The genre of the work is cold autumn. Analysis of "Cold Autumn" by Bunin I.A. List of used literature

The general meaning of all the works of I.A. Bunin about love can be conveyed by a rhetorical question: “Is love ever infrequent?” So, in his cycle of stories "Dark Alleys" (1943), there is probably not a single work dedicated to happy love. One way or another, this feeling is short-lived and ends dramatically, if not tragically. But Bunin claims that, in spite of everything, love is beautiful. It, albeit for a short moment, illuminates a person's life and gives him a meaning for further existence.

So, in the story “Cold Autumn”, the narrator, having lived a long and very difficult life, sums up her life: “But, remembering everything that I have experienced since then, I always ask myself: yes, but what was still in my life? And I answer myself: only that cold autumn evening. Only that cold autumn evening when she said goodbye to her fiancé, who was leaving for the war. It was so light and, at the same time, sad and heavy in her soul.

Only at the end of the evening, the heroes started talking about the worst: what if the beloved does not return from the war? Would they kill him? The heroine does not want and cannot even think about it: “I thought: “What if they really kill? and will I really forget it at some point - after all, everything is forgotten in the end? And she hastily answered, frightened by her thought: “Don't talk like that! I won't survive your death!"

The heroine's fiancé was indeed killed. And the girl survived his death - this is a feature of human nature. The narrator even got married and had a child. After the 1917 revolution, she had to wander around Russia, endure many humiliations, menial work, illnesses, the death of her husband, and the alienation of her daughter. And now, at the end of years, thinking about her life, the heroine comes to the conclusion that in her life there was only one love. Moreover, in her life there was only one autumn night that illuminated the whole life of a woman. This is her life meaning, her support and support.

The narrator in her bitter life, cut off from her homeland, is warmed by only one memory, one thought: “Live, rejoice in the world, then come to me ...” I lived, rejoiced, now I will come soon.

So, the main part of the story, which has a ring composition, is a description of a cold autumn evening, the last in the life of the characters together. From the words of the girl's father, we learn that an Austrian crown prince was killed in Sarajevo. This meant that war would inevitably begin. The beloved of the heroine, who was in her family, his own, dear person, had to go to the front.

On the same sad evening, he was announced the bridegroom of the heroine. Ironically, their first evening as bride and groom was also their last. That is why this whole evening, in the perception of the narrator and her lover, was permeated with light sadness, aching melancholy, fading beauty. Like the cold autumn evening that surrounded the heroes in the garden.

Everyday details are of great importance in the story, which turn into psychological ones in the work. So, the heroine accurately lists all the dates that "surrounded" the events described. She remembers everything in great detail, although thirty years have passed and she has a very difficult life behind her. This suggests that this evening was very significant for the woman.

Psychologically subtly describes the last home dinner. All its participants sat in suspense, thinking that this might be their last joint evening. But everyone exchanged insignificant words, masking their tension and what they really wanted to say.

But at last the young people were left alone. The beloved invites the narrator to take a walk in the autumn garden. He quotes lines from Fet's poem. They, to some extent, predict both his fate and the fate of their couple:

Look - between the blackening pines

As if the fire is rising...

And then the hero adds: “Still sad. Sad and good. I love you very, very much…” What simple and, at the same time, poignant words! Young people love each other, but cannot be together. This, according to Bunin's theory, is simply impossible. After all, love is always just a flash, just a brief moment, burning for life ...

The next morning the hero left, as it turned out, forever. A “fatal bag” with a scapular was put around his neck, but he did not save the beloved heroine from death. The narrator returned to the house, not noticing the sunny morning and not feeling joy from it. Bunin subtly conveys her state on the verge of hysteria, a huge emotional experience: "... not knowing what to do with myself now and whether I should sob or sing at the top of my voice ..."

Many years have passed since then. But the elderly heroine in Nice keeps coming back and comes back in memory for this evening and hopefully awaits an early death. What else is left for her? Poor old age, deprived of the support of the only native person - the daughter.

