Nikolai Alekseevich Leskov short biography. “Cruel works” about Russian society
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov. Born on February 4 (February 16), 1831, the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol district, Oryol province - died on February 21 (March 5), 1895, St. Petersburg. Russian writer.
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born on February 4, 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol district (now the village of Staroe Gorokhovo, Sverdlovsk district, Oryol region).
Leskov's father, Semyon Dmitrievich Leskov (1789-1848), came from a spiritual background. Having broken with the spiritual environment, he entered the service of the Oryol Criminal Chamber, where he rose to ranks that gave him the right to hereditary nobility, and, according to contemporaries, acquired a reputation as an astute investigator capable of unraveling complex cases.
Mother, Maria Petrovna Leskova (nee Alfereva) (1813-1886) was the daughter of an impoverished Moscow nobleman. One of her sisters was married to a wealthy Oryol landowner, the other to a wealthy Englishman.
The younger brother, Alexey, (1837-1909) became a doctor and had an academic degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences.
N. S. Leskov spent his early childhood in Orel. After 1839, when the father left the service (due to a quarrel with his superiors, which, according to Leskov, incurred the wrath of the governor), the family - his wife, three sons and two daughters - moved to the village of Panino (Panin Khutor) not far from the city Kromy. Here, as the future writer recalled, his knowledge of the people began.
In August 1841, at the age of ten, Leskov entered the first grade of the Oryol provincial gymnasium, where he studied poorly: five years later he received a certificate of completion of only two classes.
In June 1847, Leskov joined the Oryol Criminal Chamber of the Criminal Court, where his father worked, as a 2nd class clerical officer. After the death of his father from cholera (in 1848), Nikolai Semenovich received another promotion, becoming an assistant to the head of the Oryol Chamber of the Criminal Court, and in December 1849, at his own request, he was transferred to the staff of the Kiev Treasury Chamber. He moved to Kyiv, where he lived with his uncle S.P. Alferyev.
In Kyiv (1850-1857) Leskov attended lectures at the university as a volunteer, studied Polish language, became interested in icon painting, took part in a religious and philosophical student circle, communicated with pilgrims, Old Believers, and sectarians.
In 1857, Leskov left the service and began working in the company of his aunt’s husband A. Ya. Shcott (Scott) “Schcott and Wilkens”. In the enterprise, which, in his words, tried to “exploit everything for which the region offered any convenience,” Leskov acquired vast practical experience and knowledge in numerous areas of industry and agriculture. At the same time, on company business, Leskov constantly went on “wanderings around Russia,” which also contributed to his acquaintance with the language and life of different regions of the country.
During this period (until 1860) he lived with his family in the village of Nikolo-Raisky, Gorodishchensky district, Penza province and in Penza. Here he first put pen to paper.
In 1859, when a wave of “drinking riots” swept across the Penza province, as well as throughout Russia, Nikolai Semenovich wrote “Essays on the distillery industry ( Penza province)", published in Otechestvennye zapiski. This work is not only about distillery production, but also about agriculture, which, according to him, in the province is “far from flourishing,” and peasant cattle breeding is “in complete decline.”
Some time later, however, trading house ceased to exist, and Leskov returned to Kyiv in the summer of 1860, where he took up journalism and literary activity. Six months later he moved to St. Petersburg, staying with.
Leskov began publishing relatively late - in the twenty-sixth year of his life, having published several notes in the newspaper “St. Petersburg Vedomosti” (1859-1860), several articles in Kyiv publications “ Modern medicine”, which was published by A.P. Walter (article “On the working class”, several notes about doctors) and “Economic Index”.
Leskov’s articles, which exposed the corruption of police doctors, led to a conflict with his colleagues: as a result of the provocation they organized, Leskov, who conducted an internal investigation, was accused of bribery and was forced to leave the service.
At the beginning of his literary career, N. S. Leskov collaborated with many St. Petersburg newspapers and magazines, most of all publishing in “Otechestvennye zapiski” (where he was patronized by his familiar Oryol publicist S. S. Gromeko), in “Russian speech” and “Northern Bee” .
In "Domestic Notes" were published “Essays on the distillery industry (Penza province)”, which Leskov himself called his first work), considered his first major publication.
Nicknames of Nikolai Leskov: At the beginning of his creative activity, Leskov wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. The pseudonymous signature “Stebnitsky” first appeared on March 25, 1862, under the first fictional work, “The Extinguished Case” (later “Drought”). It lasted until August 14, 1869. At times the signatures “M. S", "S", and finally, in 1872, "L. S", "P. Leskov-Stebnitsky" and "M. Leskov-Stebnitsky." Among other conventional signatures and pseudonyms used by Leskov, the following are known: “Freishitz”, “V. Peresvetov”, “Nikolai Ponukalov”, “Nikolai Gorokhov”, “Someone”, “Dm. M-ev”, “N.”, “Member of Society”, “Psalmist”, “Priest. P. Kastorsky", "Divyanka", "M. P.", "B. Protozanov", "Nikolai-ov", "N. L.", "N. L.--v”, “Lover of Antiquities”, “Traveler”, “Watch Lover”, “N. L.", "L."
From the beginning of 1862 N. S. Leskov became permanent employee newspaper “Northern Bee”, where he began to write both editorials and essays, often on everyday, ethnographic topics, but also critical articles directed, in particular, against “vulgar materialism” and nihilism. His work was highly praised on the pages of the then Sovremennik.
Writing career N. S. Leskova began in 1863, his first stories were published "The Life of a Woman" And "Musk Ox"(1863-1864). At the same time, the novel began to be published in the magazine “Library for Reading”. "Nowhere"(1864). “This novel bears all the signs of my haste and ineptitude,” the writer himself later admitted.
“Nowhere,” which satirically depicted the life of a nihilistic commune, which was contrasted with the hard work of the Russian people and Christian family values, aroused the displeasure of the radicals. It was noted that most of the “nihilists” depicted by Leskov had recognizable prototypes (the writer V. A. Sleptsov was guessed in the image of the head of the Beloyartsev commune).
It is this first novel - in politically radical debut - for many years predetermined Leskov’s special place in the literary community, which, for the most part, was inclined to attribute to him “reactionary”, anti-democratic views. The left-wing press actively spread rumors according to which the novel was written “commissioned” by the Third Section. This “vile slander,” according to the writer, ruined his entire creative life, depriving him of the opportunity to publish in popular magazines for many years. This predetermined his rapprochement with M. N. Katkov, publisher of the Russian Messenger.
In 1863, the magazine “Library for Reading” published the story “The Life of a Woman” (1863). During the writer’s lifetime, the work was not republished and was then published only in 1924 in a modified form under the title “Cupid in Shoes. Peasant novel"(Vremya publishing house, edited by P. V. Bykov).
In the same years, Leskov’s works were published, "Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district» (1864), "Warrior"(1866) - stories, mainly of a tragic sound, in which the author brought out bright female images different classes. Almost ignored by modern criticism, they subsequently received the highest ratings from specialists. It was in the first stories that Leskov’s individual humor manifested itself, and for the first time his unique style began to take shape, a type of tale, the ancestor of which, along with Gogol, he later began to be considered.
Elements of the literary style that made Leskov famous are also in the story "Kotin Doilets and Platonida"(1867). Around this time, N. S. Leskov made his debut as a playwright.
In 1867, the Alexandrinsky Theater staged his play "Waster", a drama from the life of a merchant, after which Leskov in Once again was accused by critics of “pessimism and antisocial tendencies.”
Of Leskov's other major works of the 1860s, critics noted the story "Bypassed"(1865), which polemicized with the novel “What is to be done?”, and "Islanders"(1866), a morally descriptive story about the Germans living on Vasilyevsky Island.
