Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, the great Russian writer, has an amazing story “The Grammar of Love” (a summary follows). Written in 1915, long before the appearance of the famous “Dark Alleys” cycle, it became the author’s first step towards the eternal theme of “Love”. But, as they say, steps can be different - timid, timid or inept, which cannot be said about this work: it is unusually deep, talented, as they say, alive, you hear it, feel it, it penetrates to the very depths of the soul...

I.A. Bunin, story “Grammar of Love”: summary

The beginning of June. A certain Ivlev borrows a tarantass from his brother-in-law, hires three horses and sets off to the far reaches of his county. The weather is warm and fine. The fields are filled with an endless array of bright flowers and larks. However, soon it became heavy and light rain began to fall. We decided not to rush and wait out the bad weather in the count’s house. The latter was not at the estate, so Ivlev was met by a young countess, dressed in a wide pink bonnet, with open arms and powdered breasts.

While a boy of about eighteen, a cab driver, sat motionless in the pouring rain on the box of a tarantass, and the horses were resting in the middle of a dirty yard, Ivlev was in a cozy living room, darkened by the rain, having a measured conversation with the mistress of the house and waiting for tea. The Countess smoked, kept laughing and straightening her hair. Whatever the conversation was about, it certainly eventually came down to the topic of love. They also remembered a mutual friend, a close neighbor, the landowner Khvoshchinsky, who was known far beyond the boundaries of the district for his mad love for the maid Lushka.

Amazing love story

This story is old. The landowner Khvoshchinsky was passionately in love with his maid Lushka, who, soon after they met, in her early youth, unexpectedly died. Since then, “this eccentric” locked himself in his estate, did not go out anywhere and did not let anyone in, and for the rest of his life, more than twenty years, he was only in her room and sat right through the mattress on her bed, indulging in “crazy dreams about her.” " Whatever happened around, in the village or in the world, everything was attributed to Lushkin’s influence. For example, bad weather - it’s Lushka who sends thunder, a war in the country - it’s at her behest, a bad harvest - the men somehow didn’t please Lushka.

Ivlev knew this story since childhood, admired such a deep feeling and was even a little in love with this very Lushka. The news that Khvoshchinsky died this winter brought back old memories, old feelings and questions in Ivlev: was he crazy or a truly stunned, pure soul of rare quality? On the way home, he decided to definitely stop by the deserted estate of Khvoshchinsky and see with his own eyes the home of the mysterious Lushka, and maybe there he would feel and understand everything...

Khvoshchinsky estate

I.A. Bunin and his story “The Grammar of Love,” a summary of which is now before you, is just a superficial summary of the plot of the great work. Therefore, in order to understand the full depth of the story described, you need to read the original.

A new landscape opened up in front of Ivlev: a shallow river, further on, on a small hill, rows of hay could be seen, and between them - old silvery poplars. Here is the famous house, quite large and, apparently, once whitewashed... A young man stood on the porch. He looked in surprise at the approaching carriage. It seems that this was the son of the famous Lushka. Ivlev hastened to explain his visit with a desire to buy books from the library of the deceased.

He was led through the house, cold and empty, and led to a low door. The young man took a large key from his pocket, inserted it into the rusty one, and the door opened in front of them into a small closet with two windows. On one side there was a bare iron bed, and on the other there were two cabinets with books. This “book collection” was strange: “The Newest Dream Book”, “Reflections on the Mysteries of the Universe”, “The Morning Star and the Night Demons”... But Ivlev’s attention was attracted by something completely different - the middle shelf. On it stood a box and only a small book, more like a prayer book. “The Grammar of Love,” a summary (short story 14) of which introduces the reader to the amazing feeling of love, does not end there.

