Leskov Nikolai Semenovich is an outstanding Russian writer of the 19th century, whose artistic work was not always fairly evaluated by his contemporaries. He began his literary activity under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky.
Leskov's biography briefly
Born February 4, 1831 in the Oryol province. His father was the son of a priest, but by the nature of his service he received the nobility. Mother was from a poor noble family. The boy grew up in the rich house of his maternal uncle and studied at the Oryol gymnasium. The death of his father and the loss of a small fortune in the terrible Oryol fires of the 40s did not allow him to complete the course. At the age of 17, he began serving as a small clerical worker in the Oryol Criminal Chamber. Later, he goes to serve in the Kyiv Chamber and replenishes his education with reading. As a secretary of the recruiting presence, he often travels to the counties, which enriched his life with knowledge of folk life and customs. From 1857, he entered the private service of his distant relative Shkott, who managed the rich estates of Naryshkin and Count Perovsky. By the nature of his service, Nikolai Semenovich travels a lot, which adds to his observations, characters, images, types, well-aimed words. In 1860, he published several lively and imaginative articles in the central publications, moved to St. Petersburg in 1861, and completely devoted himself to literature.
Creativity Leskov
Striving for a fair explanation of the fires in St. Petersburg, Nikolai found himself embroiled in an ambiguous situation, due to ridiculous rumors and gossip, he was forced to go abroad. Abroad, he wrote a great novel "Nowhere". In this novel, which caused a flurry of indignant responses from the progressive Russian society, he, adhering to liberal sanity and hating any extremes, describes all the negative aspects in the movement of the sixties. In the indignation of critics, among whom was Pisarev, it was not noticed that the author noted a lot of positive things in the nihilist movement. For example, civil marriage seemed to him quite a reasonable phenomenon. So accusing him of retrograde and even of supporting and justifying the monarchy were unfair. Well, here is the author, who is still writing under the pseudonym Stebnitsky, which is called "bitten the bit" and published another novel about the nihilist movement "On the Knives". In all his work, this is the most voluminous and the worst work. He himself later could not bear to think about this novel - a tabloid-melodramatic sample of second-rate literature.
Leskov - Russian national writer
Having finished with nihilism, he enters the second, better half of his literary activity. In 1872, the novel "Soboryane", dedicated to the life of the clergy, was published. These Stargorod chronicles brought great success to the author. The author realizes that his main literary vocation is to find a bright, colorful spot among the daily routine of gray everyday life. The wonderful stories "The Enchanted Wanderer" appear one after another. ”, “The Sealed Angel” and others. These works, which made up a whole volume in the Collected Works under the general title “The Righteous”, completely changed public opinion in society towards Leskov and even affected his career, however, very slightly. Already in 1883, he resigns and rejoices at the independence he has gained and tries to devote himself entirely to religious and moral issues. Although the sobriety of the mind, the absence of mysticism and ecstasy is felt in all subsequent works, and this duality affects not only the works, but also the life of the writer. He was alone in his work. Not a single Russian writer could boast of such an abundance of plots that exist in his stories. After all, even at the plot twists of The Enchanted Wanderer, which the author expounds in a colorful and original language, but concisely and succinctly, you can write a multi-volume work with a large number of heroes. But Nikolai Semenovich in literary work sins with such a drawback as the lack of a sense of proportion, and this often leads him from the path of a serious artist to the path of an entertaining anecdote Leskov died on February 21, 1895, and was buried in St. Petersburg.
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov is a unique, original Russian writer, an enchanted wanderer of Russian literature.
Family and childhood
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born on February 16 (February 4 - according to the old style) 1831 in the Oryol province - in the village of the Oryol district.
