Nikolai Leskov - biography, information, personal life. Brief biography of Leskov: the most important and basic Nikolai Semenovich Leskov personal life
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Nikolai Semenovich Leskov is a Russian writer, author of the famous story “Lefty,” which is included in the school curriculum. The writer deeply penetrated into the essence of the Russian people, which was reflected in his works of various genres: tales, short stories, stories, novels in the genre of realism, essays.
Biography of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov
Nikolai Semenovich was born thirty years before the abolition of serfdom, in 1831 in the Oryol province in the territory Russian Empire.
Caption: “The master's house in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol province. Nikolai Semenovich Leskov was born in this house and spent his childhood here.”
Parents:
For some time my father belonged to the clergy, but then got a job in the provincial criminal chamber. He held the position of investigator and had an extraordinary talent for investigating complex crimes.
Mother was from noble family. At the age of eight, Nikolai, along with his parents and brothers and sisters, moved to Panin Farm in the vicinity of Kromy. In this area he became acquainted with the life and character of the simple Russian people.
Childhood and youth
In 1841, the future writer went to school, where in five years he was able to complete only the first and second grade curriculum.
In the summer of 1847, the young man began to serve in the office of the same court where his father worked. But the next year his father passed away. Leskov turned to the leadership with a request to transfer him to Kyiv. His request is granted, and he settles in the city with a distant relative.
During his seven years in Ukraine, Leskov perfectly mastered not only Ukrainian, but Polish. He took a course in philosophy and religion at Kiev University. At this time, he quite often communicated with Old Believers and religious pilgrims.
Zhuravsky had a huge influence on the writer with his ideas of abolishing serfdom. In my last year educational institution Leskov resigns from government office. He begins to work for his aunt's relative, Mr. A. Ya. Shkott. The company was called "Schcott and Wilkens" and was located in the Penza region.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov
From this enterprise he received enough money to feed himself and travel around Russia. During his travels, he gained a deeper understanding of the language and culture of various regions of the vast empire. He remembers these years as the best of his life. Leskov wrote about this in the Russian Society in Paris under the pseudonym Stebnitsky.
After the closure of the trading company, Leskov returns to Kyiv and writes literary works, works as a journalist for Modern Medicine. There he becomes a scandalous author of exposes of government doctors. Accused of bribes, he left his job.
Saint Petersburg
Six months later, Leskov moves in with his friend Vernadsky. St. Petersburg Vedomosti regularly publishes his essays. Most often, it was published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, not without the assistance of a familiar publicist from the Oryol province.
Thus, the first major publication, “Essays on the Distilling Industry,” appeared. Sovremennik magazine highly appreciated Leskov’s work.
Nikolai Semenovich clearly showed himself as a writer in 1863. From his pen came “The Life of a Woman,” and later “Nowhere.” In these works one can clearly see satire of the everyday life of nihilism. The work of a simple peasant is praised, family traditions.
Its parallels were easily discerned in the publishing house's management. Therefore, his work and he himself received negative feedback. His protest to the democratic views of the writers of that time, as well as his radical inclinations, were blamed.
Many believed that he wrote novels on the instructions of some third party. However, the writer himself denied these speculations. But he could no longer publish in popular publications. All that remained was for Katkov to publish his works in Russky Vestnik.
1881 was marked by the release of the story “The Tale of the Tula Scythe and the Steel Flea,” which the author himself characterizes as ambiguously good. Everything is intertwined in him, both good and evil.
It is immediately unclear who helps the common cause and who spoils everything. But Lefty was one of the “Righteous” (a collection of portraits of Russian people, expressed in vivid characters in stories).
Leskov's personal life
Leskov was married twice:
- first wife - Olga Smirnova, daughter of a Kyiv businessman. She suffered from mental illness, was treated, but the family broke up. Children: son Mitya (died as an infant); daughter Vera;
- second wife - Ekaterina Bubnova. In this civil marriage, a son, Andrei, was born. In 1877, the married couple separated.
Nikolai Semenovich was kindest person and convinced. He believed that a reasonable person should not kill animals.
N. S. Leskov, 1892
In recent years, the writer suffered from asthma and died from this disease in 1895 in St. Petersburg. There he was interred. Currently, the writer's biography is studied in literature classes in schools.
His works leave in the reader’s soul a feeling of penetration into the Russian essence, into the life of the Russian people as they were created since the times Ancient Rus'.
Don't miss the video! Here is more detailed and interesting story“Nikolai Semenovich Leskov: biography and work of the writer”
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, the extraordinary talent of little Nikolai was fully revealed. 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 a 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 the 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 returned to Kyiv for a short time, after which he ended up in St. Petersburg, where his serious literary activity began.
