Critics sometimes argue that Vladimir Nabokov and Ivan Bunin are literary rivals. This view, however, destroys an integral idea of the invisible connection that arises in a reader’s mind when mentioning both names and reading their texts.
Ivan Bunin’s prose is a subtle, erotic story about love, with its earthly filling, smells and subtle nuances. Ivan Bunin, much like Vladimir Nabokov, develops his own style of the Russian language and its symbolism. The poignancy of Ivan Bunin’s ‘Light Breathing’ still does not leave readers indifferent, the breath of the girl, as if flying out of the pages of the book, the literary language of perfection. ‘The Dreams of Chang’, ‘Galya Ganskaya’, ‘Sunstroke’, ‘The Gentleman from San Francisco’, ‘Natalie’.
The archives of the University of Leeds in the UK once contained a letter in which Vladimir Nabokov wrote to Ivan Bunin about his complete admiration for his works. Apparently, these words most accurately reflect the internal connection between the writers.
The lecture examines some biographical details of the lives of both writers and trace the paths of their creative interaction.