Amazing items

Opening the last one, Ivlev saw a simple necklace. More than ever, he was overcome with trepidation and incomprehensible excitement. It is impossible to imagine this worn cord, these cheap blue balls on the neck of the one who was destined to be so desired and loved... Having seen enough, he carefully returned the box to its original place and took up the book. It was a small, one might say elegantly designed, old shabby book - “The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Loved”

It was divided into many chapters: about the mind, about beauty, about the heart, about quarrels and reconciliation... Each consisted of famous and subtle observations of famous people about life and love. Some of them were marked in red ink, and at the end, on a blank page, there was a quatrain from Khvoshchinsky himself.

Half an hour later, Ivlev said goodbye to the young man. Of all the books, he chose only one - “The Grammar of Love”. The summary of the story ends with this episode.

Such different love

As you can see, the plot of the short story is quite simple, and perhaps under other circumstances or under the pen of another author it would have turned into an ordinary “district joke.” At I.A. Bunin, it takes on a different meaning - is such love possible, is it true, or is it just some kind of obsession, madness. The author does not give a definite answer, because it is impossible to penetrate inside a person, look into his soul and touch his feelings and experiences. There are as many opinions as there are characters in the story. You cannot accuse one of bias and praise another for objectivity. However, using the examples of the heroes - the late Khvoshchinsky, Ivlev, the young countess and even the driver - a young man of eighteen - one can observe a peculiar evolution of the human soul, and with it a different understanding of love, and the very possibility, the ability to truly love.

So, the driver, the son of a rich man, stupid but economical, rudely remarks that Lushka drowned herself, and the landowner was not at all from her, but from poverty. He does not see any love in this story, as, indeed, in any other. The young countess, on the contrary, focused all conversations on love, laughing and straightening her hair all the time. She firmly believed in the sanity and soundness of the lover Khvoshchinsky - he just “was not like the current couple.”

The pendulum of love... It swings all the time, now to the right, now to the left. The lack of the gift of love in a young man is one side. However, the displacement of the pendulum from the equilibrium position to the other, opposite side does not indicate the depth and sincerity of feelings or the presence of high spirituality in a person. Yes, the young countess believes in love, but what kind? The love story of Khvoshchinsky and Lushka - for her it is, rather, a beautiful cover of another women's novel. You can admire, be touched, cry and complain that you can’t find such feelings these days, but soon forget and get carried away by something else, no less colorful.

Equilibrium

Before us is the story “The Grammar of Love”. The summary and analysis of the work does not end there. Let's continue...

Sooner or later the pendulum slows down and stops. It rests in a position of equilibrium. This is true love. It was to her, after long searches, doubts and unexpected insights, that Ivlev and the late Khvoshchinsky approached: “There is being, but by what name should we call it? It is neither a dream nor a vigil, it is between them, and in a person, understanding borders on madness...”

In the image of the maid Lushka in the story “The Grammar of Love” (for a summary of the chapters, see above), the author wanted to show the one who entered the lives of Khvoshchinsky and Ivlev forever. What was she like? They said that “she was not even good at all,” but suddenly she unexpectedly fell on the landowner’s head, then she also unexpectedly and suddenly died, being young, in the prime of her life, and everything went to dust... But was it all to dust? No and no again. This love, albeit completely incomprehensible, strange, “mysterious in its charm,” turned the life of one person, which should have been the most ordinary, into a real “life.”

The little book “Grammar of Love”, similar to a prayer book, the contents of which delight and surprise; a simple necklace by Lushka, evoking a feeling akin to what a person experiences when looking at the relics of saints... For those who do not resist love, who let it into their lives, everything ordinary turns into sacred, and the tragic is seen not as some kind of doom, but as the highest spiritual meaning of life. Khvoshchinsky, making his own notes and entries in the book, wrote his “grammar of love.” Ivlev, having bought only this tattered “prayer book” at a high price, accepted this priceless gift in order to eventually derive his “laws”, write his own rules, and “they will show this Grammar of Love to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

“The Grammar of Love” is a short story created in 1915, around the same time as such works as “The Mister from San Francisco” and “Easy Breathing”. This is a short story. It is about a landowner who has gone mad because of his love for his maid. However, the meaning of the work is deeper. An analysis and summary of the “Grammar of Love” is presented in today’s article.

