They met in the summer, on one of the Volga ships. He is a lieutenant, She is a lovely little, tanned woman (she said she was coming from Anapa). “...I’m completely drunk,” she laughed. “Actually, I’ve gone completely crazy.” Three hours ago I didn’t even know you existed.” The lieutenant kissed her hand, and his heart sank blissfully and terribly...
The steamer approached the pier, the lieutenant muttered pleadingly: “Let's get off...” And a minute later they got off, rode to the hotel on a dusty cab, and went into a large but terribly stuffy room. And as soon as the footman closed the door behind him, both of them suffocated so frantically in the kiss that they remembered this moment for many years later: neither one nor the other had ever experienced anything like this in their entire lives.
And in the morning she left, she, a little nameless woman, jokingly called herself “a beautiful stranger,” “Princess Marya Morevna.” In the morning, despite the almost sleepless night, she was as fresh as she was at seventeen, a little embarrassed, still simple, cheerful, and already reasonable: “You must stay until the next ship,” she said. “If we go together, everything will be ruined.” I give it to you honestly that I am not at all what you might think of me. Nothing even similar to what happened has ever happened to me, and there never will be again. It was as if an eclipse had come over me... Or, rather, we both got something like sunstroke...” And the lieutenant somehow easily agreed with her, took her to the pier, put her on the ship and kissed her on the deck in front of everyone.
He returned to the hotel just as easily and carefree. But something has already changed. The room seemed somehow different. It was still full of her - and empty. And the lieutenant’s heart suddenly sank with such tenderness that he hurried to light a cigarette and walked back and forth around the room several times. There was no strength to look at the unmade bed - and he covered it with a screen: “Well, that’s the end of this “road adventure”! - he thought. “And forgive me, and forever, forever... After all, I can’t come to this city for no reason, no reason, where her husband is, her three-year-old girl, in general, her whole ordinary life!” And this thought struck him. He felt such pain and such uselessness of his entire future life without her that he was overcome by horror and despair.
“What is this with me? It seems that this is not the first time - and now... What's special about it? In fact, it looks like some kind of sunstroke! And how can I spend the whole day without her in this outback?” He still remembered all of her, but now the main thing was this completely new and incomprehensible feeling, which did not exist while they were together, which he could not even imagine when starting a funny acquaintance. A feeling that there was no one to tell about now. And how to live this endless day, with these memories, with this insoluble torment...
It was necessary to escape, to occupy oneself with something, to go somewhere. He went to the market. But at the market everything was so stupid and absurd that he fled from there. I went into the cathedral, where they sang loudly, with a sense of duty fulfilled, then walked for a long time around the small neglected garden: “How can you live peacefully and generally be simple, careless, indifferent? - he thought. - How wild, how absurd everything is everyday, ordinary, when the heart is struck by this terrible “sunstroke”, too great love, too much happiness!”
Returning to the hotel, the lieutenant went into the dining room and ordered lunch. Everything was fine, but he knew that he would die tomorrow without hesitation, if by some miracle he could bring her back, tell her, prove how painfully and enthusiastically he loves her... Why? He didn’t know why, but it was more necessary than life.
What to do now when it is no longer possible to get rid of this unexpected love? The lieutenant stood up and resolutely went to the post office with the already prepared phrase of the telegram, but stopped at the post office in horror - he did not know her last name or first name! And the city, hot, sunny, joyful, reminded Anapa so unbearably that the lieutenant, with his head bowed, staggered and stumbled, walked back.
He returned to the hotel completely defeated. The room was already tidy, devoid of the last traces of her - only one forgotten hairpin lay on the night table! He lay down on the bed, lay with his hands behind his head and staring intently in front of him, then he clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, feeling tears rolling down his cheeks, and finally fell asleep...
When the lieutenant woke up, it was already yellow behind the curtains. evening sun, and yesterday and this morning were remembered as if they were ten years ago. He got up, washed, drank tea with lemon for a long time, paid the bill, got into the cab and drove to the pier.
