Ivan Bunin: The Gentleman from San Francisco

The short story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" is a parable about the insignificance of wealth and power in the face of death. At the center of the narrative is an American millionaire—we never learn his name until the very end of the story. He decides to take a vacation and travels by steamship to Italy with his family. Will his dreams come true? Or will fate decide to take its own course?

The collection also includes novellas and short stories about the psychology of the Russian people, the fading life of noble estates, the customs of the Russian countryside, and, of course, love. Love in Bunin’s works always ends in loss. Only moments of love are possible—followed by an inevitable, destructive fall when idealistic youthful notions are shattered upon contact with real life.

Author: Ivan Bunin

Pages: 448 (offset). Hardcover

Dimensions: 125x200 mm

Series: Bright Pages