8 h 1 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when two brothers seek different escapes from a village neither can leave behind?
In Durnovka, hunger, drink and old cruelties shape daily life. Tikhon Krasov, a shopkeeper and innkeeper, trusts money, work and caution to protect him from the poverty he knows. His younger brother, Kuzma, reads and writes verse, searching instead for meaning. They share a beginning, but their hopes pull them along opposite roads.
Around them, the old order loses its hold. News of the unrest of 1905 reaches the village in scraps and rumors, bringing a wider crisis close to home. In The Village, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin looks beneath shops, weddings and quarrels to ask how poverty, ignorance and inherited cruelty shape both ordinary people and a nation.
What you’ll discover
- Brothers on opposite roads Follow Tikhon and Kuzma as money and meaning offer different answers to the same hard beginnings.
- Country life without comfort Enter Durnovka, where neighbors, rivals and drinkers reveal a countryside stripped of reassuring illusions.
- Unrest at the door Feel the uncertainty as scraps of news bring Russia’s wider turmoil into village life.
- A nation in daily life Explore Bunin’s suggestion that a country’s troubles take root in everyday poverty and cruelty.
- A poet’s close attention Discover plain, closely observed storytelling that leaves you room to judge what you see.
Who will love it
For readers who love unsparing realism, Russian history, and fiction about families and class. It also rewards anyone curious about Bunin before his later stories.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A village that shapes everyone in it
- Tikhon builds a life on money
- Kuzma searches for something more
- The unrest of 1905 reaches Durnovka
- What the novel says about a nation
- A cold eye and a poet's ear
Who’s who
- Tikhon KrasovThe elder brother, a shopkeeper and innkeeper who rose from poverty and trusts only money, work and caution.
- Kuzma KrasovThe younger brother, a restless reader and writer of verse who questions everything and struggles to find a settled place.
- The villagers of DurnovkaPeasants, drinkers, neighbors and rivals whose habits, fears and hopes make up the world the brothers cannot leave.
- The Durnovo estateThe fading landowners' house nearby, a sign of a gentry order that has lost its hold on the land.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 8 h 1 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear La aldea in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
La aldea
by Iván Alekséievich Bunin · 1910
Two brothers chase money and meaning in a poor Russian village as the unrest of 1905 reaches their doors.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
The Village is a short novel by Ivan Bunin, published in Russia in 1910. Bunin was a poet and storyteller from a fading landowning family, and he wrote it after years of watching country life from close by.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A village that shapes everyone in it
The story is set in Durnovka, a poor village in central Russia. The name suggests the word for foolish or bad, and the place earns it. Huts lean in the mud, fields are worked by hungry families, and the nearby estate of the Durnovo landowners has long since lost its old glory. The village is not a background. It acts almost like a character that presses on every person who lives there.
Bunin opens with the feel of the place more than with a plot. We meet a world where winters are long, roads vanish, and the same few names circle through the same quarrels. Peasants drink, fight, steal and pity themselves, and many of them also show sudden kindness. Nothing is made pretty, yet nothing is mocked for cheap effect.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about La aldea
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Village by Bunin about?
It follows two brothers, Tikhon and Kuzma Krasov, in the poor Russian village of Durnovka around the time of the 1905 unrest. It shows peasant life, poverty and the doubts of a country close to upheaval.
When was The Village by Ivan Bunin written?
Bunin published it in 1910, a few years after the 1905 revolution. It is fiction, but it draws on his close knowledge of country life in central Russia.
Who are Tikhon and Kuzma in The Village?
They are brothers. Tikhon is a practical shopkeeper and innkeeper who values money and order. Kuzma is a dreamer and writer of verse who questions the world and cannot settle.
The author
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin
1870–1953 · Russian novelist and poet
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was a Russian writer and poet born in Voronezh in 1870. He wrote poetry, short stories and novels. His novel The Village appeared in 1910. He left Russia in 1920 and lived in France. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933 and died in Paris in 1953.
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
