The Life of Arseniev

Ivan Bunin · 1870–1953 · Russia

Originally Жизнь Арсеньева (Russian)

Why it matters

A Russian émigré recalls his provincial childhood, first loves, and a vanished country estate in prose of aching sensory precision. Bunin's autobiographical novel, singled out in his Nobel citation as his finest sustained work.

At a glance

Lyrical, memory-driven prose with little plot momentum to carry the reader forward.