When the ship set sail, the summer night was already blue over the Volga. The lieutenant sat under a canopy on the deck, feeling ten years older.
Essay on literature on the topic: Summary of Sunstroke Bunin
Other writings:
- Lieutenant Characteristics of a literary character A passenger on a ship who accidentally met during a trip beautiful woman. An unexpected passion flares up between the heroes, and they decide to go ashore in one port to spend the night together in a hotel. At first the hero does not perceive this road Read More......
- The story was written in 1925 and, published in Sovremennye Zapiski in 1926, became one of the most remarkable phenomena of Bunin's prose of the 1920s. The semantic core of the story, which outwardly resembles a sketch of a short love “adventure,” becomes Bunin’s deep comprehension of the essence of Eros, Read More ......
- Russian classical literature has always paid great attention to the theme of love. The basis was taken on the platonic feelings of the characters, devoid of tangibility, one might even say, vitality. Therefore, the work of I. A. Bunin in this regard can be called innovative, bold, and especially frank. Bunin almost always has love Read More ......
- Stranger Characteristics of a literary hero A random companion of the lieutenant, who never gave her name. Bunin pays attention to the physiological description of this woman: “The hand, small and strong, smelled of tan. And my heart sank blissfully and terribly at the thought of how strong and dark she probably was Read More......
- Sometimes you hear that “they don’t talk about love - everything is said about it.” Indeed, for thousands of years that humanity has existed, people have been talking, writing, and singing about love. But will anyone be able to give it? precise definition? Maybe love should be like Read More......
- Everything passes... Julius Caesar A soft maple leaf meekly and tremblingly rises in the wind and falls again on the cold ground. He is so lonely that he does not care where his fate takes him. Neither the warm rays of the gentle sun, nor the spring freshness of a frosty morning Read More ......
- A soft maple leaf meekly and tremblingly rises in the wind and falls again to the cold ground. He is so lonely that he does not care where his fate takes him. Neither the warm rays of the gentle sun, nor the spring freshness of a frosty morning no longer pleases him. This Read More......
- Russian literature was distinguished by its extraordinary chastity. Love, in the minds of Russian people and Russian writers, is primarily a spiritual feeling. Bunin in “Sunstroke” fundamentally rethinks this tradition. For him, the feeling that suddenly arises between random fellow travelers on a ship turns out to be so Read More......
They meet in the summer, on one of the Volga ships. He is a lieutenant, She is a lovely, small, tanned woman returning home from Anapa.
“I’m completely drunk,” she laughed. - Actually, I'm completely crazy. Three hours ago I didn’t even know you existed.
The lieutenant kisses her hand, and his heart skips a beat and terribly.
The steamer approaches the pier, the lieutenant begs her to get off. A minute later they go to the hotel and rent a large but stuffy room. As soon as the footman closes the door behind him, both of them merge so frantically in a kiss that they later remember this moment for many years: none of them have ever experienced anything like this.
And in the morning this little nameless woman, who jokingly called herself “a beautiful stranger” and “Princess Marya Morevna,” leaves. Despite the almost sleepless night, she is as fresh as she was at seventeen, a little embarrassed, still simple, cheerful, and already reasonable: she asks the lieutenant to stay until the next ship.
Nothing even similar to what happened has ever happened to me, and there never will be again. The eclipse definitely hit me... Or, rather, we both got something like sunstroke...
And the lieutenant somehow easily agrees with her, takes her to the pier, puts her on the ship and kisses her on the deck in front of everyone.
He easily and carefree returns to the hotel, but the room seems somehow different to the lieutenant. It is still full of it - and empty. The lieutenant's heart suddenly contracts with such tenderness that he has no strength to look at the unmade bed - and he covers it with a screen. He thinks this sweet “road adventure” is over. He cannot “come to this city, where her husband, her three-year-old girl, and in general her whole ordinary life are.”
