The most amazing and original thing in literary creativity Nikolai Semenovich Leskov is the Russian language. His contemporaries wrote and tried to write in an even and smooth language, avoiding too bright or dubious phrases. Leskov greedily grabbed every unexpected or picturesque idiomatic expression. All forms of professional or class language, all kinds of slang words - all this can be found on its pages. But he especially loved comic effects colloquial Church Slavonic and puns of “folk etymology”. He allowed himself great liberties in this regard and invented many successful and unexpected deformations of the usual meaning or familiar sound. Other distinguishing feature Leskova: he, like no other of his contemporaries, possessed the gift of storytelling. As a storyteller, he probably ranks modern literature first place. His stories are simply anecdotes, told with tremendous gusto and skill; Even in his big things, he likes to tell a few anecdotes about them when characterizing his characters. This was contrary to the traditions of “serious” Russian literature, and critics began to consider him simply a gay man. Leskov's most original stories are so filled with all kinds of incidents and adventures that to critics, for whom the main thing was ideas and trends, it seemed funny and absurd. It was too obvious that Leskov was simply enjoying all these episodes, as well as the sounds and grotesque forms of familiar words. No matter how hard he tried to be a moralist and preacher, he could not neglect the opportunity to tell an anecdote or make a pun.
Nikolai Leskov. Life and Legacy. Lecture by Lev Anninsky
Tolstoy loved Leskov's stories and enjoyed his verbal balancing act, but blamed him for the oversaturation of his style. According to Tolstoy, Leskov’s main drawback was that he did not know how to keep his talent within limits and “overloaded his cart with goods.” This taste for verbal picturesqueness, for the rapid presentation of an intricate plot, is strikingly different from the methods of almost all other Russian novelists, especially Turgenev, Goncharov or Chekhov. In Leskov's vision of the world there is no haze, no atmosphere, no softness; he chooses the most garish colors, the harshest contrasts, the sharpest contours. His images appear in the merciless daylight. If the world of Turgenev or Chekhov can be likened to the landscapes of Corot, then Leskov is Bruegel the Elder, with his colorful, bright colors and grotesque forms. Leskov does not have dull colors; in Russian life he finds bright, picturesque characters and paints them with powerful strokes. The greatest virtue, extraordinary originality, great vices, strong passions and grotesque comic traits - these are his favorite subjects. He is both a servant of the cult of heroes and a humorist. Perhaps one could even say that the more heroic his heroes are, the more humorous he portrays them. This humorous cult of heroes is Leskov’s most original feature.
Leskov's political novels of the 1860s and 70s, which brought him hostility at that time radicals, are now almost forgotten. But the stories he wrote at the same time have not lost their glory. They are not as rich in verbal joys as stories mature period, but in them his skill as a storyteller is already demonstrated to a high degree. Unlike later works, they give pictures of hopeless evil and invincible passions. An example of this Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk district(1866). This is a very powerful study of a woman's criminal passion and the brash, cynical callousness of her lover. A cold, merciless light shines on everything that happens and everything is told with strong “naturalistic” objectivity. Another great story from that time - Warrior , a colorful story of a St. Petersburg pimp who treats her profession with delightfully naive cynicism and is deeply, completely sincerely offended by the “black ingratitude” of one of her victims, whom she was the first to push onto the path of shame.
Portrait of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov. Artist V. Serov, 1894
Behind these early stories followed by a series Chronicle the fictional city of Stargorod. They form a trilogy: Old years in the village of Plodomasovo (1869), Soboryans(1872) and Seedy family (1875). The second of these chronicles is the most popular of Leskov’s works. It is about the Stargorod clergy. Its head, Archpriest Tuberozov, is one of Leskov’s most successful images of the “righteous man.” Deacon Achilles is a superbly written character, one of the most amazing in the entire portrait gallery of Russian literature. The comic escapades and unconscious mischief of a huge, full of strength, completely unspiritual and simple-minded deacon like a child and the constant reprimands that he receives from Archpriest Tuberozov are known to every Russian reader, and Achille himself became a common favorite. But in general Soboryans the thing is uncharacteristic for the author - too smooth, unhurried, peaceful, event-poor, unleskovsky.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (1831 - 1895) - prose writer, the most popular writer of Russia, playwright. Author famous novels, novellas and short stories, such as: “Nowhere”, “Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district", "On Knives", "Soborians", "Lefty" and many others, creator of the theatrical play "Spendthrift".
