellations in the sky and exchange a few phrases with Nikolai. And only when his eyes begin to close and a cool night shiver runs through his entire body, he decides to go home. And at this moment the narrator begins to understand how good life is in the world.
In the second chapter, the narrator will remember a good and fruitful year. But, as people say, if Antonovka is a success, then the rest of the harvest will be good. Autumn is also a wonderful time for hunting. People already dress differently in the fall, since the harvest is harvested and difficult work is left behind. It was interesting for the storyteller-barchuk to communicate at such a time with old men and women, and to observe them. In Rus' it was believed that the longer old people live, the richer the village. The houses of such old people were different from others; they were built by their grandfathers.
The men lived well, and the narrator even at one time wanted to try to live like a man in order to experience all the joys of such a life. On the narrator’s estate, serfdom was not felt, but it became noticeable on the estate of Anna Gerasimovna’s aunt, who lived only twelve miles from Vyselki. The signs of serfdom for the author were:
☛ Low outbuildings.
☛ All the servants leave the servants’ room and bow low and low.
☛ A small old and solid manor.
☛ Huge garden
The narrator remembers his aunt very well when she, coughing, entered the room where he was waiting for her. She was small, but also somehow solid, like her house. But most of all the writer remembers the amazing dinners with her.
In the third chapter, the narrator regrets that the old estates and the order established in them have gone somewhere. The only thing left from all this is hunting. But of all these landowners, only the writer’s brother-in-law, Arseny Semenovich, remained. Usually towards the end of September the weather deteriorated and it rained continuously. At this time the garden became deserted and boring. But October brought a new time to the estate, when the landowners gathered at their brother-in-law's and rushed to hunt. What a wonderful time it was! The hunt lasted for weeks. The rest of the time it was a pleasure to read old books from the library and listen to the silence.
In the fourth chapter, the writer hears the bitterness and regret that the smell of Antonov apples no longer reigns in the villages. The inhabitants of the noble estates also disappeared: Anna Gerasimovna died, and the hunter’s brother-in-law shot himself.
Artistic Features
It is worthwhile to dwell in more detail on the composition of the story. So, the story consists of four chapters. But it is worth noting that some researchers do not agree with the definition of the genre and argue that “Antonov Apples” is a story.
The following artistic features can be identified in Bunin’s story “Antonov Apples”:
✔ The plot, which is a monologue, is a memory.
✔ There is no traditional plot.
✔ The plot is very close to the poetic text.
The narrator gradually changes chronological pictures, trying to guide the reader from the past to what is happening in reality. For Bunin, the ruined houses of the nobles are a historical drama that is comparable to the saddest and saddest times of the year:
Generous and bright summer is the past rich and beautiful home of landowners and their family estates.
Autumn is a period of withering, the collapse of foundations that have been formed over centuries.
Researchers of Bunin's creativity also pay attention to the pictorial descriptions that the writer uses in his work. It’s as if he’s trying to paint a picture, but only a verbal one.
Ivan Alekseevich uses a lot of pictorial details. Bunin, like A.P. Chekhov, resorts to symbols in his depiction: ★ The image of a garden is a symbol of harmony.
★ The image of apples is both a continuation of life, kindred, and love for life.
Story Analysis
Bunin’s work “Antonov Apples” is a reflection by writers on the fate of the local nobility, which gradually faded away and disappeared. The writer’s heart aches with sadness when he sees vacant lots in the place where only yesterday there were busy noble estates. An unsightly picture opens before his eyes: only ashes remain from the landowners' estates and now they are overgrown with burdocks and nettles.
Sincerely, the author of the story “Antonov Apples” worries about any character in his work, living with him all the trials and anxieties. The writer created a unique work, where one of his impressions, creating a bright and rich picture, is smoothly replaced by another, no less thick and dense.
Criticism of the story "Antonov Apples"
Bunin's contemporaries highly appreciated his work, since the writer especially loves and knows nature and village life. He himself belongs to the last generation of writers who come from noble estates.
