Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin (1870-1953)
Working on his memoirs. 1945
Autograph postcard signed to Vladimir Mikhailovich Zenzinov, 1 rue Jacques Offenbach, Paris, 4 August 1945.

In Russian. One page, 148 x 103mm.

Working on his memoirs: 'a new book, terribly interesting and very, very necessary especially now'. Bunin praises Zenzinov's 'marvellous book about the dog' [i.e. his narrative Nena (1925) recounting his exile in Yakutiya], mentions his definitive departure from Grasse ('which we abandoned forever on 1 May'), and his literary activity, 'writing a new book, terribly interesting and very, very necessary especially now'. He complains that Zenzinov has not 'written a single word about yourself: how are you, what are you planning?', and asks him to send an early issue of the postwar periodical New Review, which contains an article by Zenzinov about him.

The 'new book' to which Bunin refers is his scathing Memoirs, published in 1950. The Bunins' primary French home had been in Grasse since the early 1920s, and they lived there throughout the war years: however, they returned to their Paris apartment in May 1945, and with only brief exceptions Bunin was to remain in the French capital for the rest of his life. The recipient, V.M. Zenzinov (1880-1953), was a revolutionary in his early years, but his opposition to the Bolsheviks forced him into exile in successively China, Berlin, Paris and, from 1940, New York, where this postcard is directed.

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