«Жареный гусь» на пути из Азии в Европу (ономастическое пространство романа Ивана Бунина «Жизнь Арсеньева»)

Abstract

The onomastic analysis of the novel «The Life of Arseniev» by Nobel Prize-winning author Ivan Bunin reveals his polemical sharpness against the leaders of the revolutionary Marxist camp. The choice of the name of the main character — Lika (Лика) — is associated with Bunin’s categorical rejection of Nikolai nekrasov's poetic line, popular in the 19th century, «От ликующих, праздно болтающих...». The novel is based on the dichotomy of Pushkin’s and Nekrasov’s apologists. The author emphasizes the refined aestheticism of Pushkin’s apologists and the anti-aestheticism of those of Nekrasov. Bunin's opposition is not straightforward. His characters are complex and multidimensional. For example, the name and surname of Arseniev’s boss contains a reminiscence — it refers to A. Chekhov’s biography, particularly to «his secret great love» Lydia Avilova, whom Bunin treated with undisguised sympathy. However, Avilova’s name also refers to her namesake from Chekhov’s short story «House with a Mezzanine» — the imperious beauty Lydia Volchaninova, whom critics of the Russian emigration called «the crow» for her primitive populism. The opposition of Pushkin’s and Nekrasov's principles in the novel is part of a more global dichotomy between Europe and Asia, which permeates Bunin’s works of the emigre period.