Conversation with the Countess

A certain Ivlev once sets off on a long journey. On the way he stops by the count's estate. There is no one in the house except the young mistress. Ivlev talks with the young countess over tea, and this conversation causes inexplicable excitement in him. The young woman talks more and more about love, and among other things tells the story of the landowner Khvoshchinsky, who died not so long ago. This man was madly in love with his maid Lukerya, who died young.

Amazing story

Ivlev is surprised by the story of a landowner, mad with love. He grew up in these places, even in his youth he heard that Lushka (that was the name of Khvoshchinsky’s beloved) was not at all good with you. Nevertheless, after her death, the landowner sat on her bed for twenty years. He did not leave the house and read a lot. Moreover, according to the stories of old landowners, he was once known in his district as a smart, businesslike man. Everything went to pieces after I fell in love.

Lyubov Khvoshchinsky

The Countess speaks of Khvoshchinsky with some admiration. Ivlev is at first skeptical about love, which made an intelligent, energetic person a recluse. But when he sets off on the road again, he suddenly feels that he is irresistibly drawn to the estate, where the mysterious Lukerya once lived.

By the way, the cause of her death is unknown. In any case, Bunin says nothing about this. Only Ivlev’s cab driver suddenly, pointing to the pond, says that it was here that Lukerya once drowned herself. However, these are just speculations and rumors. And the cause of death does not matter. Ivlev is intrigued by the extraordinary power of love that a simple woman could evoke in a landowner.

Library of the late master

Ivlev decides to stop by Khvoshchinsky's estate. He first comes up with a reason for such an unexpected visit: he will say that he is interested in the library of the late master and he would like to purchase several of his books. Ivlev is greeted by a handsome young man in a school uniform. The unexpected guest understands that this is the son of the legendary Lukerya.

The young man is not averse to selling his father's books. He immediately begins to describe their value, assuring that nothing like this can be purchased anywhere. The contents of Khvoshchinsky's library are quite unusual. Here you can find more publications about mysticism and magic. One, however, interests the guest. But the young man says that he will never sell this book. My father read it every day for twenty years. And I even put it under my pillow.

"Grammar of Love"

This is the name of the small book, similar to a prayer book, which interested Ivlev so much. His attention is also drawn to a box with a necklace that once belonged to Lukerya. This is a string of cheap blue balls, but they have some kind of power, a mystery.

Ivlev reads a book, thinks about Lukerya, about her necklace. About the complex feelings from which the landowner Khvoshchinsky suffered for many years. Ivlev understands that the unknown Lushka has entered his life forever. This is the summary of Bunin’s “Grammar of Love”. The plot of the work is quite simple. It will take two to three minutes to read. However, Bunin did not write simple love stories.

Name

Grammar is a strict system of rules. Love is a feeling that exists outside of any laws. What is the meaning of the name Bunin? What is the grammar of love? The writer used incompatible concepts, an oxymoron. Translated from Greek, the word “grammar” means “the ability to read and write.”

You might think that the book that Ivlev buys is a self-instruction manual on love. But is it possible to teach a person to love? Doesn't this feeling manifest itself differently for everyone? There are no textbooks that teach love. That’s why the title of Bunin’s work sounds a little strange.

What is the story “The Grammar of Love” by Bunin about?

The works of this writer reveal the versatility of love. The story "Antonov Apples" largely shows the love of life. "Easy breathing" - love of beauty. What is the story “The Grammar of Love” about? A brief summary will answer this question, but not a complete one. This is a work about love, which is preserved in the human chronicle. But in every short story by Ivan Bunin, the main thing is not the plot, but the artistic language, which conveys the variety of shades of human feelings. It is impossible to evaluate the author’s style when reading the summary of “The Grammar of Love”.

Characters

The hero of the story, Ivlev, is, in fact, not like that. The main characters are Khvoshchinsky and his beloved Lushka, as can be seen even after reading “The Grammar of Love”.

