POETRY AND PROSE IN I. A. BUNIN'S BOOK THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN

Drawing on the contents of Bunin's book of poems and travel sketches, The Temple of the Sun (1917), this article analyses the relationship and mutual influence of poetry and prose in his writing. At the upper level, it is a matter of direct textual repetitions and visual parallels in the registers of prose and poetry in Bunin's presentation of identical impressions he received during his journeys through the Middle East. At the same time, particular attention is paid to the functional re-targetting of artistic techniques: to the << prosaic >> nature of Bunin's lyrics and his adoption in prose of methods of expressing the author's attitude and of describing things that are traditionally associated with poetry. This mutual penetration of the poetic and prosaic domains is explained by the special features of Bunin's personal outlook, according to which all verbal creativity had its source in the element of life he regarded as poetic.