Bird's Shadow
Encyclopedia
Bird's Shadow is a collection of short stories by a Nobel Prize-winning Russian
author Ivan Bunin. Based on memories and impressions of the vast tour over the Middle East
he and Vera Muromtseva undertook in the 1900s. Written between 1907 and 1911, these stories were published as a book in Paris in 1931, although most of them have made it into the Temple of the Sun 1917 compilation (which featured many of the poems too).
The book's working title Fields of the Dead, for, as the author argued, "aren't they all fields of the dead – Baalbek
and Palmyra
, Babylon
and Assyria
, Judea
and Egypt
?.. But the East is the realm of the Sun, and future belongs to the East”, he added.
Critics praised Ivan Bunin's traveler's sketches, seeing them as an integral and highly important part of his legacy. Bunin's "longing for the ceaseless, unrelenting wandering" and his "insatiable perceptiveness" (as he himself put it, in the foreword to The Scream, 1921 Paris compilation) was something he's been long obsessed with. Later scholars saw it as part of his artistic philosophy, aiming at "the understanding of all times and peoples’ tribulations". In his Liberation of Tolstoy essay Bunin wrote about some artists' ability to "feel other times... better than that of their own" and, critics argued, this 'transformational' ability was something he's made very much of his own.
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
author Ivan Bunin. Based on memories and impressions of the vast tour over the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
he and Vera Muromtseva undertook in the 1900s. Written between 1907 and 1911, these stories were published as a book in Paris in 1931, although most of them have made it into the Temple of the Sun 1917 compilation (which featured many of the poems too).
The book's working title Fields of the Dead, for, as the author argued, "aren't they all fields of the dead – Baalbek
Baalbek
Baalbek is a town in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, altitude , situated east of the Litani River. It is famous for its exquisitely detailed yet monumentally scaled temple ruins of the Roman period, when Baalbek, then known as Heliopolis, was one of the largest sanctuaries in the Empire...
and Palmyra
Palmyra
Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...
, Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
and Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
?.. But the East is the realm of the Sun, and future belongs to the East”, he added.
Critics praised Ivan Bunin's traveler's sketches, seeing them as an integral and highly important part of his legacy. Bunin's "longing for the ceaseless, unrelenting wandering" and his "insatiable perceptiveness" (as he himself put it, in the foreword to The Scream, 1921 Paris compilation) was something he's been long obsessed with. Later scholars saw it as part of his artistic philosophy, aiming at "the understanding of all times and peoples’ tribulations". In his Liberation of Tolstoy essay Bunin wrote about some artists' ability to "feel other times... better than that of their own" and, critics argued, this 'transformational' ability was something he's made very much of his own.
Contents
- Bird's Shadow (Тень птицы). First published in the Zemlya (Earth) almanac, Vol.1, Moscow, 1908.
- The Sea of Gods (Море богов). Severnoye Siyanie (Nothern Lights) magazine, Saint Petersburg, 1908, #11, November.
- Delta (Дельта). Poslednye Novosty newspaper, Paris, 1932, #4085, May 29. In 1915 The Complete Bunin it was part of the piece called Zodiacal Light.
- Zodiacal Light (Свет Зодиака). Poslednye Novosty, Paris 1929, #3000, June 9.
- Judea (Иудея). Drykarh anthology, Moscow, 1910. Originally parts of it, The Stone and Sheol, were separate stories.
- The Stone (Камень). Poslednye Novosty, Paris, 1929, #2930, March 31. In 1915 The Complete Bunin it corresponds to chapters 4 and 5 of Judea.
- Sheol (Шеол). Bird's Shadow, Paris, 1931. In 1915 The Complete Bunin it corresponds to charter 6 of Judea.
- The Devil's Desert (Пустыня дьявола). Russkoye Slovo newspaper, Moscow, 1909, #296, December 25.
- The Sodom Country (Страна содомская). Russkoye Slovo, 1911, #158, July 10, under the title The Dead Sea (Мёртвое море).
- Temple of the Sun (Храм Солнца). Sovremenny Mir magazine, Saint Petersburgh, 1909, #12, December.
- Gennisaret (Геннисарет). Russkoye Slovo, Moscow, 1912, #297, December 25. ASccording to the 1915 Complete Bunin commentaries, the story was written on CapriCapriCapri is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy...
on December 9, 1911. In the 1927 publication (Vozrozhdenye, Paris, text changed) the date is "1907-1927".
External links
- Тень птицы, Russian text @ lib.ru.