In the area it was customary to call her Lushka. But perhaps for Khvoshchinsky himself she is Mrs. Lukerya. After all, the powerful feeling that she was able to instill in him has no social restrictions. It is born and strengthens, regardless of any conventions.

Ivlev is a simple man in the street who is characterized by certain social attitudes. And only his unexpected visit to Khvoshchinsky’s estate reveals to him the great secret of existence. Only in this modest estate does the thought come to him that he sees a rare earthly love. After all, before this visit, he, like everyone else in the area, was sure of Khvoshchinsky’s madness.

Khvoschinsky's book

As is already known from the summary of “The Grammar of Love” by Ivan Bunin, the hero changes his opinion about the landowner after the book of the deceased falls into his hands. What's unusual about it? What touches the traveler so much? “The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Mutually Loved” - the very title of the book already delights. It turns out that it is important to be mutually loved, and it is not so simple.

There is a very remarkable chapter in this book. It presents a peculiar classification, according to which primacy is not given to the woman beautiful, and the woman cute. It is this sweet woman who becomes the guiding star of a man’s heart. And let him admire the beauty of other women all his life, his soul will strive only for her alone - sweet, unique and beloved. It is at this moment that Ivlev probably has an epiphany. His bewilderment at such a vivid love for a “simple girl” of modest appearance dissipates.

Scenery

The story takes place against the backdrop of fading nature, which Bunin so wonderfully describes. Hence the somewhat sad, even depressing mood. The bleak landscape emphasizes the departure of love. Khvoshchinsky is the last one who was capable of real feeling. It’s not for nothing that the Countess says about him “he’s no match for those of today.”

The landowner leaves this mortal coil. But his selfless service to the memory of his beloved will perhaps for a long time stir the minds of those who witnessed a non-trivial story. Witnesses will certainly pass this story on to posterity. She will be heard for a long time, maintaining a spark of hope in people that a great feeling can touch them too.

Love has no barriers, no prejudices can destroy a real feeling - this is the main idea of ​​Ivan Bunin’s work.

Ivan Aleksandrovich Bunin made a huge contribution to Russian literature, although after the revolution he was forced to live abroad. Bunin's favorite theme was the theme of love. The first story dedicated to this topic was “The Grammar of Love.”

The name (from Greek) means “the ability to read and write.” This phrase hides an oxymoron - incompatible things are combined. But also hidden is the question that Bunin himself asks: is it possible to learn love?

The story describes everything in simple language. Ivleev somehow finds the estate, which was destroyed. Khvoshchinsky, the owner of this estate, died. People consider him an eccentric. He had a good place, a reputation, but fell in love with Lushka, but could not marry her because of his social status. Khovaschinsky’s wife is born to them and dies, as their neighbors and residents say. Khvoschinsky rarely leaves the house, reading books in his wife’s former room. Ivleev visits his son to find out the secret. He looks around the room and books, and he finds a book with the title “The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Mutually Loved.”

Ivleev, when he found the book, he realized that “The Grammar of Love” is a prayer book. He buys the book at a high price. The story of Khvoshchinsky became an example, a part of Ivleev’s life.

Bunin in his work shows that love is the most valuable thing in life. Such love is high and significant. As in other works of Bunin, love does not last, it is eternal, it is fleeting, but is kept in the heart.

For Khvoshchinsky, love has become the meaning of life, he lets this bright feeling into his life. That is why his life became happier, more sacred, more joyful. In the book that Ivleev found, there were notes from the owner, his story and a grammar of love. Thus, the author shows that Khvoschinsky acquires the spiritual meaning of life

Option 2

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is an outstanding writer who was interested in the theme of love. He devoted many of his works to questions about: what does this sublime feeling mean? What is its duration? And the creator’s thoughts poured out into a short story called “The Grammar of Love.”

This book tells the story of the hero Ivlev, who inadvertently finds himself in the ruined estate of one owner who has left this world. The son of the owner of the house is selling all the things that once belonged to Khvoshchinsky’s father and his beloved Lushka. The owner “was obsessed with love for her all his life,” but since he was a nobleman, he was not supposed to take a serf as his wife. And the son turned out to be illegitimate.

