The Raven (Bunin)
Short summary
Russia, early 20th century. A young man returned home after graduating from Katkov's Lycée to find his father's apartment brightened by the presence of Yelena Nikolayevna, his little sister's new nanny.
The father, a high-ranking provincial official with a raven-like appearance, attempted to impress Yelena at dinner and tea, describing luxurious clothes that would suit her despite her poverty.
During a thunderstorm, the narrator and Yelena shared their first kiss. Their secret romance developed through stolen moments and kisses throughout the house. One day, the father caught them embracing in his study and ordered his son to leave for his village in Samara Province.
The narrator left immediately, later renouncing his inheritance and finding work in St. Petersburg. Months later, at the Maryinsky Theatre, he saw his father with Yelena, now his wife.
At her neck a ruby crucifix glittered with dark fire, her slender, but already rounded arms were bared, and a kind of peplos of crimson velvet was gripped at the left shoulder by a ruby clasp...
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The narrators comparison of his father to a raven
The narrator recalled how, as a boy, he first noticed his father's resemblance to a raven. This realization came to him when he saw a picture in The Cornfield showing Napoleon on a cliff. The image reminded him of pictures in Bogdanov's Polar Travels, where Napoleon looked like a penguin, which made him laugh with joy. But then he thought sadly about how his father resembled a raven.
My father looked like a raven. This occurred to me when I was still a boy: one day I saw a picture in The Cornfield, a cliff of some sort, and on it Napoleon... and then I thought sadly: and Papa's like a raven…
His father held a prominent official position in their province's main town, which only worsened his already difficult personality. The narrator believed that even among bureaucrats, there wasn't a man more difficult, sullen, taciturn, or coldly cruel in both words and actions. Short and portly with a slight stoop, his father had coarse black hair, a dark complexion, a long clean-shaven face, and a large nose that completed his raven-like appearance.
The arrival of Yelena Nikolayevna and changing household dynamics
The narrator's father had been widowed for many years, leaving him with just two children - the narrator and his little sister Lilya. They lived in a spacious official apartment on the first floor of a government building facing a boulevard lined with poplars. The apartment felt cold and empty with its huge, spotlessly clean rooms. Fortunately, the narrator spent most of the year studying at Katkov's Lycée in Moscow, returning home only for Christmas and summer holidays.
Upon graduating from the Lycée that spring and returning home, the narrator was astonished by a dramatic change in their household. The apartment, once so lifeless, now seemed illuminated by the presence of a youthful, light-footed girl who had replaced Lilya's previous nanny - a lanky, flat-chested old woman who had resembled a medieval wooden statue of a saint.
It was as if the sun had suddenly begun shining in our apartment, formerly so dead – the whole of it was illuminated by the presence of the youthful, light-footed girl who had just replaced eight-year-old Lilya's nanny.
This young woman, Yelena Nikolayevna, was the daughter of one of the father's minor subordinates. She was overjoyed at having found such a good position immediately after finishing school, and equally happy about the narrator's arrival - someone her own age. However, she remained fearful and timid in the presence of the father during their formal dinners, constantly watching over the black-eyed, taciturn Lilya. The father's behavior at dinner had changed remarkably - he now engaged in conversation, addressing Yelena formally as "my dear Yelena Nikolayevna," even attempting jokes and smiles.
The forbidden romance and confrontation with the father
Despite her efforts to appear attentive to the father and Lilya during meals, Yelena's attempts to avoid looking at the narrator betrayed her true feelings. Both the narrator and his father sensed that behind her deliberate avoidance lay a completely different fear - the joyous fear of the happiness she felt being near the narrator. In the evenings, the father, who previously had tea alone in his study, now joined them in the dining room, where Yelena sat at the samovar after Lilya had gone to bed.
During these evening gatherings, the father would make strange, unsettling comments. He would tell Yelena how blondes were suited by black or crimson, describing in detail how she would look in medieval dresses with diamond collars or ruby crucifixes. He acknowledged these were mere dreams, given her father's modest salary and large family, but suggested that dreams sometimes come true. On one occasion, he even made a pointed remark about the narrator, suggesting his son was waiting for his father's death to inherit his wealth, though he added that the son would likely receive nothing.
The day before Peter's Day proved memorable for the narrator. His father left for the cathedral and then to visit the governor, who was celebrating his name day. During lunch, Lilya threw a tantrum over dessert, smashing her plate and sobbing angrily. The narrator and Yelena managed to calm her and put her to sleep. Their combined efforts to handle Lilya brought them physically close, their hands repeatedly touching.
A thunderstorm raged outside, and soon they heard fire engines rushing past on the boulevard. Standing close together at the window, watching the rain and listening to the commotion, they were overcome with emotion. The narrator took Yelena's hand, gazed at her imploringly, and when she turned her tear-filled eyes toward him, he kissed her for the first time. After that day, they found countless opportunities for brief meetings and passionate kisses throughout the house. The father, sensing their relationship, became increasingly taciturn and sullen, but they paid him little attention.
In early July, Lilya fell ill after eating too many raspberries. Yelena had to remain at her bedside, making it difficult for the young lovers to meet. One evening, while the narrator sat reading in his father's study, Yelena suddenly appeared, sent by Lilya to look for colored pencils. Overwhelmed with emotion, she burst into tears and embraced him, begging him to tell his father about their love. As they kissed passionately and moved toward the couch, they heard a cough - the father had been watching them from the doorway.
And bursting into tears, she came over and dropped her head onto my chest: "My God, when will it ever end! Just tell him finally that you love me, that nothing in the world is going to part us anyway!"
The aftermath and final encounter in St. Petersburg
That evening, the narrator was summoned to his father's study. Without turning to face his son, the father delivered his punishment: the narrator was to leave immediately for the father's village in Samara Province and stay there for the summer. In autumn, he was to find work in Moscow or St. Petersburg. If he disobeyed, his father threatened to disinherit him and have the Governor deport him to the village under guard. The father made it clear that the narrator would not see Yelena before his departure.
"Tomorrow you'll leave for my village in Samara for the whole summer... If you dare to disobey, I'll disinherit you for good. But that's not all: straight away tomorrow I'll ask the Governor to deport you immediately to the village under guard."
That same night, the narrator left for Yaroslavl Province to stay with a Lycée classmate until autumn. Later, through his friend's father's connections, he secured a position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg. He wrote to his father renouncing any future inheritance or assistance. During the winter, he learned that his father had resigned from his post and also moved to St. Petersburg "with a delightful young wife."
One evening, entering the Maryinsky Theatre shortly before a performance, the narrator spotted his father and Yelena in a box near the stage. His father, hunched like a raven in his tailcoat, was carefully reading the program. Yelena, with her blonde hair elegantly arranged, was animatedly surveying the audience. At her neck glittered a dark ruby crucifix, her slender arms were bare, and she wore a crimson velvet peplos fastened at the shoulder with a ruby clasp - exactly as the father had once described in his strange evening monologues.