Ivan Bunin’s Story “Velga”: On the Question of the Text History and the Poetics of the Genre

The article notes that Ivan Bunin’s story “Velga” has not yet become the subject of separate studies, but has only been mentioned in general literary works. The probable range of sources that Bunin could have used during the period of writing the “northern legend” is being established. It is emphasized that the scant evidence from Bunin’s correspondence of 1885–1904 and modern works on folklore and mythology do not allow us to say unequivocal- ly which books the writer read. At the same time, the story of metamorphosis, which forms the basis of the plot of “Velga” (that is, the transformation of a girl into a seagull), has been widespread among both southern and northern peoples since the antiquity era. In addition, the article pays attention to the toponymy and onomastics of the story; the artistic significance of Bunin’s descriptions of birds and the Icy Sea is emphasized. The study of the religious and symbolic semantics of the images of the “northern legend” makes it possible to clarify the nature of historical and cultural borrowings. The originality of proper names and toponyms, which play a plot-forming role in the text, is revealed. The article also reveals the poetics of the genre of Bunin’s early short story. The system of images, poetic and stylistic signs, and the genre originality of “Velga” make it possible to correlate the story with other (more mature) works of the writer and identify its significance in the context of Russian and wider world literature.