Born on February 4 (February 16), 1831 in the village of Gorokhov, Oryol province, in the family of an investigator and the daughter of an impoverished nobleman. They had five children, Nikolai was the eldest child. The writer spent his childhood in the city of Orel. After his father left office, the family moved from Orel to the village of Panino. This is where Leskov’s study and knowledge of the people began.
Education and career
In 1841, at the age of 10, Leskov entered the Oryol gymnasium. The future writer’s studies did not go well - in 5 years of study he completed only 2 classes. In 1847, Leskov, thanks to the help of his father’s friends, got a job in the Oryol Criminal Chamber of the Court as a clerical employee. When Nikolai was 16 years old, his father died of cholera, and all his property burned down in a fire.
In 1849, Leskov, with the help of his uncle-professor, was transferred to Kyiv as an official of the state chamber, where he later received the position of chief of staff. In Kyiv, Leskov developed an interest in Ukrainian culture and great writers, painting and architecture of the old city.
In 1857 Leskov left work and entered the commercial service to the large agricultural company of his English uncle, on whose business he traveled for three years most of Russia. After the closure of the company, he returned to Kyiv in 1860.
1860 is considered the beginning creative path Leskov, at this time he writes and publishes articles in various magazines. Six months later he moves to St. Petersburg, where he plans to engage in literary and journalistic activities.
In 1862, Leskov became a permanent contributor to the Northern Bee newspaper. Working as a correspondent there, he visited Western Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Poland. The life of the Western sister nations was close and attractive to him, so he delved into the study of their art and life. In 1863 Leskov returned to Russia.
Having studied and observed the life of the Russian people for a long time, sympathizing with their sorrows and needs, from the pen of Leskov came the stories “The Extinguished Cause” (1862), the stories “The Life of a Woman”, “Musk Ox” (1863), “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” (1865).
In the novels “Nowhere” (1864), “Bypassed” (1865), “On Knives” (1870), the writer revealed the theme of Russia’s unpreparedness for revolution.
Having disagreements with the revolutionary democrats, Leskova refused to publish many magazines. The only one who published his works was Mikhail Katkov, editor of the Russian Messenger magazine. It was incredibly difficult for Leskov to work with him; the editor edited almost all of the writer’s works, and even refused to publish some of them.
In 1870 - 1880 he wrote the novels “The Cathedral People” (1872), “A Seedy Family” (1874), where he revealed national and historical issues. The novel “A Seedy Family” was not completed by Leskov due to disagreements with the publisher Katkov. Also at this time he wrote several stories: “The Islanders” (1866), “The Sealed Angel” (1873). Fortunately, “The Captured Angel” was not affected by Mikhail Katkov’s editorial edits.
In 1881, Leskov wrote the story “Lefty (The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the steel flea)» - old legend about gunsmiths.
The story “The Hare Remiz” (1894) was the writer’s last great work. In it, he criticized the political system of Russia at that time. The story was published only in 1917 after the Revolution.
Writer's personal life
Leskov's first marriage was unsuccessful. The writer's wife in 1853 was the daughter of a Kyiv merchant, Olga Smirnova. They had two children - the first-born, son Mitya, who died in infancy, and daughter Vera. My wife got sick mental disorder and was treated in St. Petersburg. The marriage broke up.
In 1865, Leskov lived with the widow Ekaterina Bubnova. The couple had a son, Andrei (1866-1953). He separated from his second wife in 1877.
Recent years
The last five years of Leskov’s life were tormented by asthma attacks, from which he later died. Nikolai Semenovich died on February 21 (March 5), 1895 in St. Petersburg. The writer was buried at Volkov Cemetery
Enchanted Wanderer ( 1873 )
Summary stories
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On the way to Valaam, several travelers meet on Lake Ladoga. One of them, dressed in a novice cassock and looking like a “typical hero,” says that, having “God’s gift” for taming horses, he, according to his parents’ promise, died all his life and could not die. At the request of the travelers, the former coneser (“I am a coneser, sir,<…>I am an expert in horses and worked with repairmen to guide them,” says the hero himself) Ivan Severyanich, Mr. Flyagin, tells his life.