But critics' reviews were mixed. Yuliy Isaevich Aikhenvald, who was in great authority at the beginning of the 20th century, gives the following review of Bunin’s work: “Bunin’s stories, dedicated to this antiquity, sing its departure.”
Maxim Gorky, in a letter to Bunin, which was written in November 1900, gave his assessment: “Here Ivan Bunin, like a young god, sang. Beautiful, juicy, soulful. No, it’s good when nature creates a person as a nobleman, it’s good!”
But Gorky will re-read Bunin’s work itself many more times. And already in 1901, in a letter to his best friend Pyatnitsky, he wrote his new impressions:
“Antonov apples smell good - yes! - but - they do not smell democratic at all... Ah, Bunin!
The school curriculum includes the study of the work of Ivan Bunin and his work Antonov Apples, and to make it easier to get acquainted with the writer Bunin and his Antonov Apples, we suggest reading the work Antonov Apples in a summary, which is presented below. Just after getting acquainted with the story, you will be able to take notes on Bunin’s work Antonov Apples in your reading diary.
Bunin Antonov apples
Chapter 1
So, Bunin shares his memories in his work Antonov Apples. He remembers early autumn, when the weather was fine outside. The author remembers the garden, which has already thinned out, the fallen leaves around and this indescribable aroma of Antonov apples. There are voices everywhere, the creaking of wheels - these are the townsfolk who hired men to harvest the harvest and then take the apples to the city to sell. Moreover, it is best to transport apples at night. So you can lie down in the cart and watch the stars, while you can enjoy the taste of fragrant and sweet apples. And there in the distance you can see the huts where the townsfolk made their beds, with a samovar nearby. On any holiday, a fair is always organized near the hut. The townspeople sell apples, trade is in full swing and only in the evening everything calms down. Only the guards do not sleep, they are always on the alert so that no one sneaks into the orchard and steals the apples.
Chapter 2
The narrator remembers the village of Vyselki along with its inhabitants. People live here for a long time. Sometimes you ask how old they are, and they don’t even know, but definitely around a hundred. Here the author rejoices that he did not experience serfdom and at the same time remembered his aunt Anna Gerasimovna, whose estate, although not large, was cozy, and when you enter the house, you immediately feel the aroma of Antonovka apples and only then are other smells heard. The aunt immediately offers treats and the first thing is apples, and only then follows a delicious lunch.
Chapter 3
Continuing Bunin's Antonov Apples narrative in a chapter-by-chapter summary, the author recalls the landowners' favorite pastime - hunting. And then he remembered his late brother-in-law Arseny Semenych. The author remembered how everyone had gathered in his house in anticipation of the upcoming hunt, and then Arseny came out, broad-shouldered, thin, and told everyone that it was time to go, there was no point in wasting time. And now the author is on horseback. He merged with him and rushes after the dogs, who have already pulled far ahead. The hunters, in search of their prey until the evening and only in the evening, all returned to the estate of some landowner, where they could spend the night there for several days, leaving again in the morning to hunt. The author remembers how he slept through the hunt. How pleasant it was to wander around the house in silence, and go to the library to read interesting books, of which there were a lot.
Chapter 4
And so the aroma of apples disappears from the landowners' houses. The author tells how the old people in the village of Vyselki died out, Arseny also shot himself, Anna Gerasimovna also died. Now the small estate reigns, but it is also good with its beggarly life. The author recalls how he was back in the village. And again on horseback, galloping across the open spaces and returning only in the evening. And the house is warm and the fire is crackling in the stove.
The life of a small estate always begins early. He gets up, orders the samovar to be put on and goes out into the street, where everything wakes up and work begins to boil. And the day should be good for hunting, if only there were greyhounds instead of hounds, but my friend doesn’t have any. And with the onset of winter, everyone again begins to gather with friends, drink away the last of their money and spend whole days in the fields. And in the evening you can see an outbuilding in the distance, where the windows are lit, and songs are sung inside with a guitar.
The great writer Ivan Alekseevich Bunin wrote his work “Antonov Apples” quickly, in just a few months. But he did not complete the work on the story, because he turned to his story again and again, changing the text. Each edition of this story had already changed and edited text. And this could easily be explained by the fact that the writer’s impressions were so vivid and deep that he wanted to show all this to his reader.
