Ivan Bunin "Dark Alley": a summary of the work

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

"Dark Alleys" is a collection of love stories by Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. He worked on them for several years (from 1937 to 1945).

Most of them were written during World War II. The name of the collection was given by the story, which is called “Dark Alleys”. It was published in 1943 in the Novaya Zemlya edition in New York. In this article, I want to talk about it. So, I. A. Bunin, "Dark Alley", a summary of the work.

Meet Nikolai Alekseevich

In autumn, on a rainy day, a tarantass rode along a bad road, in which a strong peasant driving a horse and an experienced military man in a gray Nikolaev overcoat were shaking. It was Nikolai Alekseevich - the main character of the story. Despite his years, he looked youthful, his waist was toned, his chin neatly shaved, black bushy eyebrowscontrasted with a white mustache, turning into sideburns. This is how Bunin describes his hero. "Dark Alley", a summary of which is given here, is a story about the unquenchable love of a man for a woman, about the impossibility of correcting the mistakes of youth. Here we will not get carried away with the description of the characters, but move on to the essence of the work.

An unexpected meeting

The tarantas stopped near the post station, half of the building of which was occupied by a small room where one could eat and rest after the journey. Nikolai Alekseevich entered the hut and looked around. It was clean and comfortable, and smelled delicious of homemade food. The hostess entered the room and greeted him politely. She was a middle-aged woman, black-browed and dark-haired. Our hero noted that, despite the years, she is very beautiful and easy-going. Looking into her face, the brave military man realized that Nadezhda was in front of him - his former lover. Once, while still young, he left her and left. Thirty years have passed since then, and all these years he has not heard anything from her. This is how Bunin describes this unexpected meeting. "Dark Alleys" (a summary will be presented later) is a love story. Therefore, it is logical to assume that then a difficult conversation took place between the characters.

Tough talk

Nikolai Alekseevich praised the woman for her cleanliness and tidiness, and also asked about her life. It turned out that Nadezhda had never been married. When the hero asked about the reason for this, the woman replied that she had loved only him all her life and did not want to marry without love. Nikolai Alekseevich was deeply moved, tears appeared in his eyes. He asked Nadezhda to leave, but first told her about his unhappy family life. A brave military man told his former lover that the wife he idolized cheated on him and left him, leaving his son.

All his life he lived for his son, trying to invest in him as much as possible. But the son grew up a scoundrel and a scoundrel. In parting, Nadezhda tells him that she has not forgiven him and will never forgive him, and kisses his hand. Nikolai Alekseevich in response does the same. All the experiences of the main characters that did not pass with time were described by Bunin in this scene. "Dark Alley" (the summary confirms this) makes readers feel sad for the lost love and regret that it is impossible to return it.

Alone with his thoughts

As soon as the horses were brought in, our hero set off again. The weather was inclement, and his heart was bad. He sat and recalled how good Nadezhda was in her youth, what poems he read to her: “All around the scarlet rose hips bloomed, there were alleys of dark lindens …”. For a moment he imagined this zealous woman as the mistress of his large St. Petersburg house. "What would happen then?" - Nikolai Alekseevich asked himself. So long still he sat and thought, shaking his head. Bunin finished Dark Alleys with this episode. The heroes of the work were invented by him. But he described them so vividly, their situation is so close and understandable to each of us, that a realistic picture of their relationship arises before our eyes.

One of the best workswriter, as Ivan Bunin himself admitted, - "Dark Alley". The summary presented in this article cannot convey the whole atmosphere of the story. I advise you to read it in its entirety.