Coming from the courtyard people of Count K. from the Oryol province, Ivan Severyanych has been addicted to horses since childhood and once, “for fun,” beats to death a monk on a cart. The monk appears to him at night and reproaches him for taking his life without repentance. He tells Ivan Severyanich that he is the son “promised” to God, and gives a “sign” that he will die many times and will never die before real “death” comes and Ivan Severyanich goes to the Chernetsy. Soon Ivan Severyanich, nicknamed Golovan, saves his masters from imminent death in a terrible abyss and falls into favor. But he cuts off the tail of his owner’s cat, which is stealing his pigeons, and as punishment he is severely flogged, and then sent to “the English garden for the path to beat pebbles with a hammer.” Ivan Severyanich’s last punishment “tormented” him, and he decided to commit suicide. The rope prepared for death is cut by the gypsy, with whom Ivan Severyanych leaves the count, taking the horses with him. Ivan Severyanych breaks up with the gypsy, and, having sold the silver cross to the official, he receives a leave certificate and is hired as a “nanny” for the little daughter of one master. Ivan Severyanych gets very bored with this work, takes the girl and the goat to the river bank and sleeps above the estuary. Here he meets a lady, the girl’s mother, who begs Ivan Severyanich to give her the child, but he is relentless and even fights with the lady’s current husband, a lancer officer. But when he sees the angry owner approaching, he gives the child to his mother and runs away with them. The officer sends the passportless Ivan Severyanich away, and he goes to the steppe, where the Tatars are driving schools of horses.
Khan Dzhankar sells his horses, and the Tatars set prices and fight for the horses: they sit opposite each other and lash each other with whips. When a new handsome horse is put up for sale, Ivan Severyanych does not hold back and, speaking for one of the repairers, screws the Tatar to death. According to “Christian custom,” he is taken to the police for murder, but he runs away from the gendarmes to the very “Ryn-Sands.” The Tatars “bristle” Ivan Severyanich’s legs so that he doesn’t run away. Ivan Severyanich moves only at a crawl, serves as a doctor for the Tatars, yearns and dreams of returning to his homeland. He has several wives “Natasha” and children “Kolek”, whom he pities, but admits to his listeners that he could not love them because they are “unbaptized”. Ivan Severyanych completely despairs of getting home, but Russian missionaries come to the steppe “to establish their faith.” They preach, but refuse to pay a ransom for Ivan Severyanich, claiming that before God “everyone is equal and it’s all the same.” After some time, one of them is killed, Ivan Severyanych buries him Orthodox custom. He explains to his listeners that “Asians must be brought into faith with fear,” because they “will never respect a humble God without a threat.” The Tatars bring two people from Khiva who come to buy horses in order to “make war.” Hoping to intimidate the Tatars, they demonstrate the power of their fiery god Talafa, but Ivan Severyanych discovers a box with fireworks, introduces himself as Talafa, converts the Tatars to the Christian faith and, finding “caustic earth” in the boxes, heals his legs.
In the steppe, Ivan Severyanych meets a Chuvashin, but refuses to go with him, because he simultaneously reveres both the Mordovian Keremet and the Russian Nicholas the Wonderworker. There are Russians on the way, they cross themselves and drink vodka, but they drive away the “passportless” Ivan Severyanich. In Astrakhan, the wanderer ends up in prison, from where he is taken to hometown. Father Ilya excommunicates him from communion for three years, but the count, who has become a pious man, lets him go “on quitrent,” and Ivan Severyanych gets a job in the horse department. After he helps the men choose a good horse, he becomes famous as a sorcerer, and everyone demands to tell him the “secret”. Including one prince, who takes Ivan Severyanych to his position as a coneser. Ivan Severyanych buys horses for the prince, but periodically he has drunken “outings”, before which he gives the prince all the money for safekeeping for purchases. When the prince sells a beautiful horse to Dido, Ivan Severyanych is very sad, “makes an exit,” but this time he keeps the money with himself. He prays in church and goes to a tavern, where he meets a “most empty” man who claims that he drinks because he “voluntarily took on weakness” so that it would be easier for others, and his Christian feelings do not allow him to stop drinking. A new acquaintance puts magnetism on Ivan Severyanich to free him from “zealous drunkenness”, and at the same time gives him a lot of water. At night, Ivan Severyanych ends up in another tavern, where he spends all his money on the beautiful singing gypsy Grushenka. Having obeyed the prince, he learns that the owner himself gave fifty thousand for Grushenka, bought her from the camp and settled her in his house. But the prince is a fickle man, he gets tired of the “love word”, the “yakhont emeralds” make him sleepy, and besides, all his money runs out.