In 1870, N. S. Leskov published the novel "At Knives", in which he continued to angrily ridicule the nihilists, representatives of the revolutionary movement that was emerging in Russia in those years, which in the writer’s mind merged with criminality. Leskov himself was dissatisfied with the novel, subsequently calling it his worst work.
Some contemporaries (in particular) noted the complexity of the adventurous plot of the novel, the tension and implausibility of the events described in it. After that, to the genre of the novel in pure form N.S. Leskov never returned.
The novel “On Knives” was a turning point in the writer’s work. The main characters of Leskov's works were representatives of the Russian clergy, and partly of the local nobility. Scattered passages and essays gradually began to form into a large novel, which eventually received the title "Soborians" and published in 1872 in the Russian Bulletin.
Simultaneously with the novel, two “chronicles” were written, consonant in theme and mood with the main work: “Old Years in the Village of Plodomasovo” (1869) and “A Seedy Family” (full title: “A Seedy Family. Family chronicle of the Protazanov princes. From the notes of Princess V. D.P.", 1873). According to one critic, the heroines of both chronicles are “examples of persistent virtue, calm dignity, high courage, and reasonable philanthropy.”
One of the most striking images in the gallery of Leskov’s “righteous people” was Lefty ( “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea”, 1881). Subsequently, critics noted here, on the one hand, the virtuosity of the embodiment of Leskov’s “tale”, game-filled words and original neologisms (often with a mocking, satirical overtone), on the other hand, a multi-layered narrative, the presence of two points of view: “where the narrator constantly pursues one view, and the author inclines the reader to completely different, often opposite ones.”
In 1872, a story by N. S. Leskov was written and a year later published "Sealed Angel", which told about the miracle that led the schismatic community to unity with Orthodoxy. In the work, which contains echoes of ancient Russian “walkings” and legends about miraculous icons and was subsequently recognized as one of the writer’s best works, Leskov’s “tale” received the most powerful and expressive embodiment. “The Captured Angel” turned out to be practically the only work of the writer that was not subject to editorial editing by the Russian Messenger, because, as the writer noted, “it passed through their lack of leisure in the shadows.”
The same year the story was published "The Enchanted Wanderer", a work of free forms that did not have a complete plot, built on the interweaving of disparate plot lines. Leskov believed that such a genre should replace what was considered traditional modern novel. Subsequently, it was noted that the image of the hero Ivan Flyagin resembles the epic Ilya of Muromets and symbolizes “the physical and moral fortitude of the Russian people amid the suffering that befalls them.” Despite the fact that The Enchanted Wanderer criticized the dishonesty of the authorities, the story was a success in official spheres and even at court.
If until then Leskov’s works had been edited, this was simply rejected, and the writer had to publish it in different issues of the newspaper. Not only Katkov, but also “leftist” critics reacted with hostility to the story.
After the break with Katkov, the writer’s financial situation worsened. In January 1874, N. S. Leskov was appointed a member of the special department of the Academic Committee of the Ministry of Public Education for the review of books published for the people, with a very modest salary of 1000 rubles per year. Leskov’s duties included reviewing books to determine whether they could be sent to libraries and reading rooms. In 1875, he briefly went abroad without stopping his literary work.
In the 1890s, Leskov became even more sharply journalistic in his work than before: his stories and novellas in the last years of his life were sharply satirical in nature.
Printing of the novel in the magazine “Russian Thought” "Devil's Dolls", the prototypes of which were Nicholas I and the artist K. Bryullov, was suspended by censorship. Leskov was also unable to publish the story “Hare Remiz” - neither in Russian Thought, nor in Vestnik Evropy: it was published only after 1917. Not a single major later work of the writer (including the novels “Falcon Flight” and “Invisible Trace”) was published in full: the chapters rejected by censorship were published after the revolution.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov died on March 5 (old style - February 21), 1895 in St. Petersburg from another attack of asthma, which tormented him for the last five years of his life. Nikolai Leskov was buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Shortly before his death, in 1889-1893, Leskov compiled and published A. S. Suvorin’s “Complete Works” in 12 volumes (republished in 1897 by A. F. Marx), which included most of his artistic works (moreover, in the first edition, volume 6 was not passed by the censor).
In 1902-1903, the printing house of A. F. Marx (as a supplement to the Niva magazine) published 36 languid meeting essays, in which the editors also tried to collect the writer’s journalistic heritage and which caused a wave of public interest in the writer’s work.
After the revolution of 1917, Leskov was declared a “reactionary, bourgeois-minded writer,” and his works on long years(the exception is the inclusion of 2 stories by the writer in the 1927 collection) were consigned to oblivion.
During the short Khrushchev thaw, Soviet readers finally got the opportunity to come into contact with Leskov’s work again - in 1956-1958, an 11-volume collection of the writer’s works was published, which, however, is not complete: for ideological reasons, the most harsh in tone was not included in it the anti-nihilistic novel “On Knives”, and journalism and letters are presented in a very limited volume (volumes 10-11).
During the years of stagnation, attempts were made to publish short collected works and separate volumes with Leskov’s works, which did not cover the areas of the writer’s work associated with religious and anti-nihilistic themes (the chronicle “Soborians”, the novel “Nowhere”), and which were supplied with extensive tendentious comments.
In 1989, the first collected works of Leskov - also in 12 volumes - were republished in the Ogonyok Library.
For the first time, a truly complete (30-volume) collected works of the writer began to be published by the Terra publishing house in 1996. In addition to this edition famous works it is planned to include all found, previously unpublished articles, stories and novellas of the writer.
Nikolay Leskov - life and legacy
Personal life of Nikolai Leskov:
In 1853, Leskov married the daughter of a Kyiv merchant, Olga Vasilievna Smirnova. This marriage produced a son, Dmitry (died in infancy) and a daughter, Vera.
Leskov’s family life was unsuccessful: his wife Olga Vasilievna suffered from mental illness and in 1878 was admitted to the St. Nicholas Hospital in St. Petersburg, on the Pryazhka River. Its chief physician was the well-known psychiatrist O. A. Chechott, and its trustee was the famous S. P. Botkin.
In 1865, Leskov entered into a civil marriage with the widow Ekaterina Bubnova (née Savitskaya), and in 1866 their son Andrei was born.
His son, Yuri Andreevich (1892-1942) became a diplomat, and together with his wife, née Baroness Medem, settled in France after the revolution. Their daughter, the only great-granddaughter of the writer, Tatyana Leskova (born 1922) is a ballerina and teacher who made a significant contribution to the formation and development of Brazilian ballet.
In 2001 and 2003, visiting the Leskov house-museum in Orel, she donated family heirlooms to its collection - the Lyceum badge and Lyceum rings of her father.
He was a supporter of vegetarianism.
Vegetarianism influenced the life and work of the writer, especially from the moment he met Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in April 1887 in Moscow.
In 1889, the newspaper “Novoye Vremya” published a note by Leskov entitled “About vegetarians, or compassionate people and meat-eaters,” in which the writer described those vegetarians who do not eat meat for “hygienic reasons” and contrasted them with “compassionate people” - those , who follows vegetarianism out of “their feeling of pity.” People respect only “compassionate people,” wrote Leskov, “who do not eat meat, not because they consider it unhealthy, but out of pity for the animals being killed.
The history of a vegetarian cookbook in Russia begins with N. S. Leskov’s call to create such a book in Russian. This writer’s call was published in June 1892 in the newspaper “New Time” under the title “On the need to publish in Russian a well-written, detailed cookbook for vegetarians.” Leskov argued the need to publish such a book by the “significant” and “ever-increasing” number of vegetarians in Russia, who, unfortunately, still do not have books with vegetarian recipes in their native language.