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. Brief biography his life also 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 incident, 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 article written 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 changed little in his attitude towards Leskov’s damaged reputation. 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: the leading magazines of that time refused to publish his works for a long time.
The origin of the fantastic form
In the 1860s, Leskov wrote several stories (among them “Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district"), in which the features of a new style are 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. Negative criticism was also caused by the production at the Alexandria Theater of the play “The Spendthrift” about the Russian merchants, and the novel “On the 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 mostly 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 local nobles who preserve folk traditions. 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 into democratic literature.
"The Tale of the Tula Oblique Left-Hander..."
Perhaps the most striking image 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 how, in fact, “Lefty” is the fruit of his imagination and long observations of the life of an ordinary person. 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 Captured Angel”, “The Man on the Clock”, “The Non-Lethal Golovan”, “The Stupid Artist”, “Evil” - this is a small part of the works that Leskov N. S. wrote in the 1870-1880s. Stories and the stories are united by the images of the righteous - heroes who are straightforward, fearless, and 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, grew increasingly distant 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 a 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 a large number of unique exhibits related to the life of Leskov: a child, a writer, a 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, for the 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.
Nikolai Leskov is called the founder of Russian skaz - in this regard, the writer stands on a par with. The author became famous as a publicist with a sharp pen that exposed the vices of society. And later he surprised his colleagues with his knowledge of the psychology, morals and customs of the people of his native country.
Childhood and youth
Leskov was born in the village of Gorokhovo (Oryol province). The writer's father, Semyon Dmitrievich, came from an old spiritual family - his grandfather and father served as priests at a church in the village of Leski (hence the surname).
And the future writer’s parent himself graduated from seminary, but then worked in the Oryol Criminal Chamber. He was distinguished by his great talent as an investigator, capable of unraveling even the most complex case, for which he quickly rose through the ranks and received a noble title. Mom Maria Petrovna came from the Moscow nobility.
In the Leskov family, which settled in the administrative center of the province, five children grew up - two daughters and three sons, Nikolai was the eldest. When the boy was 8 years old, his father had a strong quarrel with his superiors and, taking his family, retired to the village of Panino, where he took up farming - he plowed, sowed, and looked after the garden.
Young Kolya had a disgusting relationship with his studies. For five years the boy studied at the Oryol gymnasium, and in the end he had a certificate of completion of only two classes. Leskov’s biographers blame this on the education system of those times, which through cramming and inertia discouraged the desire to comprehend science. Especially such extraordinary, creative personalities as Kolya Leskov.
Nikolai had to go to work. The father assigned his son to the criminal ward as an employee, and a year later he died of cholera. At the same time, another grief befell the Leskov family - the house with all its property burned to the ground.
Young Nikolai set off to explore the world. At his own request, the young man was transferred to the government chamber in Kyiv, where his uncle lived and taught at the university. In the Ukrainian capital, Leskov plunged into an interesting, eventful life - he became interested in languages, literature, philosophy, sat at his desk as a volunteer at the university, and moved in the circles of sectarians and Old Believers.
Enriched life experience the future writer's job is with another uncle. My mother’s sister’s English husband invited his nephew to join his company, Schcott and Wilkens, a position that required long and frequent business trips throughout Russia. The writer called this time the best in his biography.
Literature
The idea of devoting his life to the art of words visited Leskov for a long time. For the first time, the young man thought about the writing field while traveling around the Russian expanses with assignments from the company “Schcott and Wilkens” - the trips gave bright events and types of people who just begged to be written down on paper.
Nikolai Semenovich took his first steps into literature as a publicist. He wrote articles “on the topic of the day” in St. Petersburg and Kyiv newspapers; officials and police doctors were criticized for corruption. The success of the publications was enormous, and several internal investigations were opened.
Trying to write as an author works of art happened only at the age of 32 - Nikolai Leskov wrote the story “The Life of a Woman” (today we know it as “Cupid in Shoes”), which was received by readers of the magazine “Library for Reading”.
From the very first works, people started talking about the writer as a master who could vividly convey female images with a tragic fate. And all because after the first story, the brilliant, heartfelt and complex essays “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and “Warrior” were published. Leskov skillfully wove individual humor and sarcasm into the dark side of life presented, demonstrating a unique style, which was later recognized as a type of skaz.
Nikolai Semenovich’s literary interests also included drama. Beginning in 1867, the writer began creating plays for theaters. One of the popular ones is “Spendthrift”.
