Yuly Bunin, the writer’s elder brother, was a journalist, teacher and a public figure. He edited “Vestnik vospitaniia”, one of the best pedagogical magazines of that time, was the chairman of the “Sreda” literary circle, initiated the creation of a professional Union of Journalists, was a member of the Tolstoi Society, the Moscow Literacy Society and many other public organizations.
During the years of education at the Faculty of Mathematics of Moscow State University, Yuly Bunin became close to the populist revolutionaries. In 1884 he was arrested and spent about a year in a prison, after which he was exiled to the parental estate of Ozerki under police supervision.
By this time, the condition of the Bunin family was greatly shaken. Parents could no longer pay for the education of their youngest son Ivan in the gymnasium. Therefore, Yuly Alekseevich took up his further education. He wrote: “When I arrived from prison, I found Vania as a still completely intellectually immature boy, but I immediately saw his talent, similar to that of his father. In less than a year, he developed mentally so much that I could talk to him almost as an equal on many topics”.
The writer Nikolai Teleshov, who was friends with both Bunins, recalled: “His [Yuly Alekseevich] influence on his brother was enormous, starting from childhood. To him, as a well-educated person who loved, appreciated and understood world literature, Ivan Alekseevich owes a lot in his development. Love and friendship between the brothers were inseparable”.
With the blessing of Yuly Alekseevich in 1887, Ivan Bunin published his first poem “Over the Grave of Nadson” in the “Rodina” magazine. Under the tenure of his brother, the aspiring author read books and studied literature, wrote poetry. And four years later, in 1891, he published the first collection of poems: it was published as a supplement to the newspaper “Oryol Vestnik”, where Ivan Alekseevich worked as a correspondent.
Bunin dedicated the book to “dear brother and highly esteemed friend Iu. A. Bunin”. It includes a poem that the poet wrote for Yuly Alekseevich:
Your truth: with incomprehensible sadness
Most of all my heart is full,
Most by unrequited love
It has been occupied since childhood…
In songs I live only in dreams,
Sadness and love caused my verse,
And from my brooding songs
It blows with autumn, bright days…
But do not think that I am still in life
I have not experienced any doubts or thoughts,
What troubling, troubling questions
My mind does not know yet!
No, already a stern and thoughtful look.
I see off my life and people…
I had to spend a lot of lonely
And sad nights…
But who cares about this?
Everything that seemed strange to the mind,
With what my heart grieved sometimes, –
It is important and painful only to me alone.
Life does not give me any new
And not a beaten path to go…
So why am I going to tell
All the sad meetings on the way?..
And that’s why by love, dreams
During the years of education at the Faculty of Mathematics of Moscow State University, Yuly Bunin became close to the populist revolutionaries. In 1884 he was arrested and spent about a year in a prison, after which he was exiled to the parental estate of Ozerki under police supervision.
By this time, the condition of the Bunin family was greatly shaken. Parents could no longer pay for the education of their youngest son Ivan in the gymnasium. Therefore, Yuly Alekseevich took up his further education. He wrote: “When I arrived from prison, I found Vania as a still completely intellectually immature boy, but I immediately saw his talent, similar to that of his father. In less than a year, he developed mentally so much that I could talk to him almost as an equal on many topics”.
The writer Nikolai Teleshov, who was friends with both Bunins, recalled: “His [Yuly Alekseevich] influence on his brother was enormous, starting from childhood. To him, as a well-educated person who loved, appreciated and understood world literature, Ivan Alekseevich owes a lot in his development. Love and friendship between the brothers were inseparable”.
With the blessing of Yuly Alekseevich in 1887, Ivan Bunin published his first poem “Over the Grave of Nadson” in the “Rodina” magazine. Under the tenure of his brother, the aspiring author read books and studied literature, wrote poetry. And four years later, in 1891, he published the first collection of poems: it was published as a supplement to the newspaper “Oryol Vestnik”, where Ivan Alekseevich worked as a correspondent.
Bunin dedicated the book to “dear brother and highly esteemed friend Iu. A. Bunin”. It includes a poem that the poet wrote for Yuly Alekseevich:
Your truth: with incomprehensible sadness
Most of all my heart is full,
Most by unrequited love
It has been occupied since childhood…
In songs I live only in dreams,
Sadness and love caused my verse,
And from my brooding songs
It blows with autumn, bright days…
But do not think that I am still in life
I have not experienced any doubts or thoughts,
What troubling, troubling questions
My mind does not know yet!
No, already a stern and thoughtful look.
I see off my life and people…
I had to spend a lot of lonely
And sad nights…
But who cares about this?
Everything that seemed strange to the mind,
With what my heart grieved sometimes, –
It is important and painful only to me alone.
Life does not give me any new
And not a beaten path to go…
So why am I going to tell
All the sad meetings on the way?..
And that’s why by love, dreams
More than thoughts, my verse is full,
And that’s why from my songs
It blows with autumn, bright days!..
And that’s why from my songs
It blows with autumn, bright days!..
