The problem of gender identity in the novel “Easy Breathing” by I. Bunin

Abstract

Avtor članka dvomi o normativni spolnosti likov romana Ivana A. Bunina Lahkotno dihanje in njihovo nedoločeno psiho-spolno identiteto prikazuje skozi prizmo naukov Vasilija V. Rozanova o mesečnih ljudeh. Psihofiziološke značilnosti in negativne izkušnje vedenja na ravni spolne vloge namreč povzročajo zmedo binarnih nasprotij in močan duhovni kolaps posameznikov, kar v enem primeru vodi v smrt mladega dekleta, v drugem pa do duševnega trpljenja odrasle ženske. Spolna privlačnost, v lezbični dvojici poosebljena v ljubezni in strasti, vodi v osebnostno krizo, ki vključuje protislovja na psihološki, socialni in moralni ravni.

In the article, the author questions the normative sexuality of the heroes of I. Bunin’s short story “Easy Breathing”, and shows their indefinite psychogender identity through the prism of V. Rozanov’s teachings about the people of the “moonlight”. The psychophysiological characteristics and negative experience of gender-role behaviour provoke a mixture of binary oppositions and a powerful spiritual collapse of individuals, which, in one case, leads to the death of a young girl, and in the other, to the mental suffering of an adult woman. Sexual attraction, personified in a lesbian dyad in love and passion, leads to a personal crisis, which entails contradictions in psychological, social and moral aspects.