The Gentleman from San Francisco (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Ivan Bunin
- First Published: 1915
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The early 1910's
- Setting: Italy
- Principal Characters: The gentleman, The gentleman's wife, The gentleman's daughter
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Traveling or travelers, Death or dying, Greed, Business or business people, Corruption, Materialism, Heart attack or disease, Princes or princesses
- Locales: Italy
The Story
This short work has a deceptively simple plot: A rich American businessperson travels with his family to Europe for a vacation and dies suddenly of a heart attack on the island of Capri. He then returns home in a coffin on the same ship on which he went to Europe. However, over the sparse frame of this plot, Ivan Bunin weaves an elaborate narrative fabric richly textured with subtle counterpoint and evocative detail. Some critics have interpreted the tale as an indictment of Western capitalism, but such an evaluation is inadequate. Through his title character, Bunin...
[The entire page is 1502 words long]
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