Leskov’s call evoked numerous mocking remarks in the Russian press, and critic V.P. Burenin in one of his feuilletons created a parody of Leskov, calling him “benevolent Avva.” Responding to this kind of slander and attacks, Leskov writes that the “absurdity” of not eating animal flesh was “invented” long before Vl. Solovyov and L.N. Tolstoy, and refers not only to “ great amount» unknown vegetarians, but also to names known to everyone, such as Zoroaster, Sakiya-Muni, Xenocrates, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Socrates, Epicurus, Plato, Seneca, Ovid, Juvenal, John Chrysostom, Byron, Lamartine and many others.
A year after Leskov’s call, the first vegetarian cookbook in Russian was published in Russia.
Harassment and ridicule from the press did not intimidate Leskov: he continued to publish notes on vegetarianism and repeatedly addressed this phenomenon of Russian cultural life in his works.
Novels by Nikolai Leskov:
Nowhere (1864)
Bypassed (1865)
Islanders (1866)
On Knives (1870)
Cathedralians (1872)
A seedy family (1874)
Devil's Dolls (1890)
Stories by Nikolai Leskov:
The Life of a Woman (1863)
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1864)
Warrioress (1866)
Old years in the village of Plodomasovo (1869)
Laughter and Sorrow (1871)
The Mysterious Man (1872)
The Sealed Angel (1872)
The Enchanted Wanderer (1873)
At the End of the World (1875)
Unbaptized Pop (1877)
Lefty (1881)
Jewish Somersault College (1882)
Pechersk Antiques (1882)
Interesting Men (1885)
Mountain (1888)
The Insulted Neteta (1890)
Midnighters (1891)
Stories by Nikolai Leskov:
Musk Ox (1862)
Peacock (1874)
Iron Will (1876)
Shameless (1877)
One-Head (1879)
Sheramur (1879)
Chertogon (1879)
Non-lethal Golovan (1880)
White Eagle (1880)
The Ghost in the Engineer's Castle (1882)
Darner (1882)
Travels with the Nihilist (1882)
Beast. A Yule Tale (1883)
Little Mistake (1883)
The Toupee Painter (1883)
Select Grain (1884)
Part-timers (1884)
Notes of an Unknown (1884)
Old Genius (1884)
Scarecrow (1885)
Vintage Psychopaths (1885)
The Man on the Clock (1887)
Robbery (1887)
Buffoon Pamphalon (1887) (the original title “God-loving Buffoon” was not passed by the censors)
Idle Dancers (1892)
Administrative Grace (1893)
Hare's Heald (1894)
Plays by Nikolai Leskov:
Biography and themes of creativity of Nikolai Leskov
Introduction
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov (4 (16<#"justify">Biography
Born on February 4 (16 NS) in the village of Gorokhov, Oryol province, in the family of an official of the criminal chamber, who came from the clergy. His childhood years were spent on the estate of the Strakhov relatives, then in Orel. After retiring, Leskov's father took up agriculture in the farmstead Panin, Kromsky district, which he acquired. In the Oryol wilderness, the future writer was able to see and learn a lot, which later gave him the right to say: “I did not study the people from conversations with St. Petersburg cab drivers... I grew up among the people... I was one of their own with the people... I was this people are closest to the priests..." In 1841 - 1846, Leskov studied at the Oryol gymnasium, which he failed to graduate: in his sixteenth year he lost his father, and the family's property was destroyed in a fire. Leskov entered the service of the Oryol Criminal Chamber of the Court, which gave him good material for future works.
In 1849, with the support of his uncle, Kyiv professor S. Alferyev, Leskov was transferred to Kyiv as an official of the treasury chamber. In the house of his uncle, mother's brother, professor of medicine, under the influence of progressive university professors, Leskov's ardent interest in Herzen, in the great poet of Ukraine Taras Shevchenko, in Ukrainian culture, he became interested in ancient painting and architecture of Kyiv, later becoming an outstanding expert on ancient Russian art.
In 1857, Leskov retired and entered private service in a large trading company, which was engaged in the resettlement of peasants to new lands and on whose business he traveled almost the entire European part of Russia.
Start literary activity Leskova dates back to 1860, when he first appeared as a progressive publicist. In January 1861 Leskov settled in St. Petersburg with the desire to devote himself to literary and journalistic activity. He began publishing in Otechestvennye zapiski.
Leskov came to Russian literature with a large stock of observations on Russian life, with sincere sympathy for the needs of the people, which was reflected in his stories “The Extinguished Cause” (1862), “The Robber”; in the stories “The Life of a Woman” (1863), “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” (1865).
In 1862, as a correspondent for the newspaper "Northern Bee", he visited Poland, Western Ukraine, and the Czech Republic. He wanted to get acquainted with the life, art and poetry of the Western Slavs, with whom he was very sympathetic. The trip ended with a visit to Paris. In the spring of 1863 Leskov returned to Russia.
Knowing the province well, its needs, human characters, details of everyday life and deep ideological currents, Leskov did not accept the calculations of “theorists” divorced from Russian roots. He speaks about this in the story “Musk Ox” (1863), in the novels “Nowhere” (1864), “Bypassed” (1865), “On Knives” (1870). They outline the theme of Russia’s unpreparedness for the revolution and tragic fate people who have connected their lives with the hope of its speedy fulfillment. Hence the disagreements with the revolutionary democrats.
In 1870 - 1880 Leskov overestimated a lot; acquaintance with Tolstoy has an impact on him big influence. National-historical issues appeared in his work: the novel “The Cathedral People” (1872), “A Seedy Family” (1874). During these years, he wrote several stories about artists: “The Islanders”, “The Captured Angel”.
The talent of the Russian man, the kindness and generosity of his soul always admired Leskov, and this theme found its expression in the stories “Lefty (The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea)” (1881), “The Stupid Artist” (1883), “The Man on hours" (1887).
Satire, humor and irony occupy a large place in Leskov’s legacy: “Selected Grain”, “Shameless”, “Idle Dancers”, etc. The story “Hare Remiz” was the last major work of the writer.
Leskov died in St. Petersburg.
Literary career
Leskov began publishing relatively late - in the twenty-sixth year of his life, having published several notes in the newspaper “St. Petersburg Vedomosti” (1859-1860), several articles in the Kiev publications “Modern Medicine”, which was published by A.P. Walter<#"justify">Pseudonyms of N. S. Leskov
At the beginning of his creative activity, Leskov wrote under the pseudonym<#"justify">Article about fires
In an article about the fires in the Northern Bee magazine dated May 30<#"center">democrat righteous reformer Leskov
"Nowhere"
From the beginning of 1862<#"justify">First stories
In 1863<#"justify">"At Knives"
In 1870<#"justify">"Soborians"
The novel “On Knives” was a turning point in the writer’s work. As M. Gorky noted<#"justify">"Lefty"
One of the most striking images in the gallery of Leskov’s “righteous people” was Lefty (“The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea”, 1881). Subsequently, critics noted here, on the one hand, the virtuosity of the embodiment of Leskov’s “tale”, full of wordplay and original neologisms (often with a mocking, satirical overtone), on the other hand, the multi-layered nature of the narrative, the presence of two points of view: open (belonging to the simple-minded character) and hidden , author's, often the opposite.
As biographer B. Ya. Bukhshtab noted, such “cunning” was manifested primarily in the description of the actions of Ataman Platov<#"justify">-1874
The creation of a gallery of bright positive characters was continued by the writer in a collection of stories published under common name“The Righteous” (“Figure”, “The Man on the Clock”, “The Non-Lethal Golovan”, etc.) As critics later noted, Leskov’s righteous people are united by “straightforwardness, fearlessness, heightened conscientiousness, inability to come to terms with evil.”<#"justify">Attitude to the church
Leskov’s attitude towards the church was influenced by Leo Tolstoy, with whom he became close in the late 1880s. “I always agree with him and there is no one on earth who is dearer to me than him. I am never embarrassed by what I cannot share with him: I value his common, so to speak, dominant mood of his soul and the terrible penetration of his mind,” Leskov wrote about Tolstoy in one of his letters to V.G. Chertkov.