Leskov loudly declared himself as a novelist. In the books “Nowhere”, “Bypassed”, “On Knives” he ridiculed revolutionaries and nihilists, declaring Russia’s unpreparedness for radical changes. After reading the novel “On Knives” he gave this assessment of the writer’s work:
“...after the evil novel “On Knives” literary creativity Leskova immediately becomes a bright painting or, rather, an icon painting - he begins to create for Russia an iconostasis of its saints and righteous people.”
After the publication of novels criticizing revolutionary democrats, magazine editors organized a boycott of Leskov. Only Mikhail Katkov, who heads the Russian Messenger, did not refuse to cooperate with the writer, but it was impossible to work with this writer - he mercilessly corrected the manuscript.
The next work included in the treasury native literature, became a legend about the master gunsmith “Lefty”. In it, Leskov’s unique style shone with new facets, the author sprinkled in original neologisms, layered events on top of each other, creating a complex framework. They started talking about Nikolai Semenovich as a strong writer.
In the 70s, the writer went through difficult times. The Ministry of Public Education appointed Leskov to the position of evaluator of new books - he decided whether publications could be released to the reader or not, and received a meager salary for this. In addition, the next story, “The Enchanted Wanderer,” was rejected by all editors, including Katkov.
The writer conceived this work as an alternative to the traditional genre of the novel. The story combines unrelated plots, and they are not finished. Critics smashed “free form” to smithereens, and Nikolai Semenovich had to publish fragments of his brainchild in a scattering of publications.
Subsequently, the author turned to creating idealized characters. From his pen came a collection of short stories, “The Righteous,” which included sketches “The Man on the Clock,” “The Figure,” and others. The writer presented straightforward, conscientious people, claiming that he met everyone at life path. However, critics and colleagues accepted the work with sarcasm. In the 80s, the righteous acquired religious traits - Leskov wrote about the heroes of early Christianity.
At the end of his life, Nikolai Semenovich again turned to exposing officials, military men, and representatives of the church, giving literature the works “The Beast,” “The Stupid Artist,” and “The Scarecrow.” And it was at this time that Leskov wrote stories for children's reading, which magazine editors gladly accepted.
Among the literary geniuses who later became famous, there were loyal fans of Nikolai Leskov. considered the nugget from the Oryol outback “the most Russian writer,” and they elevated the man to the rank of their mentors.
Personal life
By the standards of the 19th century, Nikolai Semenovich’s personal life was unsuccessful. The writer managed to walk down the aisle twice, the second time with his first wife alive.
Leskov married early, at 22 years old. The chosen one was Olga Smirnova, the heiress of a Kyiv entrepreneur. This marriage produced a daughter, Vera, and a son, Mitya, who died while still young. The wife suffered from a mental disorder and later was often treated at the St. Nicholas Clinic in St. Petersburg.
Nikolai Semenovich, in fact, lost his wife and decided to join civil marriage with Ekaterina Bubnova, who has been a widow for several years. In 1866, Leskov became a father for the third time - his son Andrei was born. Along this line, in 1922, the future ballet celebrity Tatyana Leskova, great-granddaughter of the author of The Enchanted Wanderer, was born. But Nikolai Semenovich did not get along with his second wife either; after 11 years, the couple separated.
Leskov was known as an ideological vegetarian; he believed that animals should not be killed for food. The man published an article in which he divided vegans into two camps - those who eat meat, observing a kind of fast, and those who feel sorry for innocent living beings. He considered himself one of the latter. The writer called for the creation of a cookbook for like-minded Russians, which would include “green” recipes from products available to Russians. And in 1893 such a publication appeared.
Death
Nikolai Leskov suffered from asthma all his life, in recent years the disease has worsened, and attacks of suffocation began to happen more and more often.
On February 21 (March 5, new style), 1895, the writer was unable to cope with the exacerbation of the illness. Nikolai Semenovich was buried in St. Petersburg at the Volkovsky cemetery.
Bibliography
- 1863 – “The Life of a Woman”
- 1864 – “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”
- 1864 – “Nowhere”
- 1865 – “Bypassed”
- 1866 – “Islanders”
- 1866 – “Warrior”
- 1870 – “At Knives”
- 1872 – “The Soborians”
- 1872 – “The Sealed Angel”
- 1873 – “The Enchanted Wanderer”
- 1874 – “A Seedy Family”
- 1881 – “Lefty”
- 1890 – “Devil's Dolls”
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 his retirement, Leskov’s father took up farming in the Panin farmstead he acquired in Kromsky district. 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, from 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, his mother’s brother, a 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 was awakened; he became interested in ancient painting and architecture of Kyiv, later becoming an outstanding connoisseur of 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 activities. 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 talks 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 a great influence on him. 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.
