Dry Valley (Ivan Bunin novel)
Encyclopedia
Dry Valley is a short novel by a Nobel Prize-winning Russian
author Ivan Bunin, first published in the April 1912
issue of the Saint Petersburg
Vestnik Evropy magazine. Having come out soon after The Village
(1910), it is usually linked to the latter as the author's second major book concerning the bleak state of Russia as a whole and its rural community in particular. On the other hand, it is often regarded as the last in Bunin's 'gentry elegies' early 1900s cycle (the term he himself was critical of).
gubernia. In September of this year he wrote to the Moskovskaya Vest correspondent: "I've just finished the first part of a large novelet called Dry Valley". The work was finished in December 1911 on Capri
where Bunin stayed at his friend Maxim Gorky
's home. On February 21 (8) he read it to the host and another visiting guest, Kotsyubinsky
. Both praised the book, the latter having compared it to "some kind of an old tapestry".
The book's plot was fictional but there were numerous details in it that proved to be autobiographical. The Sukhodol estate bore close resemblance to a family country house in the Orlovskaya
gubernia owned by Bunin’s uncle Nikolay Nikolayevich where Ivan with his younger sister Masha were frequent guests. Aunt Tonya's prototype was Bunin's aunt Varvara Nikolayevna who lived in a large neighbouring country house (and was, in Vera Muromtseva's assessment, "slightly off-kilter"). Pyotr Kyrillovich character in the book was a veiled portrait of Bunin's grandfather Nikolay Dmitrievich (whose mother, beautiful Uvarova girl, died young).
, this one left critics divided. Some saw it as another masterpiece. "In Sukhodol Bunin summed up the whole of the past and endowed it with magnificent monument", wrote Sovremenny Mir (Modern World) magazine. Others criticized the novel's author for sheer negativism in depicting Russian rural life. "Dirty, hungry, eaten through to it's very bones by illnesses and lice – such is Russia as seen through the eyes of Sukodol autor", argued Russkye Vedomosti.
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, first published in the April 1912
1912 in literature
The year 1912 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Virginia Stephen marries Leonard Woolf.*Frieda von Richthofen meets D. H. Lawrence.-New books:*Mary Antin - The Promised Land*L...
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...
Vestnik Evropy magazine. Having come out soon after The Village
The Village (Ivan Bunin novel)
The Village is a short novel by a Nobel Prize-winning Russian author Ivan Bunin written in 1909 and first published in Sovremenny Mir journal under the title Novelet...
(1910), it is usually linked to the latter as the author's second major book concerning the bleak state of Russia as a whole and its rural community in particular. On the other hand, it is often regarded as the last in Bunin's 'gentry elegies' early 1900s cycle (the term he himself was critical of).
History
Bunin started working on the book in the summer of 1911, when at the Vasilyevsky estate in OrlovskayaOryol
Oryol or Orel is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow...
gubernia. In September of this year he wrote to the Moskovskaya Vest correspondent: "I've just finished the first part of a large novelet called Dry Valley". The work was finished in December 1911 on Capri
Capri
Capri is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy...
where Bunin stayed at his friend Maxim Gorky
Maxim 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:...
's home. On February 21 (8) he read it to the host and another visiting guest, Kotsyubinsky
Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky
Mykhailo Mykhailovych Kotsiubynsky , was a Ukrainian author whose writings described typical Ukrainian life at the start of the 20th century...
. Both praised the book, the latter having compared it to "some kind of an old tapestry".
The book's plot was fictional but there were numerous details in it that proved to be autobiographical. The Sukhodol estate bore close resemblance to a family country house in the Orlovskaya
Oryol
Oryol or Orel is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow...
gubernia owned by Bunin’s uncle Nikolay Nikolayevich where Ivan with his younger sister Masha were frequent guests. Aunt Tonya's prototype was Bunin's aunt Varvara Nikolayevna who lived in a large neighbouring country house (and was, in Vera Muromtseva's assessment, "slightly off-kilter"). Pyotr Kyrillovich character in the book was a veiled portrait of Bunin's grandfather Nikolay Dmitrievich (whose mother, beautiful Uvarova girl, died young).
Critical reception
As with Ivan Bunin's previous book, The VillageThe Village (Ivan Bunin novel)
The Village is a short novel by a Nobel Prize-winning Russian author Ivan Bunin written in 1909 and first published in Sovremenny Mir journal under the title Novelet...
, this one left critics divided. Some saw it as another masterpiece. "In Sukhodol Bunin summed up the whole of the