The image of the daughter of the heroine in the story is very important. Bunin shows that a person cut off from his roots, far from his homeland, loses the main thing - his soul: “she became completely French, very pretty and completely indifferent to me, served in a chocolate shop near Madeleine, wrapped boxes in satin with sleek hands with silver nails. paper and tied them with gold cords ... "

The daughter of the narrator is a doll that has lost its essence behind the material tinsel.

“Cold Autumn”… The title of the story is symbolic. This is also a specific designation of the time frame of what is happening in the story. It is also a symbol of the first and last evening in the life of the heroes. This is a symbol of the whole life of the heroine. It is also a designation of the life of all emigrants who lost their homeland after 1917 ... It is also a symbol of the state that comes after the loss of flash love ...

Cold autumn ... It is inevitable, but it also enriches a person, because he retains the most valuable thing - memories.

The story “Cold Autumn” can be conditionally divided into two parts: before the war and after the death of the hero. Moreover, the evening that the young people spent together in the garden is described to the smallest detail, so that this fragment makes the reader’s attention stop on it, which again proves the main character’s idea that “there was only that cold autumn evening” in her life. Bunin wrote: “There is no happiness in life, there are only its lightning, appreciate them, live by them.” So the life of the heroine is an “unnecessary dream”, only one ray of the sun was in it - this is an evening that will forever remain in the memory of the lyrical heroine.
The main character in the garden was very lyrical, he remembered a poem that supposedly predicts the future, like a “fire” - this is war, a red and bloody war ... he also says that “the windows of houses are shining in an autumnal way” , because this is really a “special” autumn, the last in his life and the last in the world of happiness of the heroine.
When the mother sewed up the “little silk pouch”, everyone felt touching notes in themselves, because such a quick separation of young people very unpleasantly pricks the hearts of all family members.
The girl drives away gloomy thoughts from herself, is afraid of them, but says with confidence that without him life will lose its meaning. After all, indeed, it will be so later, she will no longer find her happiness, she will remain alone, an elderly woman who is no longer needed by anyone, who has lost her entire family, who has lost him ...
She says that she “survived his death”, but this is not so, she has been waiting for him all her life, but “love does not understand death, love is life”, and this keeps her at peace. But she is waiting for her death to meet him there, to plunge into the past again, so that that autumn evening returns the colors to her feelings ...

Essay on literature on the topic: The theme of love in the story “Cold Autumn” by Bunin

Other writings:

1. Review of Bunin's story "Cold Autumn" from the cycle "Dark Alleys". Ivan Bunin wrote this cycle in exile when he was seventy years old. Despite the fact that Bunin spent a long time in exile, the writer did not lose the sharpness of the Russian language. This can be seen from Read More ......
2. The general meaning of all the works of I. A. Bunin about love can be conveyed by a rhetorical question: “Is love sometimes infrequent?” So, in his cycle of stories “Dark Alleys” (1943), there is probably not a single work dedicated to happy love. One way or another, this feeling is short-lived and Read More ......
3. The cycle of I. A. Bunin "Dark Alleys" is the author's thoughts about the most important thing in human life - about love in the broadest sense of the word. In the stories of the cycle, the writer tried to highlight this feeling from all sides, to express his understanding of love, its meaning Read More ......
4. Ivan Bunin wrote this cycle in exile when he was seventy years old. Despite the fact that Bunin spent a long time in exile, the writer did not lose the sharpness of the Russian language. This can be seen in this series of stories. All stories are dedicated to love, only in Read More ......
5. Cold Autumn The action of the story begins at the beginning of the First World War and is divided into two parts: before the hero leaves for the front and after his death. An evening in the garden, spent by lovers, is described in great detail. The young man is lyrical, he recalls poems, where the image Read More ......
6. The collection of short stories "Dark Alleys", created during the Second World War in exile, Bunin considered the best he wrote in his life. He was a pure source of spiritual uplift for the writer in this difficult time. The theme of love unites all the novels of the cycle. Often this Read More ......
7. The theme of love occupies almost the main place in Bunin's work. This theme allows the writer to correlate what happens in a person’s soul with the phenomena of external life, with the requirements of a society that is based on the relationship of purchase and sale and in which Read More ......
8. In emigration, where Bunin left after the well-known October events, during the years of loneliness and slow oblivion, works on the themes of love, death and human memory appear in his work. The creations of this cycle, marked by an extraordinary poeticization of human feelings, revealed the wonderful talent of the writer, his Read More ......