Perhaps Leskov’s most notable anti-church work was the story “Midnight Offices”<#"justify">Bibliography
1.Sketches of the Distilling Industry" (1861; article; published in April 1861 in the magazine " Domestic notes»)
2."The Extinguished Cause" (1862; first story)
.“From a travel diary” (1862-1863; collection of journalistic essays)
."Russian Society in Paris" (1863; essay)
.“The Life of a Woman” (1863; story)
."Musk Ox" (1863; story)
.“Nowhere” (1863-1864; “anti-nihilistic” novel depicting the life of a commune organized by “nihilists”)
.“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” (1865; story)
.“Bypassed” (1865; story; the plot was conceived in contrast to the story by N.G. Chernyshevsky “What to do?”)
."Warrior" (1866, story)
.“The Islanders” (1866; a story about the Germans who lived in St. Pereburg)
.“The Spendthrift” (1867; drama; first production - in 1867 on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg)
.“Kotin Doilets and Platonida” (1867; story)
.“Old Years in the Village of Plodomasovo” (1869; story)
.“On Knives” (1870-1871; “anti-nihilistic” novel; first published in “Russian Bulletin” in 1870-1871)
.“The Mysterious Man” (1870; biographical sketch about the Swiss A.I. Benny, who came to St. Petersburg on behalf of A.I. Herzen and lived for some time in Leskov’s apartment)
.“The Soborians” (1872; chronicle novel about the clergy)
.“The Sealed Angel” (1873; a story about a community of schismatics, later included in the collection “The Righteous”)
."The Enchanted Wanderer" (1873; original title- “Black Earth Telemak”; a story later included in the collection “The Righteous”; Leskov himself defined the genre of “The Enchanted Wanderer” as a story)
.“At the End of the World” (1875-1876; story)
.“Iron Will” (1876; a story about Russian and German national characters, based on true events that occurred in the 1850-1860s, when Leskov served in the Shcott and Wilkins company)
.“At the End of the World” (1876; story later included in the collection “The Righteous”)
.“The Unbaptized Priest” (1877; story)
.“The Lord’s Court” (1877; essay about Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev)
.“Mirror of the life of a true disciple of Christ” (1877; journalism)
.“Prophecies about the Messiah” (1878; journalism)
.“Little things in the life of a bishop” (1878; a series of essays about the Russian clergy; first published in September-November 1878 in the newspaper “Novosti”)
.“Odnodum” (1879; story later included in the collection “Righteous”)
.“Pointer to the Book of the New Testament” (1879; journalism)
.“Sheramur” (1879; story later included in the collection “The Righteous”)
.“Bishops' Detours” (1879; essay about Orthodox Church)
."Diocesan Court" (1880; essay on the Orthodox Church)
.“Cadet Monastery” (1880; a story about the director of a cadet corps, later included in the collection “The Righteous”)
.“The Non-Lethal Golovan” (1880; a story later included in the collection “Righteous”; the hero of the story belongs to bourgeois class)
.“The Holy Shadows” (1881; essay on the Orthodox Church)
.“A Collection of Fatherly Opinions on the Importance of Holy Scripture” (1881)
.“Christ Visiting a Man” (1881; story from the series “ Yuletide Stories»)
.“Synodal Persons” (1882; essay on the Orthodox Church)
.“The Ghost in the Engineering Castle” (1882; story from the “Yuletide Stories” series)
.“Travels with a Nihilist” (1882; story from the “Yuletide Stories” series)
.“The Beast” (1883; story from the series “Yuletide Stories”)
.“Pechersk Antiquities” (1883; series of essays)
.“The Stupid Artist” (1883; a story about a serf “hairdresser”)
.“Lefty” (1883; tale, later included in the collection “Righteous”)
.“Alexandrite” (1885; story from the series “Stories by the Way”)
.« Old genius"(1884; story from the series "Yuletide Stories")
.“The Scarecrow” (1885; story from the series “Yuletide Stories”)
.“Interesting Men” (1885; story from the series “Stories by the Way”)
."Old Psychopaths" (1885; story from the series "Stories by the Way")
.“The Tale of Theodore the Christian and his friend Abram the Jew” (1886)
.“Unmercenary Engineers” (1887; story later included in the collection “Righteous”)
.“The Buffoon Pamphalon” (1887; the original title “The God-loving Buffoon” was not passed by the censor)
.“The Man on the Clock” (1887; a story about a soldier, later included in the collection “The Righteous”)
."The Lion of Elder Gerasim" (1888)
.“The Dead Estate” (1888; story from the series “Stories by the Way”)
.“The Mountain” (1890; the first version of “Zeno the Goldsmith” was not passed by the censors)
."The Hour of God's Will" (1890; short story)
."Devil's Dolls" 1890; novel-pamphlet)
."Innocent Prudentius" (1891)
."Midnight Owls" (1891; story)
."Yudol" (1892; story)
."The Improvisers" (1892; story)
.“The Corral” (1893; story from the series “Stories by the Way”)
."Product of Nature" (1893; short story)
."Administrative Grace" (1893; a story critical of the political system of the Russian Empire; published after the revolutionary coup of 1917)
.“The Hare Remiz” (1894; a story that criticized the political system of the Russian Empire; published after the revolutionary coup of 1917)
.“The Lady and the Fefela” (1894; story from the series “Stories by the Way”)
.“Night Owls” (1894; story; first published in Vestnik Evropy)
Russian European and righteous democrat as reformers through the eyes of N. S. Leskov
Contemporary criticism of Leskov discovered a main trend - researchers were turning to the originality of the narrative of “Laughter and Sorrow.” At the same time, plot-compositional and figurative system the stories represent a more complex artistic formation, as stated in the subtitle and dedication. Even before getting acquainted with the composition and plot of the story, two melodies are already heard: Russian and foreign. And these two melodies are connected by a problem national character, the interaction of Russian and European principles.
The hero of the story is Russian in origin and character, but European in outlook - Vatazhkov. The writer perceived the Russian character as not ideal. Leskov gives two views at the same time: a European, looking at what is happening in Russia, sees grief, and Russians see laughter. Vatazhkov, a particularly beloved figure in Leskov’s world, is still not truly understood. The duet of their voices - the Russian European and the writer - is so harmonious that one can feel the strong overtone of the author's voice. Leskov sympathizes with Vatazhkov, just as a person can sympathize with himself, but there is an ironic distance. Thanks to seeing in different prisms - the prism of self-expression, self-knowledge, in the prism of another consciousness - the characters of the “strange” Russians and the Russian European acquire greater volume than if each of them were only alone with their own world.
Russian man in art world Leskova is a complex phenomenon, the spiritual pinnacle of which is the image of a righteous man. The characters of the righteous as the embodiment of the Russian national character in Leskov’s prose are associated with other types of Russian national character, including the type of Russian European. Of interest is the type of Russian righteous man as an unfulfilled reformer, who is closely related to the type of Russian European. Between the story “Laughter and Grief” and the parallel story “Russian Democrat in Poland” (1880), a relationship of complementarity and contrast arises.
The story “Laughter and Grief” is similar to the story “Russian Democrat in Poland” and the motif of “strange” surprises, unpleasant surprises of Russian reality, in which the Russian character is revealed. The events are presented by the narrator with bitter irony. Once again, the narrative combines polar phenomena - laughter and grief. The righteous in the story are initially non-plot characters, collective image retirees, but the course of the narrative in the story leads the reader to the fact that in the main character we gradually begin to see a righteous man.
