I. A. Bunin is known for being a master of short stories. His short works are distinguished by their poignancy and emotionality. One of his most beloved collections was “Dark Alleys,” which he wrote during World War II. These short stories excite the reader; after reading them, he begins to reflect on the mysterious power of love. The closest in composition and content is “Sunstroke,” written by the author in 1927.
The heroes of Bunin's "Sunstroke" are an officer and a married lady. There are no names in the story, although the man tried to find out the woman's name. But she refused to name him, deciding to remain a beautiful stranger to him. The absence of names in the narrative is interesting feature story that shows the reader that this is a story about a simple man and a simple woman.
By calling his characters nothing more than “he” and “she,” the author does not endow them with distinctive features or bright appearance. These are an ordinary man and woman who met by chance on a ship. Bunin wanted all the reader's attention to be focused on these two people, on what was happening between them. Therefore, there is no detailed description of their appearance and their acquaintance. The center of the story is just him and her.
One of the points of analysis of Bunin’s “Sunstroke” is short description the plot of the story. The narrative begins immediately with the fact that a man and a woman who met by chance on the ship came out onto the deck. Nothing is known about them, except that he was a lieutenant, and she was married woman, returning home from Anapa.
Further in Bunin’s “Sunstroke” narrative, a summary of which we present in the article, it is said that the stranger was intoxicated by the meeting and the emotions that suddenly arose. The lieutenant suggested going ashore. The woman agrees, and they got off the ship at the next stop. They found some hotel and spent the night together. In the morning the woman was again the same as before, and told the officer about the impossibility of their further relationship. She left the city on the ship, and the man remained to wait for the next one.
And suddenly the room after her departure seemed empty to him. It became increasingly difficult for the officer to be alone; he missed her more and more. He dreamed of returning her, wanted to confess his feelings, but these were empty dreams. A man wanders around the city, trying to distract himself from thoughts of a stranger.
Tired of his experiences, the officer fell asleep. Having woken up, he slowly got ready and left on the arriving ship. True, after this sudden meeting the officer felt 10 years older. This was a summary of Bunin's "Sunstroke".
The next point in the analysis of Bunin's "Sunstroke" is the determination of the theme of the work. Of course, this is a story about love and relationships. The theme of Bunin's "Sunstroke" is similar to the themes of most of his stories.
For a writer, love is not just sentimental sighs and platonic relationships. For Bunin, love is a flash, an explosion of emotions, an intensity of passions that manifests itself not only emotionally, but also physically. For Ivan Alekseevich, the sensual aspect of love, which others usually did not write about, was no less important.
But all this is not described in a vulgar manner, and the reader’s attention is focused precisely on the person’s emotions. This story is about such a flash of love, too much happiness.
In the analysis of Bunin's "Sunstroke" one should consider the compositional features of the story. The story of this unexpected attraction seems to be framed by two landscapes - darkness and lights. Small gusts of wind, approaching lights - all this only emphasizes the swiftness and spontaneity of their feelings. Darkness is a symbol of the unknown that awaits this relationship.
But besides the exciting anticipation, there was something sad in the air. A warm summer evening, dawn, the light of which is reflected in the calm ripples of water, lights... All this seems to prepare the reader for the sad ending of a chance meeting on a ship. The lights flickering ahead signify the happiness that awaits the heroes. When the officer leaves the city, they are left behind, as if to show that happy moments remained with the stranger.
But despite the small descriptions that were present in the story, the main place was occupied by the description inner world heroes. Landscapes were only supposed to frame this story, complement it beautifully. The meeting place is also quite symbolic - people met completely by chance. And then they just as easily parted and each went on his own voyage. All this only emphasizes the concept of Bunin's stories.
In the analysis of Bunin's "Sunstroke", it should be noted that at the very beginning a lot of verbal vocabulary is used. A quick change of actions and repetition of verbs focuses attention on the swiftness of the characters’ feelings, their sudden desire. They are in a hurry, as if they are afraid that this sudden attraction will pass. And then they will again begin to reason prudently, and not obey the call of feelings.
Enthusiastic and sentimental epithets practically never appear in the story. Because the officer and the married lady do not have a sublime feeling at all, but some kind of eclipse, sunstroke.
In the story “Sunstroke” by Bunin, the heroine is described as a small woman, in whose appearance everything was charming. She refuses to tell the officer her name, realizing that then all the magic of their meeting will melt away. The woman was most likely attracted to their meeting by chance.
She easily agreed to her new acquaintance’s offer to go ashore. Although at that time it was insulting for a married lady. This alone tells the reader that she can be a frivolous person.