Father - Semyon Dmitrievich Leskov (1789-1848), came from a family of clergymen. And the father of Semyon Dmitrievich, and grandfather, and great-grandfather ruled the holy service in the village, hence the family name - Leskovs. After graduating from the Sevsk Seminary, Semyon Dmitrievich returned home. However, despite the will of the parent, he irrevocably abandoned the spiritual career. For which he was expelled from the house by his father, who had a very sharp disposition. Well educated, smart, active person. Initially, Leskov labored in the field of tutoring. He very successfully taught in the homes of local nobles, which won him a decent reputation, and also received many flattering reviews. As a result, one of the patrons recommended him to the "crown service". Starting his career from the bottom, Semyon Dmitrievich rose to the high position of a noble assessor in the chamber of the criminal court of the Oryol province. The position he held gave him the right to a hereditary title of nobility. Leskov the father was known as a man of insight. He was a talented investigator, able to unravel the most tricky case. However, after serving for almost 30 years, he was forced to retire without a pension. The reason for this was a skirmish with the governor and the unwillingness of Semyon Dmitrievich himself to make a possible compromise. Upon his retirement, Semyon Dmitrievich bought a small estate - the Panin farm in the Kromsky district, and took up agriculture. Having been quite a “peasant”, he became disillusioned in every possible way with a quiet rural life, which he subsequently repeatedly stated to his son, Nikolai Leskov. In 1848 he died suddenly during a cholera epidemic.
The mother of Nikolai Semyonovich, Maria Petrovna Leskova (nee Alferyeva, 1813-1886), was a dowry, a representative of an impoverished noble family.
The first years of his life, little Nikolai lived in Gorokhov, on the estate of the Strakhov family, rich relatives on the maternal side. He was far from the only child in the family. Leskov lived surrounded by six cousins and sisters. Russian and German teachers, as well as a French governess, were invited to teach the children to the family. Being very gifted by nature, the boy stood out sharply against the background of other children. For this he was disliked by his cousins. Under these circumstances, the maternal grandmother, who lives there, wrote a letter to Nikolai's father and asked him to take the boy to her, which was done.
In Orel, the Leskovs lived on Third Noble Street. In 1839, Leskov Sr. retired and bought the estate - Panin Khutor. Staying at "Panin Khutor" made an indelible impression on the future writer Leskov. Direct communication with simple, peasant people most directly affected the formation of their worldview. Subsequently, Leskov will say: “I did not study the people from conversations with St.
Writer's youth
At the age of 10, Nikolai was sent to study at the Oryol gymnasium. Thanks to his innate abilities, the young man studied easily, but after 5 years of study, Leskov did not receive a certificate. Unfortunately, we do not know the exact reasons for this event. As a result, the young man received only a certificate stating that he was studying at the gymnasium. Using old connections, the father arranged the young man as a scribe in the office of the Oryol Criminal Chamber. And in 1848, at the age of seventeen, Nikolai became assistant clerk in the same institution. Work in the criminal chamber gives Leskov initial life experience, which in the future greatly helped in his literary work. In the same year, as a result of severe fires, the Leskovs lost their already modest fortune. Leskov's father died of cholera.
After the death of his father, Alferyev S.P. Leskov moved to Kyiv. There, thanks to the efforts of his uncle, he went to work in the Kyiv Treasury Chamber as an assistant clerk of the recruiting audit department. Moving to Kyiv allowed Leskov to fill in the gaps in education. He had the opportunity to privately listen to university lectures, which the young man did not fail to take advantage of. He absorbed all new knowledge like a sponge: medicine, agriculture, statistics, painting, architecture and much more. Kyiv impressed the young man with its amazing ancient architecture and painting, aroused a lively interest in ancient Russian art. In the future, Leskov became a prominent expert on these subjects. The range of his interests was unspeakably wide. He read a lot. In those years, his favorite authors were Shevchenko. Leskov knew Taras Shevchenko personally. During his life in Kyiv, Nikolai mastered the Ukrainian and Polish languages.