Main character the story “Laughter and Grief” Vatazhkov is endowed with a surname from the category speaking names, comes from the word “vatazhka”, which means “society”. The surname “Vatazhkov” endows the character with typical features of immature Russian society. Sambursky has a foreign-language surname, which can be interpreted in different ways. The very name of the character makes it possible to see the complexity of Sambursky’s national self-identification, which was extremely important for Leskov, who loved Russian characters that arise from a combination of Russian and Polish origins.
In this story, Leskov’s views on the purpose of Russia, its place in the world, its relationship with related countries and cultures are revealed, and Leskov’s assessment of the man-reformer is also given.
The author’s idea is expressed not only in the plot about Sambursky’s failed project, but also in individual components of the plot, anecdotes included in the narrative, and in the author’s remarks regarding the concept of A. S. Khomyakov, different views about the appointment of Russia. A quote from A. S. Khomyakov, “we believed for a long time amidst Eastern laziness and dirty vanity,” presented in the author’s retelling at the beginning of the story, actualizes difficult topic the relationship between Leskov and the Slavophiles, the relationship between their moral and philosophical concepts, ideas about the Russian people and character.
In the Russian character, Sambursky, through his actions, points to such important qualities, like fortitude, warm hospitality, patriotism. Sambursky has a large character, a monolithic personality, integral in his moral basis. He loves the country with his heart, with a living, objective love. His character is not subject to the passage of time. His character traits are efficiency, stubbornness, modesty, justice, and most importantly, firmness. The practical qualities of the righteous reformer are in harmony with the moral ones. The integrity of his righteous life, like that of other righteous people depicted by Leskov, is filled with beauty. On the other hand, Leskov, true to his method, does not idealize the righteous. The image of the Russian righteous democrat in the story does not look unambiguous, since Leskov also makes his image stereoscopic.
In the story “Laughter and Grief,” the Russian European is the failed reformer Vatazhkov, his life in Russia is depicted as a symbolic anecdote. The writer pays great attention to the consideration of the serious problem of adaptation of Russian Europeans to Russian society. Vatazhkov is akin to Russian Europeans I. S. Turgenev, writer and revolutionary A. I. Herzen...
Vatazhkov, being for Leskov an example of everything Russian, does not possess the firmness that the righteous Sambursky possesses. Vatazhkov's character has weak and strengths, is depicted in the story in a multifaceted way, set off from all the other characters of the characters, in which a certain trait of the Russian character dominates in an exaggerated form. This made it possible to create a typology of Russian character in the story, because the holistic character of Vatazhkov and other characters, representing Various types character, create a large-scale picture of Russia.
In the artistic world of Leskov, the Russian European, the failed reformer Vatazhkov plays an important, iconic role, but does not stand alone. His view of Russian reality and Russian character is sober. The character analyzes the life he sees in Russia in comparison with Western reference points and feels helpless due to ignorance of the country.
Vatazhkov and Sambursky are distinguished as reformers different attitude to people, to their destiny, but, despite the failure in implementing plans to reform the life of society, they are united by something more important and valuable: their strong-willed moral choice - not to go against their conscience. Both of them would never want to harm their people and country. According to Leskov, the ideal thing in politics would be a union of conscience and justice, the best traits of these characters.
Colorisms and their functioning in the prose of N.S. Leskova
Functioning of linguistic units in literary text is indicative of identifying the uniqueness of the writer’s idiostyle. The specificity of the author’s idiostyle also depends on what colorisms he uses and for what purpose.
Colorisms are understood as linguistic (usual) or speech (occasional) units, which include a root morph that is semantically or etymologically related to the color name.
The object of analysis was colorism, and the research material was the works of a “special person and a special writer” of the 19th century by N. S. Leskov (the story “The Enchanted Wanderer”, the story “The Stupid Artist” and the novel “The Cathedral People”).
For a multidimensional analysis of colorisms used by Leskov in the works under study, six parameters are important (semantics, origin, morphemic structure, part-verbal reference, features of use, functions in a literary text).
Consideration color range Leskov’s colorisms lead to the conclusion: chromatisms and primary colors of the spectrum are most often used.
In the process of analyzing the use of colorisms in Leskov’s works, it was revealed that the color scheme makes up a list of 53 colors and 4 combinations, and there are 409 examples of the use of colorisms.
The writer’s favorite colors are simple and bright: colorisms with the roots white-, black-, red-, blue-, grey-, yellow-, green-.
From a lexico-grammatical point of view, colorisms used in Leskov’s works are expressed by four parts of speech: noun, adjective, verb and adverb. The predominance of adjectives seems to be directly related to the realistic, partly even naturalistic, style of writing of this author.
The use of mixed colors that are rare in the national consciousness (for example, purple, orange, blange, masak) is found in works in isolated cases: the dwarf in a “masak salop”, Savely Tuberozov from a dream “in a purple kamilavka”, Marfa Plodomasova’s “bright orange skirt” , "blonge cloud".
The colorisms used by the writer can be classified into 8 rows with general meaning some basic color. The most numerous series of colorisms in works of this writer- rows of yellow and red colors, since they include 12 roots each.
Leskov rarely uses the names of color combinations.
Colorisms that are complex in structure are few in number in Leskov’s works under study. It should be noted that in Leskov’s works there are colorisms expressed using phrases. Moreover, all the examples are unusual and original: “the color of pink-yellow clouds”, “masaka color”, “the color of a ripening plum”.
An analysis of the use of colorisms in literary texts shows that their functions are varied.
IN general view It is possible to identify two functions of colorisms: the symbolization function and the figurative-expressive function. Moreover, each of them can act as a text-forming one.
The visual-expressive function in the material under study is realized in non-identical private manifestations, which indicates the originality of color perception creative personality. Thus, the detailing function of colorism acts as a sign of Leskov’s style. The intensification of a whole range of colorisms (mostly belonging to one color field) is characteristic of all the analyzed texts.
In Leskov’s novel “The Soborians” the use of colorism is distinguished by the originality of syntagmatics (“brown eyes”, “blue face, green nose”, “yellow person”, etc.).
Leskov’s color coincides with the ideological thread of the artist’s plan. It is no longer an image of an object, but an expression of thought. Stylistic feature Leskov's colorism lies in the fact that, using only white and black colors, he could create bright and unforgettable images: the image of Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin and the beautiful gypsy woman. Here the writer acts as a graphic artist.
The techniques of Leskov’s artistic depiction are diverse. The precision of Leskov’s linguistic colors is the conductor through which the poetry of this prose writer enters the reader’s heart.
Semantics of the top in the stories of N.S. Leskova “Mountain” and “Sealed Angel”
In the mythopoetic and religious tradition there is a universal concept of “path”, which has become central to Christianity. The path connects certain points: the beginning and the center, the periphery and the nuclear, sacredly marked, point of space. Such “polar points” are unbelief and faith, marked respectively by negative and positive semantics. The religious and mythological context of “belieflessness” includes it in the paradigm of the “crooked, crooked path” and the symbolism of the circle as hopelessness, a restless spirit.
It is precisely in the circles of such “wandering in the dark” that main character“Egyptian Tale” “Mountain” by N. S. Leskov. At the very beginning of the journey, Nefora is still very far from the “center” of the path. Nephora's path to Zeno is indirect, winding, and intense. On plot level this “wandering in the dark” ends with “darkness,” “dirt and coal dust” as markers of an unclean, “stained” path and, as a consequence, Nephora’s hatred and desire for “revenge on all Christians.”
“Mount Ader” is the sacred center with which “impossibly difficult metaphysical problems are associated: the beginning and end in time and space, simplicity and complexity, freedom and non-freedom of will, the existence or non-existence of God.” Thus, Nephora’s path as a circle, wandering, self-destruction with passion, revenge and hatred at the same time is a path “around the center” - around the mountain.