In the morning the woman was again light and cheerful, but already guided by reason. It was she who initiated the termination of their further relationship. It turns out that the heroine easily parted with the officer. From this we can conclude that this meeting was a sunstroke for her, an adventure, but nothing more.
For the officer this meeting was higher value than for the heroine. At the very beginning, he treated this chance acquaintance as nothing more than a pleasant adventure. And when in the morning she said that they should not meet again, the man easily agreed. It would seem that he did not attach serious importance to this fleeting feeling.
But when the hero realizes that the stranger has left him forever, only then does he realize that he needed her. The storm of emotions that appeared with her departure begins to frighten him. He had never experienced anything like this before. And the rapid attraction, happiness and longing for her came together, which led to his understanding that this sunstroke was too much happiness for him.
But at the same time, the man is shown as a weak person: after all, he did not try to stop her. And I didn’t even think about fighting for my love. He could only remember this chance meeting on the ship.
The meeting of the heroes and their sudden attraction to each other was like a flash that appears as unexpectedly as it disappears. And the emotions they experienced from the swift feeling were as vivid as sunlight. Even at the very beginning, the heroine is surprised at how this acquaintance affected her.
The heroes were guided by desire and emotions. They seemed to be in a fever, the whole world ceased to exist for them for these brief happy moments. The meaning of Bunin's "Sunstroke" is that such short love, in which people were guided only by desire, could not last long. After all, for a real strong relationship it is important to understand and feel the other person.
The problem of Bunin's "Sunstroke" is the complexity of relationships between people. Even though the heroes took everything lightly, the officer realizes that this eclipse was happiness for him. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was sensitive to love; in his stories he considered different sides its manifestations. It could last a lifetime or be as fleeting as sunstroke.
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I propose to talk about the story of I.A. Bunin "Sunstroke".
Story by I.A. Bunin's “Sunstroke” (you can read it in full here: text) was written at the beginning of the 20th century. Many phenomena and objects of that time have already disappeared from our lives, but the events themselves could have happened anywhere and anytime.
What happens in the story? Nameless heroes - the lieutenant and his casual acquaintance - get off the ship to unfamiliar city on the Volga. Their flaring passion, as it seems at first, is the culmination of the story, and parting after a night of love is the obvious denouement. However, these events are just the beginning. Only after the hero accompanies the “beautiful stranger” to the ship does he realize that he can no longer live without her, and that he will not be able to find her. The hero’s senses are extremely heightened, he feels invisible connections between everything in the world around him: the color of the tan on his beloved’s hand - and the smell of the sun, the swaying of hot air. Everything around speaks of a lover found and lost - and that everything is useless and meaningless without her. The culmination of the story is not the night of passion itself, but the realization of how meaningless life is and how endless time is without a beloved.
The plot is described in more detail in the section (but we recommend that you read full text works, because it is quite small). You can also listen Audiobook in a wonderful acting performance.
There are only two heroes in the story - the lieutenant and the stranger. We don’t learn details about their lives before the meeting: maybe because now, for this meetings, the whole past is unimportant. They don't have names, as often happens with Bunin. Perhaps because the names Not needed: there is only He and She. The heroes might not even tell each other what their names are. We know that this is exactly what the heroine does, and her silence leaves no hope for a happy continuation of the love story.
In “Sunstroke,” as in many of Bunin’s works, we see features of various genres, including epic narrative and lyrics. However, the emotional, spiritual principle at some point begins to prevail over events. At first, the actions of the heroes are described from the author’s point of view, but as they unfold lyrical plot external action gives way internal: the perception of the hero is conveyed more and more clearly and clearly. It is through his eyes that we see the county town; the hero’s internal evolution is in the spotlight. Let us note the special intensity of spiritual events in the work: the hero becomes a different person within one day. By the way, this allows researchers to highlight elements in the story short stories- a short story with fast-paced action and an unexpected ending. Thus, before us a story with a very strong lyrical component and features of a novella.
The problematic of “Sunstroke” is connected with one of the central issues of Bunin’s work - the essence of love. According to Bunin, love is an elemental force that knows no laws. It's always happiness and disaster at the same time, it's both a gift and a gift(here the ambiguity of the title is revealed). Now the hero, who has known true feeling, is forever fenced off from other people who do not know it. These people are much happier than him, they don’t suffer like that, but they didn’t experience this blinding flash either.
The problem of the story is supported leitmotif of the sun and the details associated with it: heat, light, radiance, a tan on the beloved’s hand, the shine of water, the buttons of a jacket red-hot from the heat, the flaming face of the hero. All these details constantly bring us back to the central theme - a great, burning and unbearable feeling for a person.
