Ivan Bunin’s “Easter” story “Non-urgent Spring” (the image of the hero, prototype, fairy-tale discourse)

UDC 821.161.1-32

DOI 10.20339/PhS.4-23.131

Bogdanova Olga V.,

Doctor of Philology, Professor

Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University

e-mail: olgabogdanova03@mail.ru

Liu Minjie (China),

PhD student of the Russian Language and Literature Department

Far Eastern Federal University

e-mail: 1048795610@qq.com

The purpose of this study is to analyze Ivan Bunin’s short story “The Non-urgent Spring” (1923) in an attempt to comprehend the origin of the Easter pathos that appears in the text and which was not peculiar to the prose writer of the 1920s, who tragically experienced forced emigration to the West. The study solves the question of the type of the main character of the narrative: his singleness or combination, independence or duality, since the critics considers the hero/heroes of Bunin’s story from different angles. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the fact that during the analysis the author of the work offers a justification not only for the pairing of independent heroes, but also expresses a hypothesis about a possible prototype of the central character. Revealing on a number of historical details allows the researcher to assume that this prototype could be Bunin’s nephew N. Pusheshnikov. As shown in the work, the epistolary strategy of narration (the form of writing) allows the artist to differentiate the positions of the heroes and, relying on the fabulous folklore and literature discourse, on the one hand, to debunk the idea of humility and the possibility of existence in Soviet Russia, on the other (as a “dear friend”) — to try to justify the Easter revival intentions of the hero (a Soviet citizen) who was forced to remain in the USSR.

Keywords: Ivan Bunin, the story “Non-urgent spring”, epistolary form, type of hero, Easter story, folklore strategies.

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