In mundane space (“near the mountain”), where the “center” is modeled, everyone going to it has “cosmological valence” and becomes a semantic similarity to this center. Therefore, the main condition for approaching the center for those walking is the presence in them of a certain “cosmological implication” that “makes them related” to the “point of concentration of the sacred in space.” That is why, on the way to the center, those in whom such a “kinship” is imaginary are “weeded out”: all the noble parishioners ran away at night. Only the strong in spirit reach the mountain; those who are weaker turn off the path or stop. Thus, the path to the mountain is fraught with tests for the truth of faith and the absence of fear.
The text reveals figurative, symbolic, plot and motif parallels with the precedent text of the story - the Bible. Zeno's ascent to Mount Ader is a direct allusion to the ascent of Jesus Christ to Golgotha. The choice of a mountain for solitary reflection is not accidental, since in world religion it is the place of residence of sages and hermits, the locus most suitable for meditation: immersion in oneself and unity with God. Hence the ritual purpose of the mountain for worship. The mountain is located at the intersection of two points of the spatial vertical: earth and sky. In the context of the designated vertical of top and bottom, the mountain at the same time connects two opposites: darkness and light, death and life. It is no coincidence that in the text of the story one can call the “locus distribution” of characters: at the bottom (at the foot of the mountain) there remained those who are spiritually blind (“darkness”), or weak in spirit; on the mountain itself were only the spiritually enlightened, filled with faith and love (“light”) Zeno and Nefora.
The relationship between the foot of the mountain and the “bottom” is confirmed at the textual level through motifs. One of the “profane motives” can be considered the “dance of death” motif, reinforced by the motives of fun, carelessness, feasting, revelry and “allowed” by “limit states” and death.
The “Dance of Death” at the foot of the mountain is contrasted with a meditative immersion into one’s inner world and comprehension of the essence God's peace Zeno and Nephora ascended the mountain. If Zeno is initially shown in the story as an “already accomplished” Christian with enormous power will, spirit and faith, then Nephora, before rising, had to fall many times. Both, having undergone initiation, were confirmed in the faith, for which “they were useful to people and kind to God.”
Possessing the ability to connect vertical points, the mountain “permeates” all spheres of existence: sky, earth and the underworld. This serves as the basis in various world cultures for understanding the mountain as, firstly, a “semantic synonym” of the World Tree, World Axis, Ladder, Navel of the Earth. All these universal symbols They are similar not so much structurally as semantically, therefore they are isomorphic. The place “certifying its highest sacredness” in the text of the story is Mount Ader.
The isomorphism of the mountain and the world's universal images, its location, the mediative function of connecting the vertical and horizontal points - all this confirms the dominant symbolism of Mount Ader. The mountain is a symbol of spiritual exaltation, the concentration of divine power. The premonition of the constant presence of the theistic elite sacralizes this image. This is precisely what explains the implication of the mythologem of the path in Leskov’s story “The Mountain”: one must reach it, the mountain as the personification of the spirit, the path is difficult, dangerous, associated with many trials and losses. This path is a kind of initiation: those who climb the mountain (who have achieved spiritual enlightenment, spiritual knowledge and understanding) feel within themselves divine powers to solve inhuman problems: “The mountain is coming!.. The mountain is coming!! Great is the Christian God! The artist Zeno the Goldsmith moved the mountain!”
At the same time, the mountain in the text of the story symbolizes difficulties and, at first glance, unresolved problems: overcoming them depends on the degree of faith and fortitude: “to follow this path... you must believe, Nefora, you must move in life something heavier and stronger than the mountains, and for “We must be ready for anything, no matter how many of us there are: one or many.”
The sacralization of the path in Leskov’s other story “The Sealed Angel” is evidenced by the key biblical mythologeme “angel”: angels “know” God’s knowledge (and “broadcast” about it - pass it on to people) and - as a result - “lead” (direct) them: “ Every saved person is not led by an Ethiopian, but by an angel.” The angel is a symbol of service, higher spirituality, purity, and intercession. It is no coincidence that the angelic message is not visible, most often not realized: “...the angelic path is not visible to everyone...”. Angels are considered "guides." The iconographic image of an angel in the text of the story is clearly canonized by the images of wings, a cross, and a sword.
Central for Christian cultural tradition The mythologem of “the path” is included in the text of Leskov’s story in several motives.
The road motif actualizes the guiding role of the angel depicted on the icon: “And so the icon... passed ahead of us, as if the angel himself had preceded us.”
From the place where the angel brought the workers (“under the big city, on the big flowing water, on the Dnieper River”), “wonderful wonders from the angel” begin. The “good place”, imbued with the “worldly spirit”: prayers, chants, icons, becomes a sacred locus, which is charged with a certain potential for searching for the “true path” and explicates the intention of “transition”, “exit”, “search”. At the textual level, it is represented by the mythologemes of the bridge and the stairs.
In the mythological tradition, a bridge, like a staircase, is a mediator between two worlds, a symbol of reaching the “other shore” and, as a consequence, an isomorph of a path and a crossroads. Connecting the “two banks” horizontally, the bridge implicitly connects “false” and “true”, “sacred” and “profane”, “divine” and “diabolical” - the so-called “vertical” antitheses. The ambivalent semantics of mediator images unfolds the textual paradigm of “miracles” performed by the “almighty power of God.”
The phenomenon of “departure” (literally, the fall of an iconographic angelic image from a lectern is considered as a divine omen, as a harbinger of troubles, misfortunes, as a sign of heavenly punishment. In the text of the story, the “fall” of the icon is accompanied by plot-driven anxiety and prophetic dream Mikhailitsy. The entire dream is built on the semantics of destruction, death, which is updated by images from colorative-zoomorphic-pyromorphic models: fire, pillar of fire, rooster... The contextual stringing of images symbolizing and foreshadowing misfortune is emphasized here by verbs from the lexical-semantic group “destruction, destruction, violence” ": "everything is burned", "the river carries ash yes... twists and swallows deep, sucks" and abstract nouns conveying psychological condition fear, anxiety, horror.
The “ascension” of the angel onto the lectern is performed in a prayer of forgiveness by the kneeling grandfather Maroi. The motif of ritual ablution using “twelve clean plinths of new baked brick” is not accidental here either. The ritual erection of the “stairs” along which the icon was “raised” is full of symbolism of the divine, sacred numbers“twelve” and “three”, as well as “purifying” coloratives “fiery” and “pure” (triple contextual duplication indicates the semantic dominant of the “sacred action”). Thus, the “descent” (“fall”) of the angelic icon and its “ascension” to its original place (ascension to the lectern) are associated with foreshadowing and symbolic meanings.
The bright angelic face is “sealed” with a “boiling jet of resin.” Fire here (as in the text below “water”) manifests its destructive power: “scorched clean face”, “fire resin imprint”, “fire brand”, “fire jet”, “blood” - “fire” is actualized on the mythological cross-section of psychological associatives “hell”, “death”, “punishment”, “retribution”. From this moment on, the text introduces the leitmotif of blindness, which is semantically fragmented into a number of motifs derived from it.
Desecration of the icon entailed heavenly punishment. The “law of the boomerang” worked: the blinding of the angel, his “fiery imprinting” resulted in “visible” illnesses. This is how the “face” takes on the signs of God’s punishment.
From the moment of the loss of the angel protecting the Old Believers, the “path” of “return” (“the abduction of the sealed angel”) and the “unsealing” of his “pure face” begins. The protective nature of the iconographic angel is manifested not only in the fact that he is “our guardian,” but also in his ability to “stand up for himself.” And this is connected with the secret of icon painting. The self-protective power of the icon-painting angel lies in the uniqueness of the Stroganov-style icon.
