Before us is the story “Cold Autumn” by Bunin. After reading it, you understand once more: only genius can convey so deeply and soulfully that which is beyond the limits of human reason and perception. It would seem that a simple story, where he, she, mutual feelings, then war, death, wanderings. Russia in the twentieth century survived more than one war, and millions of people learned such tragedies, but ... There is always the word “but”, which is not something that denies, but rather recalls the uniqueness of the feelings and experiences of each person. No wonder the work “Cold Autumn” is included in the series of short stories by I. A. Bunin “Dark Alleys”, in which the author repeated himself more than thirty times: he wrote, in fact, about the same thing - about love, but every time in different ways.
Eternal theme in the writer's work
The story “Cold Autumn” (Bunin) contains an analysis of an eternal topic: the fate of each individual person is the answer to the question of what love is. A man through his life, from birth to death, lives his love story and gives his answer. This is true, because he paid the highest price for this - his life. Can this experience be useful to us? And yes and no ... It can give us strength, inspiration, strengthen our faith in love, but the Universe expects from us something completely new, unique, incomprehensible, so that future generations will be inspired by our stories. It turns out that love is the infinity of life, where there was no beginning and there will be no end.
“Cold Autumn”, Bunin: contents
“In June of that year, he visited with us on the estate ...” - the story begins with these words, and the reader involuntarily gives the impression that in front of him is a passage from the diary, torn somewhere in the middle. This is one of the features of this work. The main character, on behalf of whom the story is being narrated, begins her story with a farewell meeting with her lover. We do not know anything about their past relationships, about when and how their love began. Before us, in fact, there is already a denouement: the lovers and their parents agreed on an imminent wedding, and the future is in bright colors, but ... But the heroine's father brings a newspaper with sad news: Ferdinand, the Austrian crown prince, was killed in Sarajevo, which means war inevitable, the separation of young people is inevitable, and the outcome is still far away.
September. He arrived just for one evening to say goodbye before leaving for the front. The evening was surprisingly quiet, without unnecessary phrases, without special feelings and emotions. Everyone tried to hide what was happening inside: fear, longing and endless sadness. She absentmindedly went to the window and looked out into the garden. There, in the black sky, icy stars shone coldly and sharply. Mom carefully sewed a silk bag. Everyone knew that inside there was a golden picture that once served as a talisman at the front for grandfather and great-grandfather. It was touching and creepy. Soon, the parents went to bed.
Left alone, they did not sit long in the dining room, and then decided to walk. It was cold outside. My soul was getting harder ... The air was completely winter. This evening, this cold autumn will forever remain in their memory. He did not know how his fate would turn out, but he hoped that she would not immediately forget him if he died. The most important thing is that she live, be glad, and live a happy life, and he will certainly wait for her there ... She wept bitterly. She was afraid for him and for herself: what if he really would not be, and one day she would forget him, because everything has its end ...
He left early in the morning. They stood for a long time and looked after him. “They killed him - what a strange word! - a month later, in Galicia ”- here it is the denouement, which fit in one single sentence. The epilogue is the next thirty years - an endless series of events that, on the one hand, were important, significant, and on the other ... The death of parents, revolution, poverty, retirement from an elderly military man, escape from Russia, another death - the death of her husband and then his nephew with his wife, wandering all over Europe with their little daughter. What was all this about? The main character sums up and answers herself: only that far, already barely distinguishable cold autumn evening, and everything else is an unnecessary dream.
Analysis of the "Cold Autumn" Bunina I.A.
Time. What it is? We are used to giving a designation to everything: hours, minutes, days. We divide life into the past and the future, trying to be in time and not to miss the main thing. And what is the main thing? Analysis of the "Cold Autumn" Bunina I.A. showed how the author conveyed the conventions of the existing world order. Space and time take other forms and are painted in completely different tones in the human soul. The description of the last autumn evening in their life occupies most of the work, while thirty years of life is only one paragraph. During dinner in the dining room, along with the main character, we feel subtle sighs, notice every tilt of the head, see endlessly changing facial expressions of all those present, and imperceptibly we come to understand that all of these details, which are insignificant at first glance, are the most important.
A detailed description of the dining room with windows fogged by the samovar, a hot lamp above the table in the first part of the story is contrasted with an endless list of cities and countries that our heroine visited: Czech Republic, Turkey, Bulgaria, Belgium, Serbia, Paris, Nice ... From a small and a cozy-gentle home breathes warmth and happiness, while from glorified Europe with "boxes from a chocolate shop in satin paper with gold shoelaces" - dullness and indifference.
Continuing the analysis of “Cold Autumn” by Bunin I.A., I would like to dwell on the “secret psychologism” that the writer uses to convey the inner experiences of the main characters. The farewell meeting has its own face and inside out: the external indifference, the feigned simplicity and absent-mindedness of the main characters hide their inner confusion and fear of the future. Insignificant phrases are uttered aloud, exaggeratedly calm words, notes of indifference sound in the voice, but behind all this one can feel the growing excitement and depth of feelings. From this it becomes “touching and creepy”, “sad and good” ...
Finishing the analysis of “Cold Autumn” by Bunin I.A., let us pay attention to one more important detail. There are not so many characters in the story: a hero and a heroine, parents, a husband, his nephew with his wife and little daughter ... But who are they? Not a single name is given. Although at the very beginning the name of the crown prince is Ferdinad, whose murder was an excuse for starting a war and led to the tragedy being described. Thus, the author is trying to convey that the tragic fate of the protagonists is both exceptional and typical, because war is a universal tragedy that rarely gets around anyone.