The first English translation of Bunin's scathing account of the last days of the Russian master in his homeland a work banned during the years of Soviet power. Bunin, one of the last of the gentry tradition of Russian literature, describes his pain and suffering in witnessing the takeover of his country by the Bolsheviks and the chaos of civil war, and his fears for the devastation of patriarchal Russian culture. An introduction and notes are provided by translator Thomas Gaiton Marullo (Russian and Russian Literature, U. of Notre Dame). Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.