Thus, in the context of understanding the amulet-protective nature of the iconographic image, the universal opposition “true - false” is explicated, realized by binary pairs: “trade (worldly)” “iconographic”; “secular artist” “icon painter”; “old icon painting school” “new icon painting school”; "Mstera" icon-painting school "Palekhovskaya" icon-painting school.
Further in the text, the binary “multiplies,” so to speak: the differences between icon-painting schools and icon-painting masters are not “opposed,” but presented as a “different structure. Icon painting masters and schools are united into one - the “Russian school”, opposed to the “foreign” one as “amazing, wonderful”.
If in oppositional pairs the second member of the binary opposition is marked with “sacred semantics”, correlated with eternity, strength, fortress, sky, spirit, then in the antithesis “Russian foreign” “Russian”, implying the symbolism of “oblivion, breaking ties” is negatively colored. Thus, the concept of memory is realized in the same universal opposition “true and false,” directly correlated with “earthly” and “heavenly” as “corruptible, transitory” on the one hand, and “eternal, spiritual” on the other.
The same semantics of “true heavenly” and “corruptible earthly” is reflected in the contextual antithesis “holy scripture - iconography”, united in the mythologeme “paths. The search for Sevastyan, a real isographer, and the return of the angelic icon resemble a winding path, a path “to catch up”, this is a path of losses and gains. The path of search and return is sacralized, as it is marked by the Lord’s presence: angelic help and divine “divisions”.
Thus, the path to finding a lost angel is the path to finding love. And the “unsealing” of the angelic face is not only the skillful removal of the “fire-resin imprint,” but also the liberation of souls with the help of love from the vanity of the world and lies.
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1. Brief biographical information.
2. Anti-nihilistic novels by Leskov.
3. The flourishing of the writer’s creativity. Tale genre.
4. Leskov and Christianity.
N. S. Leskov was born in 1831 on his father’s estate Gorokhov, located in the Oryol province. The grandfather of the future writer was a priest; his father also studied at the seminary, but subsequently chose a judicial career. Leskov always remembered his roots; knowledge of the life and customs of the clergy was reflected in the writer’s work. Previously, Leskov spent his childhood on his father’s estate: here the future writer became acquainted with the life of peasants. These impressions also provided rich material for Leskov’s works.
Young Leskov studied at the gymnasium for several years, after which he entered the Oryol Chamber of the Criminal Court as a scribe. After the death of his father, Leskov moved to Kyiv, where his uncle, who was a university professor, lived. The young man entered the service of the Kyiv State Chamber.
It should be noted that Leskov’s versatile knowledge was the result of intensive self-education. In Kyiv, the future writer met university teachers and icon painters of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. He read a lot, including works on topical topics.
A new turn in Leskov’s life was associated with joining a commercial company, headed by his distant relative. On duty, Leskov traveled a lot around the country, visiting remote corners of Russia, which gave many new impressions, which were later embodied in the pages of works of art.
In 1861 the writer moved to St. Petersburg. Leskov had previously written articles and feuilletons, but now he took up literature seriously. His journalistic works soon attracted the attention of readers.
In his articles and works of art, Leskov acted as an opponent of revolutionary changes. A negative attitude towards revolutionaries was reflected in the novels “Nowhere” and “On Knives”, directed against the ideological trend of “nihilists”, fashionable at that time, as supporters of revolutionary changes called themselves. These novels were negatively received by many of the writer's contemporaries; some even suggested that the novel “Nowhere” was written by Leskov at the request of the III Department.
However, the writer’s talent truly manifested itself in such works as the stories “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and “Warrior”, the chronicles “Old Years in the Village of Plodomasovo”, “A Seedy Family” and “Cathedral People”.
It is worth saying a few words about the chronicle “Soboryan”. In this work, the writer pursues the idea that the clergy is not only the custodian of traditional values, but is also capable of saving Russia from the contradictions that are tearing it apart.
A generalized image of Russia emerges from the pages of the story “The Imprinted Angel” and the story “The Enchanted Wanderer,” which almost immediately gained success among readers. It is interesting to note that Leskov wrote these works in the form of tales, in which there is practically no author’s assessment of the events described. Leskov’s most famous works are written in the form of a skaz, which literary scholars consider as examples of the writer’s style, “Lefty” and “Stupid Artist”.
Leskov showed great interest in religious life society, to the spiritual quest for the meaning of life and true faith. Gradually, Leskov came to understand Christianity as a supra-confessional religion, and therefore in the writer’s works one can observe a critical attitude towards Orthodoxy and a rapprochement with the views of L.N. Tolstoy.
It is interesting to trace how the writer’s views on Orthodoxy have evolved. If in the story “At the End of the World” Leskov considers Orthodoxy as the basis folk life, then in the essays “Trifles of Bishop’s Life” and “Synodal Persons”, as well as in the story “Midnight Office”, Leskoy criticizes the principles of official churchism. The writer’s humanistic views are reflected in the cycle of “legends” from the life of the first Christians. These “legends” are artistically processed and creatively rethought tales that Leskov borrowed from the “Prologue” - an ancient Russian collection of lives and tales. “The Tale of the God-pleasing Woodcutter”, “The Buffoon Pamphalon”, “Zeno the Goldsmith” act as a kind of artistic sermon of a “well-read Gospel”, alien to “church piety, narrow nationality and statehood”.
Leskov was always interested in creative experimentation. Since the writer created his works in different genres - anecdote short stories, fairy tales, legends, memoirs, and so on - this also implied a significant difference in artistic style. It should be noted that Leskov achieved great success in linguistic stylization. In the series of stories “Notes of an Unknown,” the writer successfully imitated the language of the 18th century; in “The Hare Remise,” he used an Aesopian style of narration; the legend “Beautiful Aza” was written in colorful language, and the story “They Offended You at Christmas” was created in an elegantly simple manner.
L.N. Tolstoy called Leskov “the writer of the future.” Indeed, the scale and originality of this writer’s talent were appreciated only in the 20th century. M. Gorky wrote a number of articles devoted to the fate and work of N. S. Leskov, B. M. Eikhenbaum in his works analyzed the features of Leskov’s tale style, B. M. Kustodiev created a series of illustrations for the writer’s works. D. D. Shostakovich wrote the opera “Katerina Izmailova” based on Leskov’s story “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”; many of Leskov's works were staged on theater stage, and also filmed.
Nikolai Leskov began his career as a government employee, and wrote his first works - journalistic articles for magazines - only at the age of 28. He created stories and plays, novels and fairy tales - works in a special artistic style, the founders of which today are considered Nikolai Leskov and Nikolai Gogol.
Scribe, chief clerk, provincial secretary
Nikolai Leskov was born in 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol district. His mother, Marya Alferyeva, belonged to a noble family; his paternal relatives were priests. The father of the future writer, Semyon Leskov, entered the service of the Oryol Criminal Chamber, where he received the right to hereditary nobility.
Until the age of eight, Nikolai Leskov lived with relatives in Gorokhov. Later, the parents took the boy to live with them. At the age of ten, Leskov entered the first grade of the Oryol provincial gymnasium. He did not like studying at the gymnasium, and the boy became one of the lagging students. After five years of study, he received a certificate of completion of only two classes. It was impossible to continue education. Semyon Leskov assigned his son as a scribe to the Oryol Criminal Chamber. In 1848, Nikolai Leskov became assistant to the head of the office.
A year later, he moved to Kyiv to live with his uncle Sergei Alferyev, a famous professor at Kyiv University and a practicing therapist. In Kyiv, Leskov became interested in icon painting, studied the Polish language, and attended lectures at the university as a volunteer. He was assigned to work in the Kyiv Treasury Chamber as an assistant to the head of the recruitment desk. Later, Leskov was promoted to collegiate registrar, then received the position of head of the office, and then became a provincial secretary.
