Antonov Apples
Encyclopedia
Antonov Apples is a short story by a Nobel Prize-winning Russian
author Ivan Bunin, written in 1900
and published the same year in the October issue of the Saint Petersburg
Zhiznh (Life) magazine, subtitled "Sketches from the Epitaph book".
Bunin continued to curtail the original text all through his lifetime. Preparing the novella for The Passage (Перевал) сollection he omitted the whole page (with the reference to Schiller
's observation as to the apples' aroma being good for a room's general athmosphere). More drastic cuts have been made prior to the first Complete series in 1915 and then at the time of Primal Love publication in 1921.
wrote in a letter addressed to Bunin: "Thank you for the 'Apples'. Those were good. Here Ivan Bunin like a young God sang. Beautiful, juicy and soulful". All the while, the "ideology and aesthetics" of the young writer bothered Gorky a lot and he complained later that the story "smelled well of apples, yes, but - of non-democratic feelings, too". Yet it was Gorky who denounced Ignaty Potapenko
's sharp criticism in the Rossiya newspaper (November 10, 1900, #556), calling the review (signed 'The Stranger') "spiteful, stupid and pathetic". Brother Yuli Bunin, remembering the Moscow Wednesday (Среда) literary gatherings and mentioning criticism the writer had to confront there, wrote: "Some, speaking favourably of Antonov Apples artistic merits, rebuked him for his alleged sympathy for the old-time ways of rural life".
In 1906 Aleksandr Kuprin
parodied Antonov Apples in a piece called "I.A. Bunin. The Milk-cap Pies" (И.А.Бунин. Пироги с груздями).
Decades on, both the Soviet and the Russian literary scholars regarded the story as one of the highlights of Ivan Bunin's early career. In 1965 Oleg Mikhailov described it as "the masterpiece", marked by "precise detalisation, concise artistry and daring metaphors... all of which go the whole way to re-create fragrances and spectres of the old-time Russia's rural life"
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
author Ivan Bunin, written in 1900
1900 in literature
The year 1900 in literature involved some significant new books and publications, as well as the deaths of several highly prominent writers, including among them the late Irish poet Oscar Wilde and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche....
and published the same year in the October issue of the Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
Zhiznh (Life) magazine, subtitled "Sketches from the Epitaph book".
Background
Scholars trace back the novella's origins to Ivan Bunin's August 14, 1891, letter to Varvara Pashchenko, the woman he was passionately in love with at the time, in which he spoke of his irrational love of the early autumn. Mentioning the smell of Antonov apples in the garden, Bunin confessed: "In the days like these not only does my hatred towards the times of Serfdom go away, but I begin unwillingly to poeticise those times... Really, I wouldn't have minded spending at least some time as an old-time land-owner". Nine years later these feelings materialised in the "Antonov apples" novella, one of his best-known early works. According to Vera Muromtseva-Bunina, Bunin's relative A.I.Pusheshnikov served as a prototype for the story's main character Arseny Semyonovich.Bunin continued to curtail the original text all through his lifetime. Preparing the novella for The Passage (Перевал) сollection he omitted the whole page (with the reference to Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
's observation as to the apples' aroma being good for a room's general athmosphere). More drastic cuts have been made prior to the first Complete series in 1915 and then at the time of Primal Love publication in 1921.
Critical reception
"Antonov apples" story received mixed reviews. Within a month of it's publication Maxim GorkyMaxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
wrote in a letter addressed to Bunin: "Thank you for the 'Apples'. Those were good. Here Ivan Bunin like a young God sang. Beautiful, juicy and soulful". All the while, the "ideology and aesthetics" of the young writer bothered Gorky a lot and he complained later that the story "smelled well of apples, yes, but - of non-democratic feelings, too". Yet it was Gorky who denounced Ignaty Potapenko
Ignaty Potapenko
Ignaty Nikolayevich Potapenko , born December 30, 1856 – died May 17, 1929, was a Russian writer and playwright.-Biography:Potapenko was born in the village of Fyodorovka, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire where his father was a priest. Potapenko studied at Odessa University, and at the...
's sharp criticism in the Rossiya newspaper (November 10, 1900, #556), calling the review (signed 'The Stranger') "spiteful, stupid and pathetic". Brother Yuli Bunin, remembering the Moscow Wednesday (Среда) literary gatherings and mentioning criticism the writer had to confront there, wrote: "Some, speaking favourably of Antonov Apples artistic merits, rebuked him for his alleged sympathy for the old-time ways of rural life".
In 1906 Aleksandr Kuprin
Aleksandr Kuprin
Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin , was a Russian writer, pilot, explorer and adventurer who is perhaps best known for his story The Duel . Other well-known works include Moloch , Olesya , Junior Captain Rybnikov , Emerald , and The Garnet Bracelet...
parodied Antonov Apples in a piece called "I.A. Bunin. The Milk-cap Pies" (И.А.Бунин. Пироги с груздями).
Decades on, both the Soviet and the Russian literary scholars regarded the story as one of the highlights of Ivan Bunin's early career. In 1965 Oleg Mikhailov described it as "the masterpiece", marked by "precise detalisation, concise artistry and daring metaphors... all of which go the whole way to re-create fragrances and spectres of the old-time Russia's rural life"
External links
- Антоновские яблоки. The original text in Russian.