Bunin’s story “Sunstroke” was written in 1925 and published a year later in Sovremennye Zapiski. The book describes a fleeting romance between a lieutenant and a young married lady who met while traveling on a ship.
Lieutenant- a young man, impressionable and ardent.
Stranger– young, beautiful woman, who has a husband and a three-year-old daughter.
While traveling on one of the Volga steamships, the lieutenant meets a beautiful stranger who is returning home after a vacation in Anapa. She does not reveal her name to a new acquaintance, and each time she responds to his persistent requests with “a simple, charming laugh.”
The lieutenant is amazed by the beauty and natural charm of his fellow traveler. Ardent, passionate feelings flare up in his heart. Unable to contain them within himself, he makes a very clear offer to the woman to go ashore. Unexpectedly, she easily and naturally agrees.
At the first stop, they go down the ladder of the ship and find themselves at the pier of a small provincial town. They silently go to a local hotel, where they rent a “terribly stuffy room, hotly heated by the sun during the day.”
Without saying a word to each other, they “choked so frantically in the kiss” that they would remember this sweet, breathtaking moment for many years to come.
The next morning, the “little nameless woman,” having quickly dressed and regained her lost prudence, gets ready to hit the road. She admits that she has never been in similar situation, and for her this sudden outbreak of passion is like an eclipse, “sunstroke”.
The woman asks the lieutenant not to board the ship with her, but to wait for the next voyage. Otherwise, “everything will be ruined,” and she wants to remember only this unexpected night in a provincial hotel.
The man easily agrees and accompanies his companion to the pier, after which he returns to the room. However, at this moment he realizes that something in his life has changed dramatically. Trying to find the reason for this change, he gradually comes to the conclusion that he was head over heels in love with the woman with whom he spent the night.
He rushes about, not knowing what to do with himself in a provincial town. The sound of the stranger’s voice, “the smell of her tan and canvas dress,” and the outline of her strong, elastic body are still fresh in his memory. To distract himself a little, the lieutenant goes for a walk, but this does not calm him down. Unexpectedly, he decides to write a telegram to his beloved, but at the last moment he remembers that he does not know “neither her last name nor her first name.” All he knows about the stranger is that she has a husband and a three-year-old daughter.
Exhausted by mental anguish, the lieutenant boards the evening ship. He sits comfortably on the deck and admires the river views, "feeling ten years older."
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...the title of a poetic work is always important, because it always points to the main character of the work, in which the idea of the work is embodied, or directly to this thought.
V. G. Belinsky
The theme of “Sunstroke” (1925) is an image of love that suddenly seizes a person and remains a vivid memory in his soul for the rest of his life. The idea of the story is in that original understanding of love, which is associated with the writer’s philosophical views on man and his life. Love, from Bunin’s point of view, is the moment when all a person’s emotional abilities are heightened and he breaks away from the gray, unsettled, unhappy reality and comprehends “ wonderful moment" This moment quickly passes, leaving in the hero’s soul regret about the irreversibility of happiness and gratitude that it still existed. That is why the short-term, piercing and delightful feeling of two young people, who met by chance on a ship and parted forever after a day, is compared in the story to sunstroke. The heroine speaks about this: “We both got something like sunstroke...”.
It is interesting that this figurative expression is confirmed by the real suffocating heat of the described days. The author gradually builds up the impression of heat: the steamer smells hot from the kitchen; the “beautiful stranger” is traveling home from Anapa, where she was sunbathing under the southern sun on the hot sand; the night when the heroes left the ship was very warm; the footman in the hotel is dressed in a pink shirt; It’s terribly stuffy in a hotel room that’s been so hot during the day, etc. The day following the night was also sunny and so hot that the metal buttons on the lieutenant’s jacket were painful to touch. The town smells irritatingly of various market foods.
All the lieutenant’s experiences after a fleeting adventure really resemble the painful state after sunstroke, when (according to medical indications) a person, as a result of dehydration, feels headache, dizziness, irritability. However, this excited state of the hero is not the result of overheating of the body, but a consequence of the awareness of the significance and value of the wasted adventure that he has just experienced. It was the brightest event in the life of the lieutenant and the “beautiful stranger”: “both of them remembered this moment for many years later: neither one nor the other had ever experienced anything like this in their entire lives.” So for Bunin, a moment of happiness and a whole life become values of the same order. The writer is attracted by the “mystery of existence” - a combination of joy and sadness, miracle and horror.