After the birth of a wonderful baby, his mother drowned herself, and Khvoshchinsky, closing himself off from the whole world, sat down in a room where he instilled a passion for literature. To forget from the painful grief, to drown out the feeling of guilt in front of his beloved, the character bought wedding candles and did not part with the wedding ring for the rest of his life. Love sank so deeply into his heart that he realized how painful it was to lose someone close to you. Bunin shows that there is a place for love in life, it must be, otherwise people will live their lives in vain, simply useless.

The main character, when visiting an unusual place, notices on a shelf a small book called “The Grammar of Love,” which the landowner’s son is ready to sell for a large sum of money, despite the fact that this creation was very expensive and valuable to his lovers. They put a book under their pillow and constantly turned to it.

Thus, the writer says that “love is not a simple episode in our life,” for this wonderful feeling is fleeting, fleeting. Love has a sad way of ending. It ultimately has a tragic end, but this is not a reason not to fall in love, not to discover a warm feeling. Love is amazing because the minutes spent with the person you love are priceless. The wonderful world that you create around yourself, even for a moment, gives light, hope, and pleasant memories. This is all worth waking up to every day for. “You have to live, you have to love, you have to believe,” as Leo Tolstoy said. Let the feeling not last forever, even if it ultimately brings pain and suffering, but the important thing is that you have to face it, experience it for yourself, try to taste life! Therefore, Bunin, despite the tragic end, believes that love is the meaning of life, thanks to which the world becomes more interesting and beautiful!

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How do you understand the title of the story?

(The word “grammar” is from the scientific lexicon. The words in the title of the story are paradoxically connected. This expression can be considered an oxymoron. Translated from Greek, grammar is “the art of reading and writing letters.” Bunin’s story talks about the art of love, although some of the author’s irony: is it possible to learn to love from a textbook?)

What do we know about Khvoshchinsky’s life from the words of his landowner neighbors?

(He was poor, considered an eccentric, “all his life he was obsessed with love for his maid Lushka,” “he idolized her.”)

What role did Lushka play in Ivlev’s fate?

(Ivlev recalls the impression Khvoshchinsky’s story made on him as a child. He was “almost in love” with the “legendary Lushka.”)

What does Ivlev think when he learns about Khvoshchinsky’s death?

(Having learned that Khvoschinsky had died, Ivlev definitely wanted to look at the “empty sanctuary of the mysterious Lushka.” He was worried about the question: “What kind of person was this Khvoschinsky? Crazy or just some kind of stunned, all-focused soul?”.)

What motivates Ivlev’s visit to Khvoshchinskoye?

(It was indecent to stop by Khvoshchinsky’s house out of idle curiosity. Ivlev said that he would like to look at, and maybe buy, the library left by the deceased.)

Why doesn’t Bunin give a portrait of Ivlev, but describes Lushka’s son in detail?

(Ivlev is the narrator, an almost neutral person in this story. It is said about him at the very beginning: “Someone Ivlev.” The writer is interested not so much in appearance as in the thoughts and experiences of the narrator. The portrait of young Khvoshchinsky is an indirect portrait of his mother, Lushka, who, as they said, “she was not at all good-looking." Most likely, the author identifies common features of the appearance of mother and son. The son was “black, with beautiful eyes and very pretty, although his face was pale and mottled with freckles, like a bird’s egg.”)

What role does this portrait play in the story?

(Freckles on the face speak of the hero’s common origin. The main thing is not only beautiful eyes, but also good looks. Further in the story, a maxim from the book “Grammar of Love” is given: A beautiful woman should occupy the second level; the first belongs to a lovely woman. This is done the mistress of our heart: before we give an account of her to ourselves, our heart becomes a slave of love forever...” Apparently, this prettiness is the secret of Lushka, it is she who is a “dear woman.”)