The progressive student environment of that time was carried away by advanced, revolutionary ideas. The writings were especially popular. This hobby did not pass and our hero. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the young Leskov was distinguished by his temper and despotism, he was not comfortable in disputes. He often acted as a stern moralist, although he himself was not a puritan. Nikolai was a member of a student religious and philosophical circle, studied the traditions of Russian pilgrimage, communicated with the Old Believers, comprehended the secrets of icon painting. Subsequently, Leskov admitted that in those years he did not have a clear idea of who he ultimately wants to become.
In 1853, despite the protests of his relatives, Leskov married Olga Smirnova, the daughter of a wealthy Kyiv landlord. During this period, Leskov significantly advanced in the service, was promoted to collegiate registrars, and a little later was appointed head of the Treasury Kyiv Chamber. In 1854, Nikolai Semenovich gave birth to the first-born - son Dmitry, and in 1856 - daughter Vera.
In 1855 the Emperor dies. His death served as a solid impetus for the further spread of free-thinking ideas in various strata of Russian society. Many bans have been lifted. The new king, essentially a conservative, in order to cool the hotheads, was forced to implement liberal reforms. In 1861 - the abolition of serfdom, followed by judicial, urban, military, zemstvo reforms.
Having agreed to a job offer received from a relative, the husband of a maternal aunt, an Englishman A. Ya. Shkot, Leskov retired in 1857. He left Kyiv, which he loved, and together with his family moved to permanent residence in the Penza province - in the village of Gorodishchensky district. Leskov's new field of activity is work at the Schcott and Wilkens company. The company was engaged in trade in agricultural products, distillery production, as well as the production of parquet boards. It was occupied by settlers - peasants from the Oryol province. On the business of the company, Leskov traveled a lot around, during his trips he saw the most diverse aspects of real Russian life. The result is a huge number of observations made during business trips, as well as a lot of practical experience gained during this most active period for Leskov. Memories of these wanderings in the future will serve as a bright beacon for the creation of unique Leskovsky works. Later, Nikolai Leskov recalled these years as the best years in his life, when he saw a lot and "lived easily." It is very likely that it was at that time that Leskov formed a clear, definite desire to convey his thoughts to Russian society.
First attempts at pen
In 1860, the Schcott and Wilkens company went bankrupt. Leskov returned to Kyiv. His goal is to study journalism and literature. After a short period of time, Leskov moved to, where he settled in the apartment of his Kyiv friend, the famous political economist and publisher Ivan Vasilyevich Vernadsky. Together with him, the official A.I. Nichiporenko, a Russian revolutionary, one of the most active emissaries of Herzen in Russia, lived in the apartment. In St. Petersburg, Leskov launched an active journalistic activity. The first attempts at writing followed in Vernadsky's journal Economic Index. Leskov wrote several sharp articles on various topics: agriculture, industry, the problem of drunkenness, and many others. He was published in many well-known publications: in the "Saint-Petersburg Vedomosti", in the journals "Domestic Notes", "Modern Medicine". In literary circles, Leskov was noted as a bright and talented author. He was invited to the position of a permanent employee in the newspaper "Northern Bee".
Nikolai Semenovich actively wrote topical essays, feuilletons, biting articles. One of the articles he wrote had a rather serious impact on the fate of the writer. The material was devoted to fires in Shchukin and Apraksin yards. At that time, there were rumors in the city about revolutionary students allegedly involved in arson. In his article, the writer turned to the authorities with a request to refute such offensive statements, but the democratic camp perceived such an appeal as a denunciation. In the same article, Leskov writes about the inaction of the fire brigade during the disaster, which was perceived as a criticism of the existing government. The article turned out to be objectionable to both revolutionaries and reactionaries. It came down to the king himself. After reading the article, Alexander II issued a verdict: "It should not have been missed, especially since it is a lie."