The story “Sunstroke” is short, and five of the six pages are occupied by a description of the lieutenant’s experiences after parting with the “beautiful stranger.” In other words, for Bunin it is not interesting to draw the various vicissitudes of love (they have already been drawn in Russian and world literature thousands of times) - the writer comprehends the meaning of love in human life, without wasting money on enticing little trinkets. Therefore, it is interesting to compare the depiction of love in Bunin’s story “Sunstroke” and in Chekhov’s story “The Lady with the Dog,” especially since literary scholars note the similarity of the plots of these works.
Both Chekhov and Bunin show the gray, ordinary life that stifles human feelings, but they show it differently. Chekhov shows the nightmare of the surrounding life, depicting its vulgarity; Bunin - depicting the moment of true passion, that is, real life, according to the writer, which is so different from the gray everyday life. Chekhov's Gurov, having returned to Moscow, cannot tell anyone about his acquaintance with Anna Sergeevna. Once, however, he admits to his card partner that he met a charming woman in the Crimea, but in response he hears: “And just now you were right: the sturgeon is fragrant!” (III). The above phrase made Gurov horrified by his usual life, because he realized that even “in an educated society” few people care about high feelings. And Bunin’s heroes are overcome by the same fear and despair as Gurov. At the moment of happiness, they deliberately fence themselves off from everyday life, and Bunin seems to be saying to the readers: “Now think for yourself what your usual existence is worth compared to the wonderful moments of love.”
To summarize, it should be recognized that in Bunin’s story, sunstroke became an allegory of the highest love that a person can only dream of. "Sunstroke" demonstrates both artistic principles and philosophical views writer.
Bunin’s philosophy of life is such that for him the truly valuable moment is when a person immediately knows the happiness of love (as in “Sunstroke”) or the meaning of existence is revealed to him (as in “Silence”). A moment of happiness strikes Bunin’s heroes, like sunstroke, and the rest of my life is held together only by delightfully sad memories of it.
However, it seems that such a philosophy devalues the rest of a person’s life, which becomes just a vegetation between rare moments of happiness. Gurov in “The Lady with the Dog” knows no worse than Bunin’s “beautiful stranger” that after several happy days love will all end (II), the prose of life will return, but he beat Anna Sergeevna and therefore does not leave her. Chekhov's heroes do not run away from love, and thanks to this, Gurov was able to feel that “now that his head had turned gray, he fell in love properly, for real - for the first time in his life” (IV). In other words, “The Lady with the Dog” just begins where “Sunstroke” ends. Bunin's heroes have enough passionate feelings for one brightly emotional scene in a hotel, and Chekhov's heroes try to overcome the vulgarity of life, and this desire changes them, makes them nobler. Second life position seems more correct, although rarely does anyone succeed.
Bunin's artistic principles, which are reflected in the story, include, firstly, a simple plot, interesting not for its exciting twists, but for its internal depth, and secondly, a special substantive depiction, which gives the story credibility and persuasiveness. Thirdly, Bunin’s critical attitude towards the surrounding reality is expressed indirectly: he draws in ordinary life heroes an extraordinary love adventure, which shows in an unsightly form their entire familiar existence.
Analysis of I. Bunin's story "Sunstroke"
A soft maple leaf meekly and tremblingly rises in the wind and falls again to the cold ground. He is so lonely that he doesn’t care where his fate takes him. Neither the warm rays of the gentle sun, nor the spring freshness of a frosty morning no longer pleases him. This little leaf is so defenseless that it has to come to terms with the fate of fate and only hope that someday it will be possible to find its refuge.
In I. A. Bunin's story "Sunstroke" the lieutenant, like a lonely leaf, wanders around a strange city. This is a story about love at first sight, about fleeting infatuation, about the power of passion and the bitterness of parting. In the works of I. A. Bunin, love is complex and unhappy. The heroes part as if waking up after a sweet love dream.
The same thing happens with the lieutenant. The reader is presented with a picture of heat and stuffiness: a tan on the body, boiling water, hot sea sand, a dusty cab... The air is filled love passion. A terribly stuffy hotel room, very hot during the day - this is a reflection of the state of lovers. The white drawn curtains on the windows are the border of the soul, and two unburned candles on the mirror holder are what may have remained here from the previous couple.
However, the time comes for parting, and the small, nameless woman, who jokingly called herself a beautiful stranger, leaves. The lieutenant does not immediately understand that love is leaving him. In a light, happy state of mind, he took her to the pier, kissed her and carefreely returned to the hotel.
His soul was still full of her - and empty, like the hotel room. The aroma of her good English cologne and her unfinished cup only intensified the loneliness. The lieutenant hurried to light a cigarette, but cigarette smoke was not able to overcome melancholy and spiritual emptiness. Sometimes it happens that we understand what a wonderful person fate has brought us together with only at that moment when he is no longer around.
