Ivan Bunin and Vladimir Nabokov: constructing worldviews in the Russian literature during the first emigration wave

Abstract

The study is aimed to identify the features of world modeling in the artistic worldview of first wave
Russian emigration writers in the 20th century, focusing on the differences in the creative attitudes
of the representatives of older and younger generations, which are reflected in the principles of their
artistic world modeling. The article is based on the works of the most prominent representatives
of these generations, Ivan Bunin and Vladimir Nabokov, who were previously studied a lot by the
scholars in comparison. Based on previous observations, the authors of the article offer a new level
of these writers texts’ understanding. Bunin’s novella “Mitya’s Love” reveals significant innovations in
the principles of world modeling in relation to the Russian classical literary tradition. The methods
of presenting the worldview through the prism of the character’s consciousness, which were discovered in the era of Dostoevsky, are enhanced by an additional
arsenal of artistic means, which allow to include the consciousness
of a world modeling subject (character) in the image sphere. The
main impulse of world modeling process in Bunin’s novella comes
from the consciousness of the character; it qualitatively differes
from the approaches of Russian literature in the era of the classical
novel formation. The novels by Nabokov, from the very first one
(“Mashenka”), represent the next stage in the historical development
of artistic world modeling technique. In his works, Nabokov manages
to include in his artistic worldview the position of the observer, who
oversees the consciousness of the subject, forming his own image of
the world. These features are regarded by the authors as a profound
qualitative changes in the artistic worldview, which determine the
vector of further creative searches of Nabokov and other Russian
writers of his generation.

Keywords:

Russian emigration literature, the First Wave of Emigration, worldview, the character’s viewpoint, Ivan Bunin, Vladimir Nabokov