In 1862, after a scandal broke out, the editors of the Northern Bee sent Leskov on a long trip abroad. The writer went abroad for the first time, he visits the Baltic states, Poland, and then France. There, abroad, Leskov begins work on his first novel, Nowhere. A visit to Europe further strengthened Leskov's thoughts about the unpreparedness of Russian society for radical, revolutionary changes. The course of the peasant reform in 1861 forced Leskov, like many other progressive people of that time, to rethink Russian reality. Leskov, hitherto considered a liberal, a follower of the most advanced ideas, found himself on the other side of the barricades.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov was a man who deeply knew, understood, and felt his native Russian people. At some point, he saw the scale of a possible catastrophe that could completely destroy the very foundations of Russian traditional life. A true understanding of Russian reality set Leskov on his own path. The ideas of social utopias, requiring a radical reorganization of society, no longer attracted him. Leskov preaches the ideas of spiritual self-improvement, the development of the culture of Russian society. In his amazing works, he will talk about the great power of "small deeds."
However, despite the fact that Leskov became a champion of completely different ideas, the authorities still continued to consider him a nihilist, although in reality he never was. The police report "On writers and journalists" in 1866 noted that "Leskov is an extreme socialist and, sympathizing with everything anti-government, shows nihilism in all forms."
The beginning of his writing career dates back to 1863, the first stories of the writer "The Musk Ox" and "The Life of a Woman" are published. Leskov creates under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. An interesting feature, Leskov had a huge number of literary pseudonyms: Stebnitsky, Leskov-Stebnitsky, Nikolai Ponukalov, Freishitz, Nikolai Gorokhov, V. Peresvetov", "Dm.m-ev", "N.", "Someone", "Member of Society", "Lover of Antiquity", "Psalm Reader" and many others. In 1864, the Library for Reading magazine published Leskov's first novel, Nowhere, a work of anti-nihilist orientation. Progressive, democratic public "stood on its hind legs". A wave of deafening criticism fell upon the work. The notorious D. I. Pisarev wrote: “Apart from the Russkiy Vestnik, is there now in Russia at least one magazine that would dare to print on its pages something coming from the pen of Stebnitsky and signed by his name? Is there at least one honest writer in Russia who will be so careless and indifferent to his reputation that he will agree to work in a magazine that adorns itself with stories and novels by Stebnitsky?
In 1865, Nikolai Semenovich entered into a civil marriage with his widow Ekaterina Bubnova. A year later, they had a son, Andrei, who later wrote a book about his famous father. It should be noted that Leskov's first wife suffered from a mental disorder. In 1878, the woman was placed in a St. Petersburg hospital on the Pryazhka River, the famous S.P. Botkin oversaw the treatment.
In the same year, 1865, Leskov's second novel, The Bypassed, was published.
On the way to the Enchanted Wanderer
In 1866, the novel The Islanders was published. An interesting detail: the genius was one of the first to pay attention to Leskov. Dostoevsky considered Leskov a great writer, and by his own admission, he borrowed a lot from him, especially in terms of artistic images. Agree that the words of a human writer of this level were worth a lot, a lot.
In 1870, the novel “On the Knives” was published in the Russky Vestnik magazine (published by M.N. Katkov). The release of this work finally secured the glory of a conservative for Leskov. The author himself considered the novel extremely unsuccessful.
The year 1872 was marked by the appearance of the novel-chronicle "Cathedrals". A landmark work that touched upon the deepest questions of the spirituality of Russian society. On its pages, Leskov spoke about the dangers that lay in wait for Russia as a result of the inevitable spiritual decay. Nihilists - people without ideals and principles, according to the writer, were worse than any, the most fanatical revolutionary. Now we, people of another time, have the opportunity to appreciate the prophetic meaning of this work. The novel-chronicle "Cathedrals" is rightfully considered one of the best creations of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov.
