Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (1870-1953) was the first Russian to receive the Nobel Prize in literature, in 1933. Although a noted poet, he is perhaps best known for the delicate "brocaded" prose of his short stories and his novels on Russian rural life and bourgeois stupidity.

Ivan Bunin was born on his impoverished but proud family's estate near Voronezh in Oryol Province on Oct. 10/22, 1870. He grew up with a love for family traditions and a high regard for the works of Aleksandr Pushkin. In 1881 he entered the gymnasium (secondary school) in Elets but withdrew after 3 years and was tutored by his older brother. In 1889, however, family poverty forced Bunin to go to work. He held various technical and clerical jobs on provincial newspapers.

In 1891 Bunin published Poems, a volume that celebrated the natural world and was classical in style. Other collections of poetry followed--In the Open Air (1898) and Falling...