The Village

The Village is a short novel by the Nobel Prize-winning Russian author Ivan Bunin, written in 1909 and first published in 1910. The Village caused much controversy at the time, though it was highly praised by Maxim Gorky (who from then on regarded the author as the major figure in Russian literature), among others, and is now generally regarded as Bunin's first masterpiece. Composed of brief episodes set in its author's birthplace at the time of the 1905 Revolution, it tells the story of two peasant brothers, one a brute drunk, the other a gentler, more sympathetic character. Bunin's realistic portrayal of the country life jarred with the idealised picture of unspoiled peasants which was common for the mainstream Russian literature, and featured the characters deemed 'offensive' by many, which were so far below the average in terms of intelligence as to be scarcely human.