In the summer of 1872, Leskov went to and further to Valaam. A visit to Valaam served as an impetus for writing a stunning, unique work - "The Enchanted Wanderer". Initially, it was called "Chernozemny Telemak", under this name it was proposed for publication in the "Russian Bulletin". However, M. N. Katkov refused to publish the story, considering it "raw". As a result, Leskov terminated the contract with the Russky Vestnik magazine. Even before that, Leskov had repeatedly stated the difficulties of working with Katkov, the reason for this was the most severe censorship introduced by this publisher. But in 1873 the story was published in the Russkiy Mir newspaper. The full title is "The Enchanted Wanderer, His Life, Experiences, Opinions and Adventures".
From 1874 to 1883 Leskov served in the special department "On the Review of Books Published for the People" under the Ministry of Public Education. In 1877, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, impressed by Leskov's novel "The Soboryane", gave him protection for a position - a member of the educational department in the Ministry of State Property. These positions gave the writer a modest income. In the same year, Leskov officially divorced his first wife.
In 1881, Leskov wrote and published "The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea", a work that has become a cult.
The then worldview of Leskov was vividly expressed by the cycle of essays "Trifles of Bishop's Life". The work was published from 1878 to 1883, it described the life of the highest church hierarchs. Needless to say, what extremely negative reviews the Essays caused from the side of the church leadership. Chief Prosecutor of the Synod - lobbied for Leskov's resignation from his position in the ministry. Now, having found himself without a position, Leskov completely, without a trace, devoted himself to writing.
In the late 1880s Leskov approached. He recognized the teachings of Tolstoy as "true Christianity". Tolstoy called Leskov "the most Russian of our writers." Also, like Lev Nikolaevich, Leskov was a vegetarian. Leskov's vegetarianism was reflected even in his work. For the first time in Russian literature, he created vegetarian characters. Nikolai Semenovich was one of the first authors who drew public attention to the issue of animal protection.
A special place in the writer's work is occupied by a collection of stories and legends compiled by the author himself called "The Righteous". Leskov told us the background to the creation of the collection: the writer experienced "fierce anxiety." The reason was caused by the ominous statement of the “great Russian writer” (it was A.F. Pisemsky), who accused Leskov of seeing only “nasty things” and “abominations” in all his compatriots. According to Leskov, this was deeply unfair, extreme and overwhelming pessimism. “How,” I thought, “can it really be that neither in my, nor in his, nor in anyone else’s Russian soul can you see anything but rubbish? Is it possible that everything good and good that the artistic eye of other writers has ever noticed is one fiction and nonsense? It's not only sad, it's scary." The search for the true Russian soul, faith in real kind people prompted the writer to create this unique collection. The collection was compiled gradually, it was based on the cycle of works "Three righteous and one Sheramur". Later, such stories were added as: "The Enchanted Wanderer", "The Non-Deadly Golovan", "Lefty", "The Silverless Engineers" and others.
... I blamed myself
In 1889, a ten-volume collection of Leskov's works began to be published (the 11th and 12th volumes were added later). The publication enjoyed considerable success with the public. Thanks to the royalties from the publication, Leskov even managed to somewhat improve his greatly shaken financial situation. However, this event, in addition to joy, brought with it grief - a heart attack, apparently, that struck Leskov right on the stairs of the printing house. The attack occurred after Leskov found out that the sixth volume of the collection (dedicated to religious issues) was detained by censorship.
Leskov's work has become a unique page in Russian literature. Like all brilliant authors, he is unique in his highest spiritual work. An inimitable master of the artistic word. Bright, original, sarcastic, searching. He occupies his own special place in the golden sky of great Russian literature.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov died on March 5 (February 21 according to the old style), 1895 in St. Petersburg. Information about the cause of the writer's death is contradictory: according to one version, it was an asthma attack, which he suffered in the last years of his life, according to another, as we have already noted, an angina attack. However, it is known for certain that a couple of years before his death, the writer bequeathed: “At my funeral, I ask you not to speak about me. I know that there is a lot of evil in me and that I do not deserve any praise or regret. Anyone who wants to blame me must know that I blamed myself."