This thought astonishes him. He feels such pain and the uselessness of his entire future life without her that he is overcome by horror and despair. The lieutenant begins to believe that this is really “sunstroke” and does not know “how to live this endless day, with these memories, with this insoluble torment.”
The lieutenant goes to the market, to the cathedral, then circles for a long time around the abandoned garden, but nowhere does he find peace and deliverance from this uninvited feeling.
How wild, how absurd everything is everyday, ordinary, when the heart is struck by this terrible “sunstroke”, too much love, too much happiness.
Returning to the hotel, the lieutenant orders lunch. Everything is fine, but he knows that he would die tomorrow without hesitation if it were possible by some miracle to return the “beautiful stranger” and prove how painfully and enthusiastically he loves her. He doesn’t know why, but this is more necessary for him than life.
Realizing that it is impossible to get rid of this unexpected love, the lieutenant resolutely goes to the post office with a telegram already written, but stops at the post office in horror - he does not know her last name or first name! The lieutenant returns to the hotel completely broken, lies down on the bed, closes his eyes, feeling tears rolling down his cheeks, and finally falls asleep.
The lieutenant wakes up in the evening. Yesterday and this morning are remembered to him as a distant past. He gets up, washes himself, drinks tea with lemon for a long time, pays for his room and goes to the pier.
The ship departs at night. The lieutenant sits under a canopy on the deck, feeling ten years older.
The story was first published in 1926. A fleeting romance that happened between the lieutenant and a young woman returning from a vacation in the south forced them to choose whether to break off the relationship or continue. A summary of Bunin's story "Sunstroke" will help you understand storyline work on which the author tried to focus the reader’s attention. Having made a choice, young people missed the main thing in life - love, which is given only to a select few.
Main characters
- Lieutenant
- Young woman– a beautiful stranger on her way home after a vacation in the south.
An interesting couple stood on the deck, leaning against the railing of the ship. A young, pretty woman was clearly flirting with the lieutenant. She spent a whole month on the Anapa coast. Rested, tanned, she beckoned to her. The lieutenant, kissing her hand, felt his heart skip a beat with excitement.
Hearing a proposal from a new acquaintance to go ashore right now was a complete surprise for her. A pier loomed ahead. Surprising herself, the woman decided to succumb to a moment of weakness. A cab was rushing through the streets of a small Russian district town straight to the hotel. As soon as the footman closed the door of the room behind him, they rushed to each other, suffocating in a kiss. Many years later they will remember this moment. They had never experienced such sensations in their lives.
The next morning, the night guest did not feel embarrassed. The woman was aware of what happened at night. She asks the lieutenant to wait for the next ship. They shouldn't be seen together. Everything that happened between them looked like a sunstroke, a flash. The lieutenant did not argue. He walked me to the pier, put me on the ship, and kissed me goodbye.
Returning to his room, the lieutenant acutely felt how much he missed the mysterious stranger. Loneliness and pain pierced through. He remembered all of her. The smell of a tan, a strong body, the cheerful sound of a voice. He didn't understand what was happening to him. It seems like nothing special happened, but why does it hurt so much?
To escape from the painful memories, the lieutenant decided to take a walk around the city. A market, a cathedral, a small neglected garden. Nothing helped. He clearly understood that his heart was forever affected by “sunstroke,” great love, great happiness. He would die without a second thought to bring her back even for one day.
I returned to the hotel completely exhausted. The only reminder of the visit of the night guest was a hairpin, forgotten on the night table. Lying on the bed, with his hands behind his head, the lieutenant looked intently in front of him. Tears rolled from the man's eyes. I managed to fall asleep only in the morning.
The same cab driver who brought the lieutenant to the hotel took him to the pier. Sitting under the canopy on the deck, the man felt ten years older.
Sunstroke
They met in the summer, on one of the Volga ships. He is a lieutenant, She is a lovely little, tanned woman (she said she was coming from Anapa). “...I’m completely drunk,” she laughed. - Actually, I'm completely crazy. Three hours ago I didn’t even know you existed.” The lieutenant kissed her hand, and his heart sank blissfully and terribly...