Having gone to the city, Ivan Severyanich overhears the prince’s conversation with his former mistress Evgenia Semyonovna and learns that his master is going to get married, and wants to marry the unfortunate Grushenka, who sincerely loved him, to Ivan Severyanich. Returning home, he does not find the gypsy, whom the prince secretly takes to the forest to a bee. But Grusha runs away from her guards and, threatening that she will become a “shameful woman,” asks Ivan Severyanych to drown her. Ivan Severyanych fulfills the request, and in search of a quick death, he pretends to be a peasant’s son and, having given all the money to the monastery as a “contribution for Grushin’s soul,” goes to war. He dreams of dying, but “he doesn’t want to accept either land or water,” and having distinguished himself in the matter, he tells the colonel about the murder of the gypsy woman. But these words are not confirmed by the sent request; he is promoted to officer and sent into retirement with the Order of St. George. Taking advantage of the colonel’s letter of recommendation, Ivan Severyanych gets a job as a “reference officer” at the address desk, but he ends up with the insignificant letter “fitu”, the service does not go well, and he goes into acting. But rehearsals take place during Holy Week, Ivan Severyanych gets to portray the “difficult role” of a demon, and besides, having stood up for the poor “noblewoman,” he “pulls the hair” of one of the artists and leaves the theater for the monastery.
According to Ivan Severyanych, monastic life does not bother him, he remains with the horses there, but he does not consider it worthy to take senior tonsure and lives in obedience. In response to a question from one of the travelers, he says that at first a demon appeared to him in a “seductive female image“, but after fervent prayers, only small demons, “children,” remained. One day Ivan Severyanych hacks the demon to death with an ax, but he turns out to be a cow. And for another deliverance from demons, he is put in an empty cellar for a whole summer, where Ivan Severyanych discovers the gift of prophecy. Ivan Severyanych ends up on the ship because the monks release him to pray in Solovki to Zosima and Savvaty. The wanderer admits that he is waiting near death, because the spirit inspires to take up arms and go to war, but he “wants to die for the people.” Having finished the story, Ivan Severyanych falls into quiet concentration, again feeling within himself the influx of the mysterious broadcasting spirit, revealed only to babies.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov(1831-1895) - Russian writer.
Leskov Nikolay Semenovich
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov (1831-1895) Biography
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov was born on February 16 (4), 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol province.
Leskov's father, Semyon Dmitrievich, worked as an official in the criminal chamber and earned hereditary nobility, although he came from the clergy.
Leskova's mother, Marya Petrovna, nee Alfereva, was a noblewoman.
Nikolai Leskov's childhood years were spent in Orel and on the estates of the Oryol province belonging to his parents. Leskov spends several years in the house of the Strakhovs, wealthy relatives on his mother’s side, where he was sent due to the parents’ lack of funds to homeschool their son. The Strakhovs hired a Russian, a German, and a French teacher to raise their children. Leskov studies with cousins and sisters, and far surpasses them in abilities. This was the reason for sending him back to his parents.
1841 - 1846 - Leskov studies at the gymnasium in Orel, but due to the death of his father he does not complete the full course of study.
1847 - Nikolai Leskov gets a job as a minor clerk in the Oryol Chamber of the Criminal Court. The impressions from working here would later form the basis of many of the writer’s works, in particular, the story “The Extinguished Cause.”
1849 - Leskov leaves the service and leaves for Kyiv at the invitation of his maternal uncle, professor and practicing therapist S.P. Alferyeva. In Kyiv, he gets a job as an assistant to the head of the recruitment desk of the audit department of the Kyiv Treasury Chamber.
1849 - 1857 - in Kyiv, Leskov begins to attend lectures at the university (as a volunteer), studies the Polish language, Slavic culture. He is interested in religion, and communicates both with Orthodox Christians and with Old Believers and sectarians.