Nikolai Leskov was buried at the Literary bridges of the Volkov cemetery with the silence bequeathed to him.
Dmitry Sytov
Leskov Nikolai Semenovich- Russian writer-ethnographer was born on February 16 (Old Style - February 4), 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol province, where his mother stayed with wealthy relatives, and his maternal grandmother also lived there. The Leskov family on the paternal side came from the clergy: the grandfather of Nikolai Leskov (Dmitry Leskov), his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were priests in the village of Leska, Oryol province. From the name of the village of Leski, the family surname Leskovs was formed. The father of Nikolai Leskov, Semyon Dmitrievich (1789-1848), served as a noble assessor of the Oryol Chamber of the Criminal Court, where he received the nobility. Mother, Marya Petrovna Alferyeva (1813-1886), belonged to the noble family of the Oryol province.
In Gorokhov - in the house of the Strakhovs, relatives of Nikolai Leskov on the maternal side - he lived until he was 8 years old. Nikolai had six cousins and sisters. Russian and German teachers and a Frenchwoman were taken for the children. Nikolai, gifted with greater abilities than his cousins, and more successful in his studies, was not loved, and at the request of the future writer, his grandmother wrote to his father to take his son. Nikolai began to live with his parents in Orel - in a house on Third Noble Street. Soon the family moved to the Panino estate (Panin's farm). Nikolay's father himself sowed, looked after the garden and behind the mill. At the age of ten, Nikolai was sent to study at the Oryol provincial gymnasium. After five years of study, the gifted and easily studied Nikolai Leskov received a certificate instead of a certificate, as he refused to be re-examined in the fourth grade. Further education became impossible. Nikolai's father managed to attach him to the Oryol Criminal Chamber as one of the scribes.
At the age of seventeen and a half, Leskov was appointed assistant clerk of the Oryol Criminal Chamber. In the same year, 1848, Leskov's father died, and his relative, the husband of his maternal aunt, a well-known professor at Kiev University and a practicing therapist S.P., volunteered to help in arranging the future fate of Nikolai. Alferyev (1816–1884). In 1849, Nikolai Leskov moved to Kyiv with him and was appointed to the Kyiv Treasury Chamber as an assistant clerk at the recruiting desk of the revision department.
Unexpectedly for relatives, and despite the advice to wait, Nikolai Leskov decides to get married. The chosen one was the daughter of a wealthy Kyiv businessman. Over the years, the difference in tastes and interests manifested itself more and more among the spouses. Relations became especially complicated after the death of the first-born Leskovs - Mitya. In the early 1860s, Leskov's marriage actually broke up.
In 1853, Leskov was promoted to collegiate registrar, in the same year he was appointed to the post of clerk, and in 1856 Leskov was promoted to provincial secretary. In 1857, he moved to serve as an agent in the private firm Schcott and Wilkins, headed by A.Ya. Shkott is an Englishman who married Leskov's aunt and managed the estates of Naryshkin and Count Perovsky. On their business, Leskov constantly made trips, which gave him a huge supply of observations. (“Russian Biographical Dictionary”, article by S. Vengerov “Leskov Nikolai Semenovich”) “Shortly after the Crimean War, I became infected with the then fashionable heresy, for which I later condemned myself more than once, that is, I quit the rather successfully started government service and went to serve in one from newly formed trading companies at that time. The masters of the business in which I settled down were the British. They were still inexperienced people and spent the capital brought here with stupid self-confidence. I was the only Russian.” (from the memoirs of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov) The company conducted business throughout Russia and Leskov, as a representative of the company, had a chance to visit many cities at that time. Three years of wandering around Russia was the reason that Nikolai Leskov took up writing.