Do you agree with the expression: “A beautiful woman should occupy the second level; the first one belongs to a nice woman”?

(Discussion in class.)

What details play an important role in the story?

(Firstly, the hero sees wedding candles, a symbol of eternal, unquenchable love. Khvoshchinsky could not marry a serf, but with all his soul he wanted this marriage. Wedding candles are a symbol of the union of a man and a woman, enshrined and sanctified by the church.

Secondly, the writer draws our attention to books from Khvoshchinsky’s library: “The Sworn Tract”, “Morning Star and Night Demons”, “Reflections on the Mysteries of the Universe”, “A Wonderful Journey to a Magical Land”, The Newest Dream Book.” The titles of the books reveal to Ivleva “what that lonely soul fed on, which forever shut itself away from the world in this closet and only recently left it...”.

Thirdly, Lushka’s necklace plays an important role - “a bunch of cheap blue balls that look like stone ones.” When looking at this necklace, Ivlev was overcome with such excitement that his eyes began to ripple with his heartbeat.”)

What is the content of “The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Mutually Loved”?

(The book consists of short, elegant, sometimes very precise maxims “about love; in addition, it is about “explaining the language of flowers.” Much in this book is underlined by Khvoshchinsky’s hand, and on a free page is written a quatrain he himself composed.)

What is the value of the “tiny book” “The Grammar of Love”?

(“The tiny book that gives the title to the story itself is the most important detail. The son of Khvoschinsky and Lushka refuses to sell it because it is “very expensive.” It’s not about the price, the son says: “They (that is, his father) even under the pillow they kept it for themselves...” The value of the booklet lies in the fact that it became dear to Ivlev himself, he bought it at an expensive price as a shrine.)

What allows us to conclude that the image of Lushka truly becomes a shrine?

(The story persistently repeats words from religious vocabulary, expressions that speak of the legendary character of Lushka: Khvoshchinsky “attributed literally everything that happened in the world to Lushka’s influence: a thunderstorm sets in - it’s Lushka who sends a thunderstorm, war is declared - that means Lushka decided so, a crop failure happened - the men did not please Lushka...”; Ivlev sees “God’s tree” in the place where, according to legend, Lushka drowned; it seems to him that “Lushka lived and died not twenty years ago, but almost in time immemorial” ; the book “Grammar of Love” looks like a prayer book; leaving Khvoshchinsky’s estate, Ivlev remembers Lushka, her necklace and experiences a feeling “similar to what he once experienced in an Italian town when looking at the relics of a saint.”

Thanks to this technique, Lushka’s life becomes like a hagiography, and her image is almost deified.)

What kind of person is this Khvoshchinsky - really crazy or someone who has the talent to love?

(We discuss the question in class.)

What can love do to everyday human life?

(This problematic question is designed for the moral experience of high school students. In the story, love turns life into “some kind of ecstatic life.” Life with a beloved becomes “sweet devotion,” life without her becomes a service to that holy image that remains in memory.)

Who do you think is the main character of the story? (Discussion in class.)

(The main character is Khvoschinsky. His soul was illuminated by fantastic love for many years. Let us note that the author spoke about a landowner “obsessed with love for one of his serfs.”

Maybe the main character is Lushka? After all, it was she who took the “first step” in Khvoshchinsky’s life and determined his fate.

It is likely that the main character is Ivlev himself. The love story of the landowner Khvoshchinsky and his serf Lushka influenced Ivlev from childhood. In his mind, Lushka became “legendary.” At the end of the story, he thinks: “She entered my life forever!” Someone else's love story became part of Ivlev's life.)

What understanding of love is embodied in this story?

(For Bunin, love is a great value. It is always pure and chaste. But the writer does not paint a picture of family well-being: a person can only count on a moment of happiness. However, this moment remains in the soul forever.

The hero of the story, Ivlev, only came into contact with an extraordinary and tragic love story. He never saw Lushka, never saw Khvoshchinsky, but their love, their fate acquired a significance much greater than a special case, they became a legend.)