The story of I. A. Bunin "Cold Autumn" was written on May 3, 1944. In this work, the author writes about the theme of love and the theme of time. At first glance, it may seem that the work is written on a historical theme, but in fact, the story in the story acts only as a background, and most importantly, these are the feelings of the heroine and her tragic love.

The work poses the problem of memory, personal reflection of events in the mind of the heroine. Her memory turns out to be stronger than all historical catastrophes, and despite the fact that she lived a stormy life, in which there were a lot of events and many wanderings, the only thing that happened in her life was that cold autumn evening that she remembers.

Bunin's characters are given in dotted lines. These are not even actually bright characters, individualities, but silhouettes of people, types of that era. The story is told in the first person, from the perspective of the main character. The world, history in the work are shown through her eyes. The whole story is essentially her confession. Therefore, everything in the story is imbued with her personal feeling and worldview, her assessments.

During the farewell, the heroine's fiance with a feeling of love utters the words to her: "You live, rejoice in the world, then come to me." And at the end of the work, the heroine repeats these words, but with bitter irony and as if with an unexpressed reproach: “I lived, I was glad, now I will come soon.”

The image of time is very important in the story. The whole story can be divided into two parts, each of which has its own way of temporal organization. The first part is a description of a cold evening and the heroine's farewell to her fiancé. The second part is the rest of the heroine's life after the death of her fiancé. The second part at the same time fit in one paragraph, despite its voluminousness of the events described in it. In the first part of the story, time has a specific character, and in the text of the work one can find the exact dates and hours of the events: “on the fifteenth of June”, “in a day”, “on Peter's day”, etc. The heroine remembers exactly the sequence of events, and remembers the smallest the details that happened to her then, what she did, what her parents and fiancé did. In the second part of the story, time is abstract. These are no longer specific hours and minutes, but 30 years that have flown by unnoticed. If in the first part of the story the amount of time taken is small - only one evening, then in the second part it is a huge period of time. If in the first part of the story time passes very slowly, then in the second part it flies, respectively, like one instant. The intensity of the heroine's living, her feelings is higher in the first part of the story. About the second part of the story, according to the opinion of the heroine herself, we can say that this is an “unnecessary dream”.

Both parts are unequal in scope of the scope of reality. Objectively, more time has passed in the second part, but subjectively it seems to the heroine that in the first. The story also contrasts two spatial macro-images - "home" and "foreign land".

The space at home is a concrete, narrow, limited space, while a foreign land is an abstract, wide and open space: "Bulgaria, Serbia, Czech Republic, Belgium, Paris, Nice ...". The house is described exaggeratedly concretely, with many details that emphasize its comfort and warmth: “samovar”, “hot lamp”, “small silk bag”, “golden icon”. The image of a foreign land, on the contrary, is imbued with a feeling of cold: “in winter, in a hurricane”, “hard hard work”.