1850 - Leskov marries the daughter of a Kyiv merchant. The marriage was hasty; her relatives did not approve of it. Nevertheless, the wedding took place.
Nikolai Leskov’s career in the “Kyiv” years develops as follows: in 1853, from assistant clerk, he was promoted to collegiate registrar, then to clerk. In 1856, Leskov became provincial secretary.
1857 - 1860 - Leskov works in the private company Shcott and Wilkins, which is engaged in the resettlement of peasants to new lands. He spends all these years on business trips around Russia.
During the same period, the Leskovs’ first-born, named Mitya, dies in infancy. This breaks the relationship between spouses who are not very close to each other.
1860 - beginning journalistic activities Nikolai Leskov. He collaborates with the St. Petersburg and Kyiv press, writes short notes and essays. In the same year, he got a job in the police, but due to an article exposing the arbitrariness of police doctors, he was forced to resign.
1861 – the Leskov family moved from Kyiv to St. Petersburg. Nikolai Semenovich continues to collaborate with newspapers and begins writing for Otechestvennye zapiski, Russian Rech, and Northern Bee. Leskov’s first major publication, “Essays on the Distilling Industry,” dates back to the same year.
1862 – trip abroad as a correspondent for the newspaper “Northern Bee”. Leskov visits Western Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, and France.
1863 – official start writing career Nikolai Semenovich Leskov. He publishes his stories “The Life of a Woman”, “Musk Ox”, and is working on the novel “Nowhere”. Because of this controversial novel, which rejected revolutionary nihilistic ideas that were fashionable at the time, many writers turned away from Leskov, in particular the publishers of Otechestvennye Zapiski. The writer is published in the Russian Bulletin, signing with the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky.
1865 - “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” was written.
1866 – birth of son Andrei. In the 1930s and 1940s, it was he who for the first time wrote a biography of his father.
1867 - Leskov turns to drama, this year on stage Alexandrinsky Theater His play “The Spendthrift” is being staged.
1870 - 1871 - work on the second, just as “anti-nihilistic” as “Nowhere”, the novel “On Knives”. The work already entails political accusations against the author.
1873 - Nikolai Leskov’s stories “The Enchanted Wanderer” and “The Sealed Angel” are published. Gradually, the writer’s relationship with the “Russian Messenger” deteriorated. A breakup occurs, and Leskov’s family is threatened by lack of money.
1874 - 1883 - Leskov works in a special department of the Academic Committee of the Ministry of Public Education for the “review of books published for the people.” This brings a small, but still income.
1875 - second trip abroad. Leskov is completely disillusioned with his religious hobbies. Upon his return, he writes a number of anecdotal and sometimes satirical essays about clergy (“Little things in bishop’s life,” “Diocesan court,” “Synodal persons,” etc.).
1877 - Empress Maria Alexandrovna speaks positively about Nikolai Leskov’s novel “The Soborians”. The author immediately manages to get a job as a member of the educational department of the Ministry of State Property.
1881 - one of Leskov’s most famous works “Lefty (The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea)” was written.
1883 - final dismissal from government service. Leskov accepts the resignation with joy.
1887 - Nikolai Semenovich Leskov meets L.N. Tolstoy, who had a huge influence on the writer’s later work. In his own words, Leskov “sensing his (Tolstoy’s) enormous strength, threw down his bowl and went after his lantern.”
In their latest works Leskov criticizes the entire political system Russian Empire. All the time, starting with the break with the magazine "Russian Messenger", Leskov was forced to publish in specialized and small-circulation, sometimes provincial leaflets, newspapers and magazines. Of the major publications, his works are taken only by “Historical Bulletin”, “Russian Thought”, “Week”, and in the 1890s - “Bulletin of Europe”. He does not sign every work with his own name, but the writer does not have a permanent pseudonym. His most famous pseudonyms are V. Peresvetov, Nikolai Ponukalov, priest. Peter Kastorsky, Psalmist, Man from the Crowd, Lover of Watches.
