A Cold Autumn, by Ivan Bunin

Ivan Bunin on the Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Bunin

Recent book in Spanish: http://www.acantilado.es/catalogo/dias-malditos/

Some good writers, even writers with a Nobel Prize, are sometimes out of fashion. It all depens on the market, and not on the quality of their texts. All of a sudden you discover an author and you want to read some books by them, but, what happens? It happens that is very difficult to find their books, or their books are old books and their editions not updated any more. I think Ivan Bunin is a typical case of this situation.

His short story is a very odd story: it doesn't have a regular chronological rhythm: at the beginning all it's very slow; then, at the middle of it, thirty years pass by in a single paragraph, and, after all the adventures, only a single afternoon remains. 

At the end of our lives, what is going to remain? What is the thing, the deed, that would make us able to say about life: "it's worth it"?

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE READING

What happened on the 15th of June? What year was it?
Who is the person who tells the story?
What is the meaning of "her son to be" in the context of the story?
In all the story you can breath sadness. Say some sentence, phrase, word, image that makes you feel that sadness. For example: "an early and cold autumn".
Why do you think that the boy prefers going in the morning?
The girl is frightened at her own thought "Suppose he realy is killed..." Why?
What was in the little bag her mum has been sewing for him? Why fateful?
What do you think this sentence mean: "not knowing what to do with myself, wether I should sob or sing at the top of my voice"?
What was the protagonist doing 30 years after her boyfriend's death?
Who did she get married to?
Then it happened a lot of things to her in quick succession: what things?
At the end, only a memory remains with all its strength inside her: what was it?

VOCABULARY

estate ≠ state
gather = meet
innermost = deep inside
gaze = look at
set off = leave, go away
game of patience = game of cards where you play alone
linger = wander waiting for nothing
Fet = Afanassin Fet (1820-1872), Russian poet.
    stand out = be more visible that the rest
<<< Swiss cloak
    jerky = nervous
    hoarfrost = ice on objects after a night of freezing weather
    Galicia = Galitzia = a region between Poland and Ukraine
    moth = little insect that eats clothes
    Arbat, Smolensk = markets in Moscow

GENERAL QUESTION:

Name-day: do you celebrate it? Why (yes/no)?

Love, by William Maxwell

William Maxwell on the Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Keepers_Maxwell_Jr.

As you can read on the Wikipedia, William Maxwell wasn't a typical celebrity with a lot of entries on Google. We know he was a fine scholar, editor and writer. There are no adaptations of his books for the cinema, so he's not a "celebrity" in the current sense. But the most important things for a writer are his writings, so let's read his short story and enjoy it.

QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU WITH THE READING

Who was the protagonist? What did she do?
What was she like and what did she look like?
How do you know she was a good teacher?
What mischief by the pupils did the text mention?
What present did the pupils give her for her birthday?
How did they celebrate it?
Why didn't she come to school one day?
Who was the substitute?
How did the pupils behave with the new teacher?
What did Miss Brown home look like?
What is the meaning of "She belonged to the illness"?
And what does it mean: "The angel who watches over little boys (who know, but they can't say it) saw to it that we didn't touch anything"?

What did the teacher died of? How old was she?
How did the boy find Miss Brown tomb?

TOPICS TO DEVELOP

What were your school days like? Anecdotes, mates, teachers, subjects...

VOCABULARY

flawlessly = perfectly

< oval Palmer method

call the roll = read out the list of pupils to see if they are in class

snicker = laugh silently

< aster = kind of flower

worm out = discover

< sweet pea = another kind of flower

Happy Returns = Happy Birthday

matinée = session (in a cinema...,) in the morning or early in the afternoon

crane one's neck = try to see a thing, e.g. far away or over a fence

weather-beaten = spent much time in the open air, very cold or very hot

dim = not clear

cinder road = lava gravel road

faucet (USA English) = tap (British English)