Philological Narrative in Genealogical Research Book Review: Rylshchikov I.V., Mezhova N.V. Bunin’s Ancestors. Secrets and Discoveries. Moscow, Kontseptual Publ., 2023. 400 p.

The review presents an analysis of the scientifi c work of two authors – Lipetsk local historian-geneologist N.V. Mezhova and Moscow local historian and writer, author of studies on genealogy and DNA-gene of elogy, publicist I.V. Rylshchikov. The peer-reviewed monograph published and analyzed a large number of archival documents related to the genealogy of I.A. Bunin, revealing the birth of the noble family of the Bunins and its further existence in Russia. The real discovery was the establishment of Ivan Bunin’s blood relationship with famous writers of the 19th–20th centuries – A.S. Pushkin, A.A. Fet, I. Severyanin. I.V. Rylshchikov and N.V. Mezhova studied not only written archival sources, but also maps and plans of the land holdings of Bunin’s ancestors, establishing the exact location of the Butyrka farm, where the writer spent his early childhood, and also localized “up to a meter” the location of his brother’s house, Evgeny Bunin, in the village of Ognevka, in which Ivan Bunin created his early works. The review analyzes comments on the writer’s artistic texts, which are based on autobiographical features and real historical facts related to Bunin’s genealogy and the writer’s native area. The most detailed, using a large number of archival sources, comments I.V. Rylshchikov’s story I.A. Bunin “Sukhodol”. The publication of new facts and archival data previously unknown to the scientifi c community will make it possible to identify new vectors in the study of Bunin’s heritage.