March 5 (February 21), 1895 - Nikolai Semenovich Leskov dies in St. Petersburg. The cause of death is an asthma attack, which tormented the writer for the last 5 years of his life. Buried at Volkovskoye Cemetery
Brief biography of Nikolai Leskov
Nikolay Semyonovich Leskov – Russian writer XIX century, according to many, the most national writer of Russia. Leskov was born on February 16, 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo (Oryol province) in a spiritual environment. The writer's father was an official of the criminal chamber, and his mother was a noblewoman. Nikolai spent his childhood years on the family estate in Orel. In 1839 the Leskov family moved to the village of Panino. Life in the village left its mark on the writer’s work. He studied the people through their everyday life and conversations, and also considered himself one of the people.
From 1841 to 1846 Leskov attended the Oryol gymnasium. In 1848, he lost his father, and their family property burned down in a fire. Around this time, he entered the service of the criminal chamber, where he collected a lot of material for his future works. A year later he was transferred to the state chamber of Kyiv. There he lived with his uncle Sergei Alferyev. In Kyiv, in his free time from work, he attended lectures at the university, was interested in icon painting and the Polish language, and also attended religious and philosophical circles and communicated a lot with Old Believers. During this period, he developed an interest in Ukrainian culture, in the works of Herzen and Taras Shevchenko.
In 1857, Leskov resigned and entered the service of Scott, the English husband of his aunt. While working for Schcott & Wilkens, he gained extensive experience in many sectors, including industry and agriculture. For the first time, he showed himself as a publicist in 1860. A year later he moved to St. Petersburg and decided to devote himself to literary activity. His works began to appear in Otechestvennye zapiski. Many of his stories were based on knowledge of Russian original life, and were imbued with sincere participation in the needs of the people. This can be seen in the stories “The Extinguished Cause” (1862) and “Musk Ox” (1863), in the story “The Life of a Woman” (1863), in the novel “Outlooked” (1865). One of the writer’s most popular works was the story “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” (1865).
In his stories, Leskov also tried to show tragic fate Russia and its unpreparedness for the revolution. In this regard, he was in conflict with the revolutionary democrats. Much has changed in the writer’s work after meeting Leo Tolstoy. National-historical issues also appeared in his works of 1870-1880. During these years, he wrote several novels and stories about artists. Among them are “Islanders”, “Soborians”, “Sealed Angel” and others. Leskov has always admired the breadth of the Russian soul, and this theme is reflected in the story “Lefty”. The writer died in St. Petersburg on March 5, 1895 at the age of 64. He was buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Video short biography of Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov is one of the most amazing and original Russian writers, whose fate in literature cannot be called simple. During his lifetime, his works mostly caused a negative attitude and were not accepted by the majority of progressive people of the second half of the nineteenth century. Meanwhile, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy called him “the most Russian writer,” and Anton Pavlovich Chekhov considered him one of his teachers.
It can be said that Leskov’s work was truly appreciated only at the beginning of the twentieth century, when articles by M. Gorky, B. Eikhenbaum and others were published. L. Tolstoy’s words that Nikolai Semenovich was “the writer of the future” were truly prophetic.
Origin
Leskov’s creative destiny was largely determined by the environment in which he spent his childhood and adult life.
He was born in 1831, February 4 (16 according to the new style), in the Oryol province. His ancestors were hereditary clergymen. The grandfather and great-grandfather were priests in the village of Leska, which is where the writer’s surname most likely came from. However, Semyon Dmitrievich, the author’s father, broke this tradition and received the title of nobleman for his service in the Oryol chamber of the criminal court. Marya Petrovna, the writer’s mother, nee Alfereva, also belonged to this class. Her sisters were married to wealthy people: one to an Englishman, the other to an Oryol landowner. This fact will also have an impact on Leskov’s life and work in the future.
In 1839, Semyon Dmitrievich had a conflict in the service, and he and his family moved to Panin Farm, where his son’s real acquaintance with the original Russian speech began.
Education and beginning of service
The writer N. S. Leskov began his studies in the family of wealthy relatives of the Strakhovs, who hired German and Russian teachers and a French governess for their children. Even then, his extraordinary talent was fully revealed. little Nicholas. But he never received a “great” education. In 1841, the boy was sent to the Oryol provincial gymnasium, from which he left five years later with two classes of education. Perhaps the reason for this lay in the peculiarities of teaching, built on rote learning and rules, far from the lively and inquisitive mind that Leskov possessed. The writer’s biography includes further service in the treasury chamber, where his father served (1847-1849), and transfer at his own request after his tragic death as a result of cholera to the treasury chamber of the city of Kyiv, where his maternal uncle S.P. Alferyev lived . The years of stay here gave a lot to the future writer. Leskov attended lectures at Kiev University as a free listener, independently studied the Polish language, for some time became interested in icon painting and even attended a religious and philosophical circle. Acquaintance with Old Believers and pilgrims also influenced Leskov’s life and work.