But a story like “Antonov Apples,” where there is no plot development, and the basis of the content is Bunin’s impressions and memories, is difficult to analyze. It is difficult to capture the emotions of a person who lives in the past. But Ivan Alekseevich manages to accurately convey sounds and colors, showing his unusual literary skill. Reading the story “Antonov Apples” you can understand what feelings and emotions the writer experienced. This is both pain and sadness that all this is left behind, as well as joy and tenderness for the ways of deep antiquity.
Bunin uses bright colors to describe colors, for example, black-lilac, gray-iron. Bunin’s descriptions are so deep that he even notices how the shadow of many objects falls. For example, from the flames in the garden in the evening he sees black silhouettes, which he compares with giants. By the way, there are a huge number of metaphors in the text. It’s worth paying attention to the sundresses that girls wear to fairs: “sundresses that smell like paint.” Even the smell of Bunin's paint does not cause irritation, and this is another memory. And what words does he choose when he conveys his feelings from water! The writer’s character is not simply cold or transparent, but Ivan Alekseevich uses the following description of it: icy, heavy.
What is happening in the narrator’s soul, how strong and deep his experiences are, can be understood if we analyze those details in the work “Antonov Apples”, where he gives a detailed description of them. There is also a main character in the story - a barchuk, but his story is never revealed to the reader.
At the very beginning of his work, the writer uses one of the means of artistic expressiveness of speech. The gradation lies in the fact that the author very often repeats the word “remember,” which allows you to create a feeling of how carefully the writer treats his memories and is afraid of forgetting something.
The second chapter contains not only a description of a wonderful autumn, which is usually mysterious and even fabulous in villages. But the work tells about old women who were living out their lives and preparing to accept death. To do this, they put on a shroud, which was wonderfully painted and starched so that it stood like a stone on the body of the old women. The writer also recalled that, having prepared for death, such old women dragged gravestones into the yard, which now stood awaiting the death of their mistress.
The writer’s memories take the reader in the second part to another estate, which belonged to Ivan Alekseevich’s cousin. Anna Gerasimovna lived on her own, so she was always happy to visit her old estate. The road to this estate still appears before the narrator’s eyes: a lush and spacious blue sky, the well-trodden and well-trodden road seems to the writer the most expensive and so dear. Bunin’s description of both the road and the estate itself evokes a great feeling of regret that all this is a thing of the distant past.
The description of the telegraph poles that the narrator encountered on the way to his aunt is sad and sad to read. They were like silver strings, and the birds sitting on them seemed to the writer like musical notes. But even here, on the aunt’s estate, the narrator again remembers the smell of Antonov apples.
The third part takes the reader into deep autumn, when after cold and prolonged rains, the sun finally begins to appear. And again the estate of another landowner - Arseny Semenovich, who was a great lover of hunting. And again one can see the author’s sadness and regret that the spirit of the landowner, who honored both his roots and the entire Russian culture, has now faded away. But now that former way of life has been lost, and it is now impossible to return the former noble way of life in Rus'.
In the fourth chapter of the story “Antonov Apples,” Bunin sums it up by saying that the smell of Antonov apples has disappeared no more than the smell of childhood, which was associated with the life and everyday life of the local nobility. And it is impossible to see either those old people, or the glorious landowners, or those glorious times. And the last lines of the story “I covered the road with white snow” lead the reader to the fact that it is no longer impossible to return the old Russia, its former life.
The story “Antonov Apples” is a kind of ode, enthusiastic, but sad and sad, imbued with love, which is dedicated to Russian nature, life in the villages and the patriarchal way of life that existed in Rus'. The story is small in volume, but quite a lot is conveyed in it. Bunin has pleasant memories of that time; they are filled with spirituality and poetry.
“Antonov Apples” is Bunin’s hymn to his homeland, which, although it remained in the past, far from him, still remained forever in the memory of Ivan Alekseevich, and was for him like the best and purest time, the time of his spiritual development.
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