The Life of Arseniev

The Life of Arseniev: Youth is an autobiographical novel by Nobel Prize-winning Russian author Ivan Bunin seen by many as his most important work written in emigration. It is Bunin's only full-length novel. The novel was written and published in parts in the course of the 12 years, in 1927-1939, in France. In 1952 the New-York-based Chekhov Publishers released the first complete edition of the novel. Background Book I was finished on 21 September of that year. Book II on September 27, 1927, Book III on September 30, 1928 and Book IV on July 30, 1929. The latter was published in 1932. In the process of publishing the original text was being changed continuously: autobiographical details being cut off, real names changed. For example, the Gendurist family Bunin knew in Poltava, featured as the Bogdanovs in the latter versions. Sister Nadya who died at the early age, was called now Sasha. Some ideologically charged fragments went out too, like the one in Chapter 9 of Book IV where Arseniev spoke of narodniks's circle and his own views on one's social responsibilities. The four finished parts of the novel came out as a book in 1930, subtitled The Well of Days. The book was published in 1933 in English as The Well of Days. In 1939 the Book V, entitled: The Life of Arseniev. Novel. Lika, was published by the Petropolis Publishers in Brussels in 1939. It was supposed to be included into the Vol.12 of the Petropolis' Complete Bunin, but in 1939 the publishing house closed. According to Vera Muromtseva-Bunina, "Ivan Alekseyevich wanted desperately to include the [final part] into the novel but the latter has been published already and so he released it as a separate edition as soon as the chance presented itself." According to Mark Aldanov, "many people were trying to convince [Bunin] he should start the second part but he was always saying the same thing: 'That one has been written about people gone and deeds done, long ago. How am I to write fiction about people who are still alive?'."