Work at Schcott and Wilkens
A real school for Nikolai Semenovich was working in the company of his English relative (aunt’s husband) A. Schcott in 1857-1860 (before the collapse of the trading house). According to the writer himself, these were best years when he “saw a lot and lived easily.” Due to the nature of his service, he had to constantly travel around the country, which provided enormous material in all spheres of life of Russian society. “I grew up among the people,” Nikolai Leskov later wrote. His biography is an acquaintance with Russian life first-hand. This is being in a truly popular environment and personal knowledge of all the hardships of life that befall the common peasant.
In 1860, Nikolai Semenovich short time returns to Kyiv, after which he ends up in St. Petersburg, where his serious literary activity.
Leskov's creativity: formation
The writer's first articles on corruption in medical and police circles were published in Kyiv. They aroused strong responses and became the main reason that the future writer was forced to leave his service and go in search of a new place of residence and work, which is what St. Petersburg became for him.
Here Leskov immediately declares himself as a publicist and is published in “Notes of the Fatherland”, “Northern Bee”, “Russian Speech”. For several years, he signed his works with the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky (there were others, but this one was used most often), which soon became quite notorious.
In 1862 there was a fire in the Shchukin and Apraksin courtyards. Nikolai Semenovich Leskov responded vividly to this event. A short biography of his life includes such an episode as an angry tirade from the tsar himself. In an article about the fires published in the Northern Bee, the writer expressed his point of view regarding who could be involved in them and what their purpose was. He believed that the nihilistic youth, who never enjoyed his respect, were to blame for everything. The authorities were accused of not paying enough attention to the investigation of the fact, and the arsonists remained undetected. The criticism that immediately fell upon Leskov, both from democratically minded circles and from the administration, forced him to leave St. Petersburg for a long time, since no explanations from the writer regarding the written article were accepted.
The western borders of the Russian Empire and Europe - Nikolai Leskov visited these places during the months of disgrace. His biography from that time on included, on the one hand, recognition of a writer who was absolutely unlike anyone else, and on the other, constant suspicions, sometimes reaching the point of insults. They were especially evident in the statements of D. Pisarev, who considered that Stebnitsky’s name alone would be enough to cast a shadow both on the magazine publishing his works and on the writers who found the courage to publish together with the scandalous author.
Novel "Nowhere"
His first serious work of art. In 1864, the Reading Magazine published his novel Nowhere, begun two years earlier during a trip to the West. It satirically depicted representatives of the nihilists that were quite popular at that time, and in the appearance of some of them the features of real people were clearly discernible. And again attacks with accusations of distorting reality and that the novel is the fulfillment of an “order” from certain circles. Nikolai Leskov himself was critical of the work. His biography, primarily creative, was predetermined for many years by this novel: his works were refused to be published by the leading magazines of the time for a long time.
The origin of the fantastic form
In the 1860s, Leskov wrote several stories (among them “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”), in which the features of a new style were gradually defined, which later became a kind of calling card of the writer. This is a tale with amazing, unique humor and a special approach to depicting reality. Already in the twentieth century, these works would be highly appreciated by many writers and literary critics, and Leskov, whose biography is one of constant clashes with leading representatives of the second half of the nineteenth century, will be placed on a par with N. Gogol, M. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov. However, at the time of publication, practically no attention was paid to them, since everyone was still under the impression of his previous publications. The production also attracted negative criticism. Alexandria Theater the play “The Spendthrift” about the Russian merchants, and the novel “On Knives” (all about the same nihilists), because of which Leskov entered into a sharp polemic with the editor of the magazine “Russian Messenger” M. Katkov, where his works were mainly published.