In 1860, his articles were published in "Modern Medicine", "Economic Index", "St. Petersburg Vedomosti". At the beginning of his literary activity (1860s), Nikolai Leskov published under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky; later he used such pseudonyms as Nikolai Gorokhov, Nikolai Ponukalov, V. Peresvetov, Protozanov, Freishits, priest. P. Kastorsky, Psalm Reader, Watch Lover, Man from the Crowd. In 1861, Nikolai Leskov moved to St. Petersburg. In April 1861, the first article, Essays on the Distillery Industry, was published in Otechestvennye Zapiski. In May 1862, in the reformed newspaper Severnaya Pchela, which considered Leskov one of the most significant employees, under the pseudonym Stebnitsky, he published a sharp article about the fire in Apraksin and Shchukin yards. The article blamed both the arsonists, to whom popular rumor attributed the nihilist rebels, and the government, which was unable to either put out the fire or catch the criminals. A rumor spread that Leskov connected the fires in St. Petersburg with the revolutionary aspirations of students and, despite the writer's public explanations, Leskov's name became the subject of insulting suspicions. After going abroad, he began writing the novel Nowhere, in which he portrayed the movement of the 1860s in a negative light. The first chapters of the novel were published in January 1864 in the "Library for Reading" and created an unflattering fame for the author, so D.I. Pisarev wrote: “is there now in Russia, besides the Russkiy Vestnik, at least one magazine that would dare to print on its pages something coming from the pen of Stebnitsky and signed by his name? Is there at least one honest writer in Russia who will be so careless and indifferent to his reputation that he will agree to work in a magazine that adorns itself with Stebnitsky's stories and novels? In the early 80s, Leskov was published in the Historical Bulletin, from the middle of the 80s he became an employee of Russkaya Mysl and Nedelya, in the 90s he was published in Vestnik Evropy
In 1874, Nikolai Semenovich Leskov was appointed a member of the educational department of the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of Public Education; the main function of the department was "to review the books published for the people." In 1877, thanks to the positive feedback from Empress Maria Alexandrovna about the novel The Cathedral, he was appointed a member of the educational department of the Ministry of State Property. In 1880, Leskov left the Ministry of State Property, and in 1883 he was fired without a petition from the Ministry of Public Education. The resignation, which gave him independence, accepted with joy.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov died on March 5 (old style - February 21), 1895 in St. Petersburg, from another attack of asthma that tormented him for the last five years of his life. Nikolai Leskov was buried at the Volkov cemetery in St. Petersburg.
- Biography
LESKOV Nikolai Semenovich was born in the family of a petty official - a writer.
He studied at the Oryol gymnasium, served as an official in Orel and Kiev. He began his literary activity with articles on economic issues, then he wrote political articles in the newspaper Severnaya pchela. One of his articles on the fires in St. Petersburg (1862) served as the beginning of Leskov's polemics with revolutionary democracy. After leaving for a year abroad, he writes the story "The Musk Ox" (1862) there and begins work on the anti-nihilistic novel "Nowhere", which was published in 1864.
In the story "The Musk Ox" Nikolai Semyonovich draws the image of a revolutionary democrat who sacrifices his entire life to fight for the awakening of class consciousness among the people. But, while portraying the seminarian Bogoslovsky as a pure and selfless person, the writer at the same time laughs at the political propaganda that he conducts among the peasants, shows Bogoslovsky's complete isolation from life, his alienation to the people.
In the novel - "Nowhere" - Leskov draws many images of revolutionary democrats in a sharply satirical, viciously caricatured form. All democratic criticism condemned this novel. Drawing young people living in a commune, the writer wanted to ridicule the specific facts of that time: the commune of the writer V. A. Sleptsov and other communes. The novel "Nowhere" is polemically sharpened against Chernyshevsky's novel "What is to be done?". Leskov gives an interpretation of the ideological struggle of the 60s that is completely opposite to Chernyshevsky, trying to cross out the program of action that Chernyshevsky outlined for his heroes.