III. Teacher's word

In the twenties, Bunin increasingly writes about love “as the highest gift of fate, and the more beautiful this gift, the more fleeting it is.” “If in works written before Sunstroke, love is tragic because it is not divided, it is lonely, but here its tragedy lies precisely in the fact that it is mutual - and too beautiful to last.” "Sunstroke" was written in 1925. Our task is to identify how the writer’s view of love changed in the twenties.

The work of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin undoubtedly constitutes one of the best pages of Russian literature. And although, not accepting Soviet power, he emigrated to the West and wrote almost all of his works there, for which he received the Nobel Prize, his works were and remain completely Russian in spirit.

The favorite theme of his work is rightfully considered the theme of love. Bunin began to create works about her at the beginning of his writing career, but later collected his best short stories into the famous cycle “Dark Alleys”. The constant reference to this topic was sometimes impulsive - it was based on an unusual case. But all together these stories showed the versatility and diversity of love. But, perhaps, the very first work about love can be considered the story “The Grammar of Love” (1915), to which the analysis will be devoted.

The very title of the story is paradoxical: the word “grammar” is translated from Greek as “the art of reading and writing letters.” Thus, the grammar of love is perceived as a kind of oxymoron, that is, “the combination of incompatible things.” On the other hand, such a title seems to contain the author’s irony: is it really possible to learn to love from some textbooks?

The plot of the story is quite simple: “a certain Ivlev,” as the author briefly calls him, accidentally ends up in a bankrupt estate. Her owner, the landowner Khvoshchinsky, had died shortly before, leaving behind unusual rumors about himself as a district eccentric who had a brilliant future and career ahead of him, but “suddenly this love, this Lushka, fell upon him,” which ultimately became the meaning of his entire future life. Khvoshchinsky fell in love with his maid Lushka, “all his life he was obsessed with love for her,” but, being a nobleman, he could not marry a serf.

After the birth of her son, Lushka, according to legend, drowned herself, and Khvoshchinsky locked himself in the room where Lushka once lived, and spent the rest of his life as a recluse, reading books. Apparently, in order to drown out the oppressive feeling of guilt before himself, he purchased wedding candles and even wore a wedding ring all his life.

Having learned about the death of Khvoshchinsky, Ivlev decides to stop by his estate to look at the “empty sanctuary of Lushka.” Not knowing how to explain the purpose of his visit, he asks Khvoshchinsky’s son, a very handsome young man, “black, with beautiful eyes,” to look at the library left by his father. It is important for the hero to decide for himself: “What kind of person was this Khvoshchinsky? A madman or some kind of single-minded soul?”

The books turn out to have very specific content: “The Morning Star and the Night Demons”, “Reflections on the Mysteries of the Universe”, “The Sworn Tract”. It becomes clear to the hero “what fed that lonely soul that forever shut itself away from the world in this closet.” But only one “tiny” book attracts Ivlev’s attention. It was “The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Mutually Loved,” published almost a hundred years ago. It consisted of small discussions about love, some were underlined by Khvoshchinsky's hand, and he, according to his son, kept it under his pillow at night.

Ivlev understands that for this man Lushka has become a shrine. He explained everything that happened in this world as “Lushkin’s influence.” And it seems that Lushka died almost immemorial. Ivlev buys the “Grammar of Love”, which has almost become a prayer book, for an expensive price, and remembering Lushkin’s simple necklace - “from the bottom of cheap blue balls”, he experiences the same thing that he once experienced in an ancient Italian city, looking at the relics of a saint.

It is then that it becomes clear to the reader that Ivlev is the main character of the story. The story of the landowner Khvoshchinsky and his beloved Lushka shocked him as a child. In his mind, she became a legend. But seeing this sacred place with his own eyes, he understands that a seemingly alien love story has become a part of his life.

Thus, the story emphasizes that love is a great value. She is sublime, pure and chaste. But the reader will not see a picture of family well-being, as often happens with Bunin, because a person can experience happiness only for a moment, but this moment will remain in the soul forever.