Showing true talent
Only after going through numerous accusations, sometimes reaching the point of direct insults, was N. S. Leskov able to find a real reader. His biography took a sharp turn in 1872, when the novel “The Soborians” was published. Its main theme is the opposition of the true Christian faith to the official one, and the main characters are the clergy of the old times and the nihilists and officials of all ranks and areas, including the church, opposed to them. This novel became the beginning of the creation of works dedicated to the Russian clergy and preserving folk traditions local nobles. Under his pen, a harmonious and original world emerges, built on faith. The works also contain criticism of the negative aspects of the current system in Russia. Later, this feature of the writer’s style will still open the way for him to democratic literature.
"The Tale of the Tula Oblique Left-Hander..."
Perhaps the most in a bright way, created by the writer, was Lefty, drawn in a work whose genre - a guild legend - was determined by Leskov himself during its first publication. The biography of one forever became inseparable from the life of the other. And the writer’s writing style is most often recognized precisely by the story about a skilled master. Many critics immediately seized on the version put forward by the writer in the preface that this work was just a retold legend. Leskov had to write an article about the fact that in fact “Lefty” is the fruit of his imagination and long observations of life common man. So briefly, Leskov was able to draw attention to the talent of the Russian peasant, as well as to the economic and cultural backwardness of Russia in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Later creativity
In the 1870s, Leskov was an employee of the educational department of the Academic Committee in the Ministry of Public Education, then an employee of the Ministry of State Property. Service never brought him much joy, so he accepted his resignation in 1883 as an opportunity to become independent. Literary activity has always remained the main thing for the writer. "The Enchanted Wanderer", "The Sealed Angel", "The Man on the Clock", " Non-lethal Golovan", "The Stupid Artist", "Evil" - this is a small part of the works that N. S. Leskov wrote in the 1870-1880s. Stories and tales unite the images of the righteous - straightforward, fearless heroes, unable to put up with evil. Quite often, the basis of the works was made up of memories or surviving old manuscripts. And among the heroes, along with fictional ones, there were also prototypes of real people, which gave the plot special authenticity and truthfulness. Over the years, the works themselves increasingly acquired satirical and accusatory features. As a result, stories and novels later years, including “Invisible Trace”, “Falcon Flight”, “Hare Remise” and, of course, “Devil's Dolls”, where Tsar Nicholas the First served as the prototype for the main character, were not published at all or were published with extensive censorship edits. According to Leskov, the publication of works, always quite problematic, in his declining years became completely unbearable.
Personal life
Leskov’s family life was not easy either. He married for the first time in 1853 to O. V. Smirnova, the daughter of a wealthy and famous businessman in Kyiv. From this marriage two children were born: daughter Vera and son Mitya (died in infancy). Family life was short-lived: the spouses - initially different people, increasingly moved away from each other. The situation was aggravated by the death of their son, and already in the early 1860s they separated. Subsequently, Leskov’s first wife ended up in psychiatric hospital, where the writer visited her until his death.
In 1865, Nikolai Semenovich became friends with E. Bubnova, they lived in a civil marriage, but also with her common life didn't work out. Their son, Andrei, remained with Leskov after his parents separated. He later compiled a biography of his father, published in 1954.
Such a person was Nikolai Semenovich Leskov, whose brief biography is of interest to every connoisseur of Russian classical literature.
In the footsteps of the great writer
N. S. Leskov died on February 21 (March 5, new style) 1895. His body rests in the Volkov Cemetery (on the Literary Stage), on the grave there is a granite pedestal and a large cast-iron cross. And Leskov’s house on Furshtadskaya Street, where he spent recent years life, can be recognized by the memorial plaque installed in 1981.
The memory of the original writer, who more than once returned to his native places in his works, was truly immortalized in the Oryol region. Here, in his father’s house, the only Leskov literary and memorial museum in Russia is opened. Thanks to his son, Andrei Nikolaevich, it contains large number unique exhibits related to the life of Leskov: a child, a writer, public figure. Among them are personal belongings, valuable documents and manuscripts, letters, including the writer’s class journal, and watercolors depicting Nikolai Semenovich’s home and relatives.
And in the old part of Orel to anniversary date- 150 years since his birth - a monument to Leskov was erected by Yu. Yu. and Yu. G. Orekhov, A. V. Stepanov. The writer sits on a pedestal-sofa. In the background is the Church of the Archangel Michael, which was mentioned more than once in Leskov’s works.
