On 10–11 November, Voronezh State University hosted the international scientific conference “Novel by Ivan Bunin “The Life of Arsenyev” in modern scientific interpretations: concepts, ideas, and hypotheses”, which was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Nobel Prize Ceremony during which Ivan Bunin received the award and the 70th death anniversary of the writer. The programme of the conference included a creative workshop “Ivan Bunin about Russian and foreign writers and poets: to the question of creative personality”. The conference was organised by the Department of Russian Literature of XX–XXI Centuries, the Theory of Literature and Humanities with the participation of the Bunin Museum (a branch of the Regional Nikitin Literary Museum).
The conference was attended by scientists from Hungary, Spain, China, India, Iraq, well-known Russian researchers of Ivan Bunin's works from Moscow (the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences), St. Petersburg, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Smolensk, Kirov, Vologda, Pyatigorsk, Lipetsk, Yelets, Michurinsk, and lecturers, undergraduate and postgraduate students from Voronezh universities: Voronezh State University, Voronezh State Pedagogical University, and Voronezh State Agricultural University.
The online speeches and reports of the in presence participants of the conference and the creative workshop were dedicated to conventional and new aspects of the literary and linguistic research of works by Ivan Bunin, our fellow countryman, the first Russian writer awarded with the Nobel Prize for his only novel “The Life of Arsenyev”. Of special interest were reports on the creative heritage of Ivan Bunin reflected in the works by Russian and foreign scientists. These reports were based on new publications in the recent volumes of the series “Literary Heritage” prepared by the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Many speeches revealed the sources of the novel “The Life of Arsenyev” and proposed new interpretations of the book.
Participants from Russia and abroad spoke about the studies and the popularity of Ivan Bunin's works in Europe and Asia, about the problems of translating poetry and prose by Ivan Bunin. They noted a newly sparked interest in the writer, which was marked by the appearance of new translations and new editions.
At the conference, the scientists presented new monographs on the writer's works by foreign and Russian researchers, including two monographs by Voronezh researchers published in 2022 and 2023.
There were reports by undergraduate and postgraduate students whose studies of Ivan Bunin's works had been awarded with prizes at scientific student conferences and at scientific conferences in various universities of Russia. Young researchers were able to see new promising areas of study of the writer’s poetry and prose.
Reports presented at the creative workshop in the Bunin Museum were dedicated to the author himself as a special theme presented in works by different writers and poets. They also looked into how the life and works of Ivan Bunin have been presented on stage of Voronezh theatres, in monuments, and objects of art.
The conference was visited by the famous Russian film director Vladimir Tolkachikov, which was an unexpected but welcome surprise. In 1989, Vladimir Tolkachikov shot the feature film “No-rush Spring”. According to a number of critics, this is one of the best adaptations based on Ivan Bunin's works. Vladimir Tolkachikov presented Voronezh scientists with a restored version of his film, which will be used in the educational process when studying the works by Ivan Bunin and the history of Russian cinema.
The reports and speeches will be published in the sixth issue of the collection of scientific works “Metaphysics of Ivan Bunin”.