The landscape is very important in the text. This is a description of a cold evening: “What a cold autumn! .. Put on your shawl and hood ... Look - between the blackening pines As if a fire is rising ...” Bunin uses the technique of psychological parallelism, since the landscape in this passage is a reflection of the feelings of the characters, their experiences. This landscape also portends the tragic events that will happen to the heroes. It is imbued with contrasts: red (“fire”) and black (“pine trees”). It creates in the characters and the reader a feeling of heaviness, melancholy, grief. This landscape can also symbolize the world and personal catastrophe that will happen a little later. Time and space are closely intertwined in a story. The local, closed and specific time in the first part corresponds to the local, closed space - the image of the house. And the abstract and broad time in the second part corresponds to the same image of a foreign land. Therefore, the reader may come to the conclusion that Bunin draws two opposed chronotopes in his story.

The main conflict in the story is the conflict between the tragic time and the feelings of the individual.

The plot in the story develops linearly: first there is a plot of the action, then its development, the climax is the death of the hero. And at the end of the story - the denouement, the approach of the heroine to death. The whole plot of Bunin's work could be deployed on a wide novel canvas. However, the writer chooses a short story form. The plot is organized according to the principles of a lyrical rather than non-epic work: attention is focused on the feelings of the heroine, the intensity of her inner experiences, and not on external events.

The image of "cold autumn" is the leitmotif of the story. This is a very versatile image. It stands in the center of the work and is placed in the title. On the one hand, this is a specific image of autumn, on the other hand, it is a symbol of the tragic life, an impending thunderstorm, and, finally, it is a symbol of the old age of the heroine herself, her approaching death.

The genre of a work can be defined as a genre of a lyrical story, because the main thing here is not just a chain of historical events, as in an epic work, but their reflection in the mind of a person, as is characteristic of lyrics.

Bunin's story "Cold Autumn" expresses the tragic concept of love and human life. Bunin talks about the transience of happiness and love in life, that they easily collapse under the influence of external circumstances. These external circumstances, history even turn out to be unimportant. The heroine managed to survive the death of her fiancé, but she still believes that he is waiting for her and they will see each other someday. The main idea is expressed in the last words of the heroine: “But what happened in my life? And I answer myself: only that cold autumn evening. Has he ever been? Still, there was. And this is all that was in my life - the rest is an unnecessary dream.

Having survived two world wars, revolution and emigration, the Nobel laureate, Russian writer Ivan Bunin, at the age of seventy-four, creates a cycle of stories called “Dark Alleys”. All his works are devoted to one eternal theme - love.

The collection consists of 38 stories, among the rest stands out the story called "Cold Autumn". Love is presented here as an invisible ideal, a feeling that the heroine carries through her whole life. The story is read in one breath, leaving behind a feeling of lost love and faith in the immortality of the soul.

Bunin himself distinguished this story from the rest. The story seems to start in the middle. A noble family, consisting of a father, mother and daughter, celebrates the name day of the head of the family on Peter's day. Among the guests is the future fiance of the main character. The girl's father proudly announces her daughter's engagement, but a few days later everything changes: a sensational news is published in the newspaper - Crown Prince Ferdinand was killed in Sarajevo, the situation in the world has escalated, war is coming.

The time is late, the parents tactfully leave the young alone and go to sleep. Lovers do not know how to calm the excitement. For some reason, the girl wants to play solitaire (usually in quivering moments you want to do something ordinary), but the young man cannot sit still. Reciting Fet's poems, they go out into the courtyard. The culmination of this part of the story is a kiss and the words of the groom that if he is killed, let her live, enjoy life, and then come to him ...

Dramatic events in the story "Cold Autumn"

If you don’t have enough time to read, check out Bunin’s summary of Cold Autumn. The description is short, so it will be easy to read it to the end.

A month later he was killed, this "strange word" constantly sounds in her ears. The author is abruptly transferred to the future and describes the state of the heroine thirty years later. This is no longer a young woman who was destined to go through, like many who did not accept the revolution, all the circles of hell. Like everyone else, she was slowly selling to soldiers in hats and unbuttoned overcoats (the author emphasizes this important detail) some of the property, and suddenly she met a retired military man, a man of rare spiritual beauty. He was much older than her, so he soon offered his hand and heart.

