Photo credit: regionorel.ru
The birthday of Russian writer Ivan Bunin will be widely celebrated in France, TASS reports. The 150th anniversary of the birth of the Nobel laureate and the famous Russian writer will take place in autumn of 2020. The author of The Dark Avenues and The Cursed Days spent almost the entire second half of his life in France. He wrote some of his most famous books there.
The writer’s sesquicentennial anniversary will be celebrated at the Days of Russian Culture Festival. It will be held in Paris in early February. According to Dmitry de Koshko, who heads the literary forum, a round table will be dedicated to the Russian classics. It will be attended by writers, scientists, literary scholars and historians.
Bunin was forced to leave his homeland in 1920. He lived in Paris with his wife Vera Muromtseva and spent the summer on the Cote d'Azur. The family spent a lot of time in Grasse. It was there, at Villa Belvedere, that he wrote one of his most significant works - the novel Life of Arseniev. The writer himself was confident that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for the most part for this book.
During the German occupation of France, Bunin hid in his house the pianist Alexander Lieberman, who had fled from Germany, and his wife. The writer Alexander Bakhrakh lived in his house for several years. A few years ago, Bunin was nominated for the Righteous Prize, which is awarded to those who risked their lives to save Jews from Nazi persecution. Grasse is also preparing to celebrate the writer's anniversary in Grasse.
In 2017, a monument to the writer was erected in Grasse. Sculptor Andrey Kovalchuk portrayed Bunin in full growth. The Nobel laureate stands leaning on his cane. The statue adorned the garden of the Saint Hilaire library.
Russkiy Mir