The lieutenant did not often fall in love, otherwise he would not have called the experience a “strange adventure”, and would not have agreed with the nameless stranger that they both received something like sunstroke.
Everything in the hotel room still reminded of her. However, these memories were difficult; just looking at the unmade bed intensified the already unbearable melancholy. Somewhere out there, behind open windows, a ship with a mysterious stranger was sailing away from him.
The lieutenant tried for a moment to imagine how the mysterious stranger felt, to feel himself in her place. She probably sits in a glass white salon or on the deck and looks at the huge river glistening in the sun, at the oncoming rafts, at the yellow shallows, at the shining distance of water and sky, at this entire immeasurable Volga expanse. And he is tormented by loneliness, irritated by market talk and the squeaking of wheels.
Life itself ordinary person often boring and monotonous. And only thanks to such fleeting meetings do people forget about everyday boring affairs, every parting inspires hope for a new meeting, and nothing can be done about it. But where can the lieutenant meet his beloved in the big city? In addition, she has a family, a three-year-old daughter. We need to continue to live, not to let despair take over our mind and soul, if only for the sake of all future meetings.
Everything passes, as Julius Caesar said. At first, a strange, incomprehensible feeling overshadows the mind, but melancholy and loneliness inevitably remain in the past as soon as a person again finds himself in society, communicates with interesting people. New meetings are the best cure for breakups. There is no need to withdraw into yourself, to think about how to live this endless day with these memories, with this inseparable torment.
The lieutenant was alone in this godforsaken town. He expected to find sympathy for himself from those around him. But the street only intensified the painful memories. The hero could not understand how one could calmly sit on the box, smoke and generally be careless and indifferent. He wanted to know if he was the only one so terribly unhappy in this whole city.
At the market, everyone did nothing but praise their goods. It was all so stupid and absurd that the hero ran away from the market. The lieutenant also did not find refuge in the cathedral: they sang loudly, cheerfully and decisively. No one cared about his loneliness, and the merciless sun burned inexorably. The shoulder straps and buttons of his jacket became so hot that it was impossible to touch them. The severity of the lieutenant’s internal experiences was aggravated by the unbearable heat outside. Just yesterday, being under the power of love, he did not notice the scorching sun. Now, it seemed, nothing could overcome the loneliness. The lieutenant tried to find solace in alcohol, but the vodka made his feelings even more intense. The hero so wanted to get rid of this love, and at the same time he dreamed of meeting his beloved again. But how? He did not know either her last name or her first name.
The lieutenant's memory still retained the smell of her tan and canvas dress, the beauty of her strong body and the elegance of her small hands. Looking for a long time at the portrait of a military man on a photo display, the hero thought about the question of whether such love is needed, if then everything everyday becomes scary and wild, is it good when the heart is struck by too much love, too much happiness. They say everything is good in moderation. Once strong love after parting, it is replaced by envy of others. The same thing happened to the lieutenant: he began to languish with painful envy of all the people who were not suffering. Everything around looked lonely: houses, streets... It seemed like there was not a soul around. All that was left of the former prosperity was white thick dust lying on the pavement.
When the lieutenant returned to the hotel, the room was already tidied and seemed empty. The windows were closed and the curtains were drawn. Only a light breeze entered the room. The lieutenant was tired, besides, he was very drunk and lay with his hands under the back of his head. Tears of despair rolled down his cheeks, so strong was the feeling of man’s powerlessness before an omnipotent fate.
When the lieutenant woke up, the pain of loss dulled a little, as if he had parted with his beloved ten years ago. It was unbearable to stay in the room any longer. Money for the hero had lost all value; it is quite possible that the memories of the city bazaar and the greed of the merchants were still fresh in his memory. Having paid the cab driver generously, he went to the pier and a minute later found himself on a crowded ship following the stranger.
The action has come to a denouement, but at the very end of the story I. A. Bunin puts the finishing touch: in a few days the lieutenant has aged ten years. Feeling captive of love, we do not think about the inevitable moment of separation. The more we love, the more painful our suffering is. This severity of parting with the person closest to you is incomparable to anything. What does a person experience when he loses his love after unearthly happiness, if because of a fleeting infatuation he ages ten years?
Human life is like a zebra: white stripe joy and happiness will inevitably be replaced by black. But one person's success does not mean another person's failure. We need to live with an open soul, giving joy to people, and then joy will return to our lives, more often we will lose our heads with happiness than languish in anticipation of a new sunstroke. After all, there is nothing more unbearable than waiting.