Like many, they emigrated, dressed in peasant clothes to Yekaterinodar and lived there for two years. After the retreat of the whites, they decided to sail to Turkey, with them fled the husband's nephew with his young wife and seven-month-old daughter. On the way, the husband died of typhus, the nephew and his wife joined Wrangel's army, leaving their daughter and missing.

The hardships of emigration

Further, the narrative (a summary of Bunin's "Cold Autumn" is presented in the article) becomes tragic. The heroine had to work hard, wandering all over Europe, to earn a living for herself and the girl. She received nothing in gratitude. The adopted daughter turned out to be a “real Frenchwoman”: she got a job in a Parisian chocolate shop, turned into a well-groomed young woman and completely forgot about the existence of her trustee, who had to beg in Nice. The heroine does not condemn anyone, this is noticeable in the words: at the end of the story, she says that she has lived, rejoiced, all that remains is a meeting with her beloved.

Analysis of "Cold Autumn" by Bunin

For the most part, the writer presents his works in the usual way, in the third person, starting with the protagonist's memories of tremulous moments in life, outbursts of feelings and inevitable parting.

In the story "Cold Autumn" Bunin changes the chronology of events.

The story is told from the point of view of the heroine, which gives the story an emotional coloring. The reader does not know when she met her fiancé, but it is already clear that there are feelings between them, so at the name day her father announces her engagement. Arriving to say goodbye to the bride's house, the hero feels that this is the last meeting. Bunin briefly but capaciously describes the last joint minutes of the heroes. The restraint of the characters contrasts with the excitement they experienced. The words “answered indifferently”, “feigned a sigh”, “looked absent-mindedly”, and so on characterize the aristocrats of that time as a whole, among whom it was not customary to talk excessively about feelings.

The hero understands that this is his last meeting with his beloved, so he tries to capture in his memory everything connected with his beloved, including nature. He is “sad and good”, “creepy and touching”, he is afraid of the unknown, but bravely goes to lay down his life for “his friends”.

Anthem of love

Bunin touched on the theme of "Cold Autumn" already in adulthood, having gone through all the hardships of life and received international recognition.

The cycle "Dark Alleys" is a hymn to love, not only platonic, but also physical. The works of the collection are more poetry than prose. There are no full impressions of battle scenes in the story, Bunin considers the problem of "Cold Autumn" - a dramatic story about love - a war that destroys the fate of people, creating unbearable conditions for them, and those who unleash it are responsible for the future. This is written by Russian émigré writer Ivan Bunin.

The rest of the characters in the story "Cold Autumn"

The love drama develops against the backdrop of the First World War. Time in the story seems to slow down when it comes to the main characters. Most of the description is dedicated to young people, rather, one evening in their lives. The remaining thirty years are placed in one paragraph. The secondary characters of the story "Cold Autumn" by Bunin Ivan Alekseevich are described by two or three features. The father, mother of the girl, the landlady who sheltered and abused her, the husband of the main character and even the nephew with his young wife are shown in a tragic light. Another characteristic feature of the work is that no one has names.

And this is symbolic. Bunin's heroes are collective images of that time. They are not specific people, but those who suffered during the First World War, and later the civil one.

Two main parts of the story

Analyzing "Cold Autumn" by Bunin, you understand that the story is divided into two parts: local and historical. The local part involves heroes, their problems, close circle, and the historical part includes such names and terms as Ferdinand, the First World War, European cities and countries, for example, Paris, Nice, Turkey, France, Ekaterinodar, Crimea, Novocherkassk and so on . This technique immerses the reader in a particular era. Using the example of one family, one can deeply get used to the state of people of that time. Obviously, the writer condemns the war and the destructive force that it brings. It is no coincidence that the best books and films about the war are written and filmed without war scenes. So, the film "Belarusian Station" is a picture about the fate of people who survived after the Great Patriotic War. The film is considered a masterpiece of Russian cinema, although it completely lacks battle scenes.