Ideas and actions of the heroes of "What to do?" Nikolai Semenovich reconsiders in his other novel, The Bypassed (1865). Here he gives a completely different resolution of both the love conflict and the problem of the heroine's labor activity (opposing the private workshop to the public workshop of Vera Pavlovna).
In 1862-63, Nikolai Semenovich wrote a number of truly realistic novels and stories about a serf village, in which he paints vivid pictures of poverty, ignorance, and the lack of rights of the peasantry:
"Extinguished business"
"Stingy"
"The life of a woman", as well as the spontaneous protest of the peasants against physical and spiritual bondage.
The story “The Life of a Woman” (1863), which shows the tragic death of a peasant woman defending her right to life with her beloved, is distinguished by a special artistic power. Folklore is used in this story: fairy-tale speech, folk songs.
The same theme of passionate love is unusually vividly resolved in the story. "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District"(1865). Leskov's skill as an artist manifested itself here in the depiction of characters and in the construction of a dramatic plot.
In 1867, Nikolai Semenovich published the drama The Spender, the main theme of which is the denunciation of the cruelty of the morals of a proprietary society. It reveals the ulcers of the bourgeois reality of those years, draws a number of bright types of merchants of the old and new "temper". The play "The Spender", like the story "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District", is characterized by a touch of melodrama, and an anti-nihilistic orientation is felt in it, but all this does not change the deeply realistic depiction of the life of the bourgeoisie. In terms of content and methods of satirical typification, the drama The Spender is close to Shchedrin's comedy The Death of Pazukhin.
In the story "The Warrior" (1866), the writer brilliantly portrayed the satirical type of a misanthropic philistine and hypocrite, a morally crippled environment.
The realistic works of the 1960s, and especially the satire of The Warrior Girl and The Spender, do not give grounds to enroll him unconditionally in the reactionary camp during this period, they rather testify to his lack of firm ideological positions.
Nikolai Semyonovich continued to conduct sharp polemics with the revolutionary-democratic movement in the early 70s.
In 1870 he writes a book "Mysterious person", where he outlines the biography of the revolutionary Arthur Benny, who was active in Russia. In this book, he draws with contemptuous irony and even anger the revolutionary-democratic movement of the 60s, ridicules the specific figures of this movement: Herzen, Nekrasov, brothers N. Kurochkin and V. Kurochkin, Nichiporenko and others. The book served as a publicistic introduction to the novel On Knives (1871) - an open libel on the democratic movement of those years. The distortion of reality here is so obvious that even Dostoevsky, who at that time created the reactionary novel The Possessed, wrote to A. N. Maikov that in the novel On Knives "a lot of lies, a lot of the devil knows what, as if it were happening on the moon. Nihilists are distorted to the point of idleness” (“Letters”, vol. 2, p. 320). On the Knives was Leskov's last work entirely devoted to the polemic with revolutionary democracy, although the "specter of nihilism" (Shchedrin's expression) haunted him for a number of years.
With caricature images of nihilists, Nikolai Semenovich also spoiled his realistic novel-chronicle The Cathedrals (1872), in which nihilists, in essence, play no role. The main storyline of the novel is connected with the spiritual drama of Archpriest Tuberozov and Deacon Achilles, who are fighting against ecclesiastical and secular injustice. These are truly Russian heroes, people with a pure soul, knights of truth and goodness. But their protest is futile, the struggle for the “true” church, free from worldly dirt, could not lead to anything. Both Achilles and Tuberozov were alien to the mass of churchmen, that same self-serving mass, inextricably linked with worldly authorities, which the writer portrayed in the chronicle some time later. "Little Things of Bishop's Life".
Very soon, Leskov realized that on the basis of "idealized Byzantium" "it is impossible to develop," and admitted that he would not write "Soboryan" the way they were written. The images of the "Soboryans" laid the foundation for the gallery of the Leskovsky righteous. Describing Leskov’s ideological position in