I.A. Bunin as a member of “The Orlovsky vestnik” newspaper

The article examines the beginning of I.A. Bunin’s creative and journalistic path, basing on letters, memoirs, diaries and texts of critical publications. This paper identifies the first contacts of the writer with St. Petersburg and Moscow critics, publishers and writers. A detailed analysis of the history of Bunin’s cooperation with “The Orlovsky Vestnik” newspaper, where the young poet received a rich experience in the editorial office, in particular, he published not only his poems and stories, but also literary and critical notes, essays, correspondence and feuilletons. Certain literary preferences and personal sympathies of the writer are revealed in this paper, specifically, Bunin’s fascination with Narodnik writers and self-taught poets, including Yelets petty bourgeois E.I. Nazarov and poet N.V Uspensky. Also, the article considers Bunin’s publications containing sharp criticism of the views on the development of Russian poetry of the St. Petersburg “Sever” magazine, where the writer defended N.A. Nekrasov, as well as provided sharp controversy over the capital’s media derision on their provincial colleagues in “The Moskovskie Vedomosti” newspaper. A discussion with the Moscow newspaper revealed the closeness of Bunin’s position to the views of the radical democratic wing of the Zemstvo intelligentsia. This article highlights the publication of Bunin’s debut book - the poetry collection called “Poems of 1887-1891”, which was published with the assistance of the editor of “The Orlovsky Vestnik” B.P. Shelikhov. The most representative reviews published in “The Artist” and “The Observer” magazines are considered in this paper. Critics accused the writer of imitating A.A. Fet, whose poem Bunin used as an epigraph to the collection, as well as they specified the prosaic nature of some of Bunin’s poems. The following conclusions are formulated in the article, basing on the studied material: Bunin’s experience as a newspaper worker did not become his life’s work, however, the work in the editorial office allowed the young poet to expand his literary and social horizons.