The steamer approached the pier, the lieutenant muttered imploringly: “Let's get off...” And a minute later they got off, rode to the hotel on a dusty cab, and went into a large but terribly stuffy room. And as soon as the footman closed the door behind him, both of them suffocated so frantically in the kiss that they remembered this moment for many years later: neither one nor the other had ever experienced anything like this in their entire lives.
And in the morning she left, she, a little nameless woman, jokingly called herself “a beautiful stranger,” “Princess Marya Morevna.” In the morning, despite the almost sleepless night, she was as fresh as she was at seventeen, a little embarrassed, still simple, cheerful, and - already reasonable:
“You must stay until the next ship,” she said. - If we go together, everything will be ruined. I give you my word of honor that I am not at all what you might think of me. Nothing even close to what happened has ever happened to me, and there never will be again. It was as if an eclipse had come over me... Or, rather, we both got something like sunstroke...” And the lieutenant somehow easily agreed with her, took her to the pier, put her on the ship and kissed her on the deck in front of everyone.
He returned to the hotel just as easily and carefree. But something has already changed. The room seemed somehow different. He was still full of her - and empty. And the lieutenant’s heart suddenly sank with such tenderness that he hurried to light a cigarette and walked back and forth around the room several times.
There was no strength to look at the unmade bed - and he covered it with a screen: “Well, that’s the end of this “road adventure”! - he thought. “And forgive me, and forever, forever... After all, I can’t, for no apparent reason, come to this city, where her husband, her three-year-old girl, and in general her whole ordinary life are!”
And this thought struck him. He felt such pain and such uselessness of his entire future life without her that he was overcome by horror and despair.
“What is this with me? It seems that this is not the first time - and now... What's special about it? In fact, it looks like some kind of sunstroke! How can I spend the whole day without her in this outback?” He still remembered all of her, but now the main thing was this completely new and incomprehensible feeling, which did not exist while they were together, which he could not even imagine when starting a funny acquaintance. A feeling that there was no one to tell about now. And how to live this endless day, with these memories, with this insoluble torment?...
It was necessary to escape, to occupy oneself with something, to go somewhere. He went to the market. But at the market everything was so stupid and absurd that he fled from there. I went into the cathedral, where they sang loudly, with a sense of duty fulfilled, then walked for a long time around the small neglected garden: “How can you live peacefully and generally be simple, careless, indifferent? - he thought. “How wild, how absurd everything is everyday, ordinary, when the heart is struck by this terrible “sunstroke,” too much love, too much happiness!”
Returning to the hotel, the lieutenant went into the dining room and ordered lunch. Everything was fine, but he knew that he would die tomorrow without hesitation, if by some miracle he could return her, tell her, prove how painfully and enthusiastically he loves her... Why? He didn’t know why, but it was more necessary than life.
What to do now when it is no longer possible to get rid of this unexpected love? The lieutenant stood up and resolutely went to the post office with the already prepared phrase of the telegram, but stopped at the post office in horror - he did not know her last name or first name! And the city, hot, sunny, joyful, reminded Anapa so unbearably that the lieutenant, with his head bowed, staggered and stumbled, walked back.
He returned to the hotel completely defeated. The room was already tidy, devoid of the last traces of her - only one forgotten hairpin lay on the night table! He lay down on the bed, lay with his hands behind his head and looking intently in front of him, then he clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, feeling tears rolling down his cheeks, and finally fell asleep...
When the lieutenant woke up, the evening sun was already yellowing behind the curtains, and yesterday and this morning were remembered as if they were ten years ago. He got up, washed, drank tea with lemon for a long time, paid the bill, got into the cab and drove to the pier.
When the ship set sail, the summer night was already blue over the Volga. The lieutenant sat under a canopy on the deck, feeling ten years older.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin
"Sunstroke"
They met in the summer, on one of the Volga ships. He is a lieutenant, She is a lovely little, tanned woman (she said she was coming from Anapa). “...I’m completely drunk,” she laughed. “Actually, I’ve gone completely crazy.” Three hours ago I didn’t even know you existed.” The lieutenant kissed her hand, and his heart sank blissfully and terribly...