Final part

Once upon a time, the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy told Ivan Alekseevich Bunin that there is no happiness in life, there are only moments, the lightning of this feeling, which should be protected, appreciated and lived by them. The hero of the story "Cold Autumn", leaving for the front, asked his beloved to live, to be glad in the world even if he was killed. But was there happiness in her life, what did she see and experience? The heroine herself answers this question: there was only one cold autumn day when she was truly happy. The rest seems like an unnecessary dream to her. But this evening was, memories of him warmed her soul and gave strength to live without despair.

Whatever happened in a person's life, these events were, they gave experience and wisdom. Everyone deserves what they dream of. A woman with a difficult fate was happy, because her life was illuminated by the lightning of memories.

Preparation for a review of Bunin's story "Cold Autumn".

This work from the cycle "Dark Alleys" was written in May 1944. The plot as such is difficult to see: one evening and compressed events 30 years long. The conflict of this story: the love of the characters and the obstacles in their path. Here love is death. The beginning of the conflict of love and death occurs when the word "war" was heard at the tea table. Development is the engagement of heroes, which coincides with the name day of the father. Engagement announced - war declared. A farewell evening arrives, the hero comes to say goodbye, the wedding is postponed until spring (the heroes do not expect the war to last long). The culmination of the story is the words of the hero: "You live, rejoice in the world, then come to me." The denouement - the heroine carried her love through 30 years, she perceives death as a quick meeting with her beloved.

Typical of Bunin's stories is that the characters do not have names. The pronouns OH and SHE imply the fate of many. There are no portrait characteristics in the story (who, if not the heroine, would describe her lover, but this is not the case). In addition, the story is full of details: “eyes shining with tears” (of the heroine), “glasses” (of the mother), “newspaper”, “cigarette” (of the father) - which is typical for Bunin’s stories.

The central episode of the story is the farewell party. Each of the characters at this moment protects the feelings of the other. All outwardly calm. The mask of calm disappears at the moment of farewell in the garden.

The character of the protagonist Bunin reveals through his speech: this young man is educated, delicate, caring. The heroine in the image of Bunin is infantile. At the moment of parting, HE reads Fet's poems (the text of which is distorted) in order to emotionally reinforce the general atmosphere. The heroine does not understand anything in poetry. In this situation, she is not up to her: a few more minutes and they will part.

In this story, the plot outline, the problems, the short duration of love coincide, but at the same time it is not similar to any of the stories in the Dark Alleys cycle: in 22 stories the narration is narrated from an impersonal person, and only in Cold Autumn the heroine narrates.

The dates are noteworthy, among which the exact dates can be noted - 1914 (historical similarity - the assassination of Ferdinand), that year is a paraphrase, some dates - you can only guess about them (the author does not mention anything about 1917, the years of the Civil War).

The story can be divided into 2 compositional parts: before the death and after the death of the hero.

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Characters

The heroine is a naive girl.

She lost everything, but saved herself: his testament is her going through torment, about which she speaks calmly, indifferently; she is no more than 50 years old, but her voice sounds like the voice of an old woman, because everything is leftthere in the past .

Artistic details

Glasses, newspaper (belong to loved ones)

Silk bag, golden scapular (symbolizes the present)

Cape (desire to hug)

Basement, corner of the Arbat and the market (the whole of Russia has turned into a market)

There are no details related to loved ones.

The golden lace with which sweets are tied, satin paper are symbols of fake life, tinsel.

Bast shoes, zipun - the fate of millions.

Output: BEFORE - security, AFTER - universal loneliness.

The motive of memory sounds from the beginning to the end of the story. Memory is the only way to preserve the features of a loved one, but at the same time, memory for the heroine is a duty: “I lived, I was glad, now I will come soon.”

The story "Cold Autumn" shows not only the death of the hero, but also the death of Russia, which we have lost. Bunin makes the reader think how early the horror that they should have experienced fell on the souls of the heroes.