Nikolai Leskov retired from service in 1857 - he “he became infected with the then fashionable heresy, for which he condemned himself more than once later... he quit his rather successfully started government service and went to serve in one of the newly formed trading companies at that time.”. Leskov began working at the company "Schcott and Wilkens" - the company of his second uncle, the Englishman Schcott. Nikolai Leskov often went on business to “travel around Russia”; on his trips, he studied the dialects and life of the country’s inhabitants.
Anti-nihilist writer
Nikolai Leskov in the 1860s. Photo: russianresources.lt
In the 1860s, Leskov first put pen to paper. He wrote articles and notes for the newspaper St. Petersburg Vedomosti, the magazines Modern Medicine and Economic Index. Your first literary work Leskov himself called “Essays on the distillery industry”, published in “Domestic Notes”.
At the beginning of his career, Leskov worked under the pseudonyms M. Stebnitsky, Nikolai Gorokhov, Nikolai Ponukalov, V. Peresvetov, Psalmist, Man from the Crowd, Watch Lover and others. In May 1862, Nikolai Leskov, under the pseudonym Stebnitsky, published an article in the newspaper “Northern Bee” about a fire in the Apraksin and Shchukin courtyards. The author criticized both the arsonists, who were considered nihilistic rebels, and the government, which could not catch the violators and put out the fire. Blaming the authorities and wishing “so that the teams sent come to the fires for actual assistance, and not for standing”, angered Alexander II. To protect the writer from the royal wrath, the editors of the Northern Bee sent him on a long business trip.
Nikolai Leskov visited Prague, Krakow, Grodno, Dinaburg, Vilna, Lvov, and then went to Paris. Returning to Russia, he published a series of journalistic letters and essays, among them “Russian Society in Paris”, “From a Travel Diary” and others.
Novel "On Knives". 1885 edition
In 1863, Nikolai Leskov wrote his first stories - “The Life of a Woman” and “Musk Ox”. At the same time, his novel “Nowhere” was published in the magazine “Library for Reading”. In it, Leskov, in his characteristic satirical manner, talked about new nihilistic communes, the life of which seemed strange and alien to the writer. The work caused a sharp reaction from critics, and the novel predetermined the writer’s place in the creative community for many years - he was credited with anti-democratic, “reactionary” views.
Later, the stories “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and “Warrior” with vivid images of the main characters were published. Then a special style of the writer began to take shape - a type of skaz. Leskov used traditions in his works folk tale And oral tradition, used jokes and colloquial words, stylized the speech of his heroes into different dialects and tried to convey the special intonations of the peasants.
In 1870, Nikolai Leskov wrote the novel “On Knives.” The author considered the new work against the nihilists his “worst” book: in order to publish it, the writer had to edit the text several times. He wrote: “In this publication, purely literary interests were belittled, destroyed and adapted to serve interests that had nothing in common with any literature.”. However, the novel “On Knives” became an important work in Leskov’s work: after it, the main characters of the writer’s works were representatives of the Russian clergy and the local nobility.
“After the evil novel “On Knives,” Leskov’s literary work immediately becomes bright painting, or, rather, iconography—he begins to create for Russia an iconostasis of its saints and righteous people.”
Maksim Gorky
“Cruel works” about Russian society
Valentin Serov Portrait of Nikolai Leskov. 1894
Nikolai Leskov. Photo: russkiymir.ru
Nikolay Leskov Drawing by Ilya Repin. 1888-89
One of Leskov’s most famous works was “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea” of 1881. Critics and writers of those years noted that the “storyteller” in the work has two intonations at once - both laudatory and sarcastic. Leskov wrote: “Several more people supported that in my stories it is really difficult to distinguish between good and evil and that sometimes it’s even impossible to tell who is harming the cause and who is helping it. This was attributed to some innate cunning of my nature.".
In the fall of 1890, Leskov completed the story “Midnight Owls” - by that time the writer’s attitude towards the church and priests had radically changed. The preacher John of Kronstadt came under his critical pen. Nikolai Leskov wrote to Leo Tolstoy: “I will keep my story on the table. It’s true that no one will publish it nowadays.”. However, in 1891 the work was published in the journal “Bulletin of Europe”. Critics criticized Leskov for his “incredibly bizarre, distorted language” that “disgustes the reader.”
In the 1890s, censorship almost did not release Leskov’s sharply satirical works. The writer said: “My latest works about Russian society are very cruel. “The Corral”, “Winter Day”, “The Lady and the Fela”... The public does not like these things for their cynicism and righteousness. And I don’t want to please the public.” The novels “Falcon Migration” and “Invisible Trace” were published only in separate chapters.
In the last years of his life, Nikolai Leskov was preparing a collection of his own works for publication. In 1893 they were released by the publisher Alexei Suvorin. Nikolai Leskov died two years later - in St. Petersburg from an asthma attack. He was buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery.
Nikolai Leskov was born in 1831 in Oryol district. His father graduated from theological seminary, but went to work as an investigator in the criminal chamber.
Nikolai Leskov received his primary education in the house of wealthy relatives of the Strakhovs, then he studied at the gymnasium, but full course I never listened to it. In his memoirs, he called himself “self-taught.” The young man drops out of school and gets a job at the Oryol Criminal Chamber. There Leskov was hired as an assistant scribe.
Leskov spent his childhood in the village. It was here, communicating with simple peasants, that he learned the full depth of the unique folk Russian language. This language formed the basis of his original style of presentation, which would later glorify literary works Leskova.
Family Breadwinner
During his work at the Oryol Criminal Chamber, Leskov reads a lot. Because of this, he quickly became well-known among the local intelligentsia.
The sudden death of their father puts the Leskov family on the brink of poverty. Nikolai Semenovich became the sole breadwinner. His widowed mother and six young children became his new concern. A young man moves to Kyiv. And again Leskov reads a lot, attends lectures at the university and studies the Polish and Ukrainian languages.
At 22, Leskov marries the daughter of a wealthy Kyiv landlord, Olga Vasilievna. Their life together was not cloudless. A quarter of a century later, Nikolai Semenovich’s wife was placed for the mentally ill, where she spent the last thirty years of her life. Nikolai Semenovich constantly visited her until his death.
In 1857, Leskov got a job in a private commercial company, which belonged to a maternal relative, the English entrepreneur A.Ya. Sheet. His new job associated with frequent business trips. On business with the trading house, Leskov traveled all over Russia. It was in his travels that the writer gained enormous material for his work.
In 1960, the company where Nikolai Semenovich worked closed. He decides to move to St. Petersburg and seriously take up writing.
Literary activity
First piece of art Leskov was published in 1862. It was the story “The Extinguished Case.” His early works were written in the essay genre, and immediately became popular among readers.
A year later, the writer’s first two stories were published – “The Musk Ox” and “The Life of a Woman.”
Leskov was opposed to what was fashionable at that time. He was sure that this newfangled movement was opposed to traditional Christian values. His famous story “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and the novel “On Knives” also contain sharp criticism of nihilism.
Nikolai Semenovich was a descendant of clergy. He attached great importance to his role in the life of Russia. The cycle of stories “The Righteous” tells about honest and highly moral people with whom the Russian land is rich.
Leskov's works, which are included in the golden fund of Russian literature, are written in an extraordinary artistic manner, which contemporaries call Leskov’s tale. “Warrior”, “Enchanted Wanderer”, “Lefty”, “Sealed Angel” and his other works are written in the form of a tale, where the narration is told in the first person.
Having become close to Leo Tolstoy, Leskov, at the end of his life, begins to rethink the Christian faith. He becomes disillusioned with the Orthodox clergy. His late works filled with bitter sarcasm towards the clergy.