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 Kyiv 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 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 the general title “The Righteous” (“Figure”, “Man on the Clock”, “The Immortal 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 distillery industry" (1861; article; published in April 1861 in the journal "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 stage 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)
.« Mystery 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 on the 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 “The Righteous”; the hero of the story belongs to the 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 “Yuletide Stories” series)
.“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 artist”)
.“Lefty” (1883; tale, later included in the collection “Righteous”)
.“Alexandrite” (1885; story from the series “Stories by the Way”)
.“The Old Genius” (1884; story from the “Yuletide Stories” series)
.“The Scarecrow” (1885; a 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 censors)
.“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 that criticized political system 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, the plot-compositional and figurative systems of the story 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 at first extra-plot characters, a collective image of 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 person.
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 story, spoken lines the author regarding the concept of A. S. Khomyakov, various ideas about the purpose of Russia. The 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 the complex theme of 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 as firmness of spirit, warm hospitality, and patriotism. Sambursky is 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 strong sides, is depicted in the story in a multifaceted way, set off from all other characters’ 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 as reformers are distinguished by different attitudes towards people, towards their fate, 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- do not go against your 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 the 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 rare ones in the national consciousness mixed colors(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 violet kamilavka”, Marfa Plodomasova’s “bright orange skirt”, “blange cloud”.
The colorisms used by the writer can be classified into 8 rows with general meaning some basic color. The most numerous rows of colorisms in the works of this writer are the 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, two functions of colorisms can be identified: symbolization and figurative-expressive. 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 of a 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 colorisms 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. The stylistic feature of Leskov’s colorisms is 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 “belief” 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. At the 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. They only reach the mountain strong in spirit, those that 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 in one’s inner world and in comprehending the essence of God's world of Zeno and Nephora who ascended the mountain. If Zeno is initially shown in the story as an “already accomplished” Christian with enormous strength of will, spirit and faith, then Nephora had to fall many times before rising. Both who underwent 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 are similar not so much structurally as semantically, therefore they are isomorphs. 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.
The mythologeme of “the path,” central to the Christian cultural tradition, is included in the text of Leskov’s story with 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 “leaving” (literally, the fall of the iconographic angelic image from the 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 the plot of anxiety and Mikhailitsa’s prophetic dream. The entire dream is built on semantics destruction, death, which is actualized 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 burned ", "the river carries ash, yes... it twists and swallows and sucks into the depths" and abstract nouns conveying the psychological state of fear, anxiety, horror.
The “ascent” of the angel on 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 also not accidental here. The ritual erection of the “stairs” along which the icon was “raised” is saturated with the 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” actions"). 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 below in the text “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 “personalized 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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Russian writer Nikolai Semenovich Leskov was born on February 16 (February 4, old style) 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol province. His grandfather was a clergyman in the village of Leski, Karachevsky district, Oryol province. From the name of the village of Leski the family surname Leskov was formed. Nikolai Leskov's father, Semyon Dmitrievich (1789-1848), served as assessor of the Oryol chamber of the criminal court and, based on his length of service, received hereditary nobility. Mother - Marya Petrovna Alfereva (1813-1886) belonged to a noble family.
Nikolai Leskov spent his childhood in Orel, and in 1839, when his father retired and bought the Panino farm in the Kromsky district of the Oryol province, the whole family left Orel for their tiny estate. Leskov received his initial education in Gorokhovo in the house of the Strakhovs, wealthy maternal relatives, where he was sent by his parents due to a lack of his own funds for home education.
In 1941, Nikolai Leskov was sent to study at the Oryol provincial gymnasium, but he studied unevenly and in 1846, unable to pass the transfer exams, he was expelled. His father got him a job as a scribe in the Oryol Chamber of the Criminal Court. In those years, he read a lot and moved in the circle of the Oryol intelligentsia. The sudden death of his father in 1848 and the “disastrous ruin” of the family changed the fate of Nikolai Leskov. At the end of 1949, he moved to Kyiv, where he lived with his uncle, a university professor.
From 1949 to 1956 he served in the Kyiv Treasury Chamber in various positions: first as an assistant to the chief of the recruitment desk of the audit department, from 1853 - as a collegiate registrar, then as a chief of staff, from 1856 - as a provincial secretary. During these years, Leskov did a lot of self-education. As a volunteer student, he attended lectures at Kiev University on agronomy, anatomy, criminology, and state law, studied the Polish language, participated in a religious and philosophical student circle, and communicated with pilgrims, sectarians, and Old Believers.
In 1930-1940 Andrei Leskov (1866-1953), the son of the writer, compiled a biography of Nikolai Leskov, published in 1954 in two volumes.
The material was prepared based on information from open sources.