The steamer approached the pier, the lieutenant muttered imploringly: “Let's get off...” And a minute later they got off, rode to the hotel on a dusty carriage, went into a large but terribly stuffy room. And as soon as the footman closed the door behind him, both of them suffocated so frantically in the kiss that they remembered this moment for many years later: neither one nor the other had ever experienced anything like this in their entire lives.
And in the morning she left, she, a little nameless woman, jokingly called herself “a beautiful stranger,” “Princess Marya Morevna.” In the morning, despite an almost sleepless night, she was as fresh as she was at seventeen, a little embarrassed, still simple, cheerful, and already reasonable: “You must stay until the next ship,” she said. “If we go together, everything will be ruined.” I give you my word of honor that I am not at all what you might think of me. Nothing even similar to what happened has ever happened to me, and there never will be again. It was as if an eclipse had come over me... Or, rather, we both got something like sunstroke...” And the lieutenant somehow easily agreed with her, took her to the pier, put her on the ship and kissed her on the deck in front of everyone.
He returned to the hotel just as easily and carefree. But something has already changed. The room seemed somehow different. It was still full of her - and empty. And the lieutenant’s heart suddenly sank with such tenderness that he hurried to light a cigarette and walked back and forth around the room several times. There was no strength to look at the unmade bed - and he covered it with a screen: “Well, that’s the end of this “road adventure”! - he thought. “And forgive me, and forever, forever... After all, I can’t, for no apparent reason, come to this city, where her husband, her three-year-old girl, and in general her whole ordinary life are!” And this thought struck him. He felt such pain and such uselessness of his entire future life without her that he was overcome by horror and despair.
“What is this with me? It seems that this is not the first time - and now... What's special about it? In fact, it looks like some kind of sunstroke! How can I spend the whole day without her in this outback?” He still remembered all of her, but now the main thing was this completely new and incomprehensible feeling, which did not exist while they were together, which he could not even imagine when starting a funny acquaintance. A feeling that there was no one to tell about now. And how to live this endless day, with these memories, with this insoluble torment...
It was necessary to escape, to occupy oneself with something, to go somewhere. He went to the market. But at the market everything was so stupid and absurd that he fled from there. I went into the cathedral, where they sang loudly, with a sense of duty fulfilled, then walked for a long time around the small neglected garden: “How can you live peacefully and generally be simple, careless, indifferent? - he thought. “How wild, how absurd everything is everyday, ordinary, when the heart is struck by this terrible “sunstroke,” too much love, too much happiness!”
Returning to the hotel, the lieutenant went into the dining room and ordered lunch. Everything was fine, but he knew that he would die tomorrow without hesitation, if by some miracle he could return her, tell her, prove how painfully and enthusiastically he loves her... Why? He didn’t know why, but it was more necessary than life.
What to do now when it is no longer possible to get rid of this unexpected love? The lieutenant stood up and resolutely went to the post office with the already prepared phrase of the telegram, but stopped at the post office in horror - he did not know either her last name or her first name! And the city, hot, sunny, joyful, reminded Anapa so unbearably that the lieutenant, with his head bowed, staggered and stumbled, walked back.
He returned to the hotel completely defeated. The room was already tidy, devoid of the last traces of her - only one forgotten hairpin lay on the night table! He lay down on the bed, lay with his hands behind his head and staring intently in front of him, then he clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, feeling tears rolling down his cheeks, and finally fell asleep...
When the lieutenant woke up, the evening sun was already yellowing behind the curtains, and yesterday and this morning were remembered as if they were ten years ago. He got up, washed, drank tea with lemon for a long time, paid the bill, got into the cab and drove to the pier.
When the ship set sail, the summer night was already blue over the Volga. The lieutenant sat under a canopy on the deck, feeling ten years older. Retold Natalia Bubnova
