‘Encounters’ with Leo Tolstoy in Ivan Bunin’s Dark Alleys

Abstract

The article identifies various forms of dialogical relations with L. N. Tolstoy in Bunin’s cycle Dark Alleys. The analysis is based on the stories: “Clean Monday”, “Nathalie”, “Ballad” and “The Raven”, which contain biographical allusions as well as display intertextual connections with Tolstoy’s prose writings. The author of the article explores the functioning of Tolstoy’s characteristic motifs, reveals reminiscences, various types of quotes and “dialogic situations” which refer to the epic novel “War and Peace” and Tolstoy’s later works. It is established that Tolstoy’s text performs in Bunin’s short stories plot-forming functions and serves clarifying the author’s ideas.