Paris became one of the main cultural centers for Russian émigrés in the 1920s. An entire Pleiad of notable prose writers and poets lived here. Among them were: Ivan Shmelyov, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Zinaida Gippius, Aleksey Remizov, Boris Zaytsev, Nadezhda Teffi, Don Aminado, Ivan Bunin and others. The works of these émigré writers are known as ‘the literature of the Russian diaspora’.
Some authors established their own publishing houses. Thus, at the end of 1920, Ivan Bunin, together with Aleksey Tolstoy, Aleksandr Kuprin and Konstantin Balmont, founded the publishing house ‘Russkaya Zemlya’ (‘Russian Land’) in Paris, which printed books by emigrant writers.
The company operated for about a year, during which it published thirteen books, those included Ivan Bunin’s short novel “The Village”, and collections of short stories “The Gentleman from San Francisco” and “The Chalice of Life”.
Bunin described different types of human behavior through his heroes in “The Chalice of Life”: a priest, a usurer, a woman in an unhappy marriage, a life-loving teacher and others. Each of them somehow drank their own “chalice of life” and contemplated about the meaning of life. In their reflections and attitudes towards each other, the author subtly showed the emptiness of life, when people abandon their true destiny.
The Paris edition of “Chalice of Life” was not the first. The collection of short stories, titled “The Chalice of Life”, was first published in Moscow in 1915. Bunin’s book, published in France, received rave reviews. Poet Henri de Régnier pointed out the ‘sense of nature’, which ‘deeply runs through the stories’ of the collection. Poet René Ghil also noted the philosophical depth of Bunin’s work and the understanding of the “mystery of the human being” in his review of “The Chalice of Life”.
In 1922, Bunin personally gifted one copy of the book to General Denikin who was passing through France. The book had a dedicatory inscription:
Some authors established their own publishing houses. Thus, at the end of 1920, Ivan Bunin, together with Aleksey Tolstoy, Aleksandr Kuprin and Konstantin Balmont, founded the publishing house ‘Russkaya Zemlya’ (‘Russian Land’) in Paris, which printed books by emigrant writers.
The company operated for about a year, during which it published thirteen books, those included Ivan Bunin’s short novel “The Village”, and collections of short stories “The Gentleman from San Francisco” and “The Chalice of Life”.
Bunin described different types of human behavior through his heroes in “The Chalice of Life”: a priest, a usurer, a woman in an unhappy marriage, a life-loving teacher and others. Each of them somehow drank their own “chalice of life” and contemplated about the meaning of life. In their reflections and attitudes towards each other, the author subtly showed the emptiness of life, when people abandon their true destiny.
The Paris edition of “Chalice of Life” was not the first. The collection of short stories, titled “The Chalice of Life”, was first published in Moscow in 1915. Bunin’s book, published in France, received rave reviews. Poet Henri de Régnier pointed out the ‘sense of nature’, which ‘deeply runs through the stories’ of the collection. Poet René Ghil also noted the philosophical depth of Bunin’s work and the understanding of the “mystery of the human being” in his review of “The Chalice of Life”.
In 1922, Bunin personally gifted one copy of the book to General Denikin who was passing through France. The book had a dedicatory inscription:
