The Crimson Bookshelf

THIS collection of literary gems from the pen of the Nobel prize winner of 1933 is one of the best group of stories recently published. The author displays remarkable artistry both in style and in the delineation of characters who for the most part move in the background of imperial Russia.

The "Grammar of Love" contains ten stories, eight of which had not been translated into English before. They vary greatly in subject matter and demonstrate Bunin's work at widely different times of his career. The central theme of the collection, however, is love. His treatment is realistic and the reader is impressed emotionally, psychologically, and philosophically by the power of the author to transmit these instinctive feelings and thoughts by a mere description of material things. It is by allusion and implication that these realistic descriptions become more than more enumerations and the subtle skill of Bunin in arranging and presenting the details in an artistically wover pattern gives a latency of meaning that is forceful and compelling. He knows life and love and communicates the sensuous expression of these naturally and convincingly.

Among the best stories in the collection are "Sunstroke", a tale of how a man's momentary passion develops into an unrealizable love. "A Night At Sea", the meeting of two men who loved the same woman and the unexpected unemotional calm with which they discuss their life with her, and "A Simple Peasant", delineation of the jealous love of a simple peasant for the maid-servant and mistress of his master.

Bunin has attained a realism that many of his contemporaries strive to do by more circuitous means and psychological devices but his product is more natural, readable, and understanding.