Ivan Bunin and his wife Vera first visited the Italian island of Capri in March 1909. Vera Nikolaevna shared her impressions of the trip in her book ‘Conversations with Memory’:
Quisisana on Capri
Place of сreation
Capri , Italy
Dimensions
20x26 cm
Technique
photography
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0
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Quisisana on Capri
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‘Capri turned out to be both a usual island and a fairytale island for us – it is not connected to the past, let alone to subsequent events in our lives. We found ourselves on it in one of the happiest springs, at least mine’.
Bunina V.N. ‘Conversations with Memory’
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While living on the island, Bunin worked a lot. He created 27 stories here: ‘A Good Life’, ‘Fun Yard’, ‘Zakhar Vorobyev’ and others – and finished the story ‘Dry Valley’. Ivan Alekseevich read the works to Maksim Gorky, who also lived on the island at the time.
Bunin remembered: ‘We spent eight days there, almost never leaving Gorky’s nice house…’. And Gorky wrote: “Bunin came with his young wife. <…> He is the same as he was – a good man <…> his spirit is alive and pleases me with his attitude to literature and word”.
The writers became closer and their relationship was particularly trustworthy. They had endless conversations about Russia, about pressing issues in politics and literature. Vera Muromtseva-Bunina described one of the meetings of Russian classics in “Conversations with Memory”:
Bunin remembered: ‘We spent eight days there, almost never leaving Gorky’s nice house…’. And Gorky wrote: “Bunin came with his young wife. <…> He is the same as he was – a good man <…> his spirit is alive and pleases me with his attitude to literature and word”.
The writers became closer and their relationship was particularly trustworthy. They had endless conversations about Russia, about pressing issues in politics and literature. Vera Muromtseva-Bunina described one of the meetings of Russian classics in “Conversations with Memory”:
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“Aleksei Maksimovich [Gorky – editor”s note] asked Ian [Ivan Bunin – editor”s note] to read poetry. Ian refused for a long time, he did not like to read among unfamiliar people, but Aleksei Maksimovich insisted:
– Read “That star that swung in the dark water…”, I love these verses so much.
Ian usually stopped reading what was included in the book… But Gorky asked in such a way that Ian read the octastich written in 1891… Aleksei Maksimovich cried, followed by other people rubbing their eyes’.
– Read “That star that swung in the dark water…”, I love these verses so much.
Ian usually stopped reading what was included in the book… But Gorky asked in such a way that Ian read the octastich written in 1891… Aleksei Maksimovich cried, followed by other people rubbing their eyes’.
Bunina V.N. ‘Conversations with Memory’
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The time spent in Italy: meetings with Gorky, blooming spring, sea and sun made a lasting impression on Bunin. Memories of Capri formed the basis for his poem ‘A View of the Bay from the Tavern Garden’, written in 1917.
View of the bay from the tavern garden.
In the simple wine that I took for lunch,
There is a strange flavour – the flavour of grapes and sulphur –
And a pinkish colour.
I am drinking in the rain – the spring is whimsical here,
The almonds bloom on Capri in the cold, –
And vaguely in the bluish mist of the bay
The cities are whitening far away.
View of the bay from the tavern garden.
In the simple wine that I took for lunch,
There is a strange flavour – the flavour of grapes and sulphur –
And a pinkish colour.
I am drinking in the rain – the spring is whimsical here,
The almonds bloom on Capri in the cold, –
And vaguely in the bluish mist of the bay
The cities are whitening far away.
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Budgetary Cultural Institution of the Oryol Region «Oryol United State Literary Museum of I.S. Turgenev»
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Quisisana on Capri
Place of сreation
Capri , Italy
Dimensions
20x26 cm
Technique
photography
Collection
Exhibition
0
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