In this article, on the material of I. Bunin's travel essays "The Shadow of a Bird", the use of Quranic motifs and reminiscences, considered in the context of the artist's receptive aesthetics, can be traced. The article analyzes the specifics of the embodiment of the reminiscences of the Holy Scripture, emphasizes the importance of I. Bunin's use of this text, and clarifies the features of the embodiment of the meanings of the Quran in the aesthetic heritage of the writer. The methodology of the analysis is determined by the theory of a system-conceptual approach to the material being studied, which makes it possible to consider the cycle of essays by I.A. Bunin not just as examples of oriental creativity, but as a phenomenon that forms a new approach to solving this topic.