Light Breathing

About the work

The story opens in a cemetery, at a cross bearing the photograph of the schoolgirl Olya Meshcherskaya - beautiful, carefree and full of life. Bunin reconstructs her short story not in order but through separate episodes. A brief text about youth, beauty and what remains after a person is gone.

Contents

1. IChapter 1

How it was written

Bunin wrote the story in 1916, and it was published the same year.

Context

The story is set in a provincial town in pre-revolutionary Russia. It is very short but dense: the order of the episodes and the recurring details matter.

Interesting facts

• The psychologist Lev Vygotsky analysed the story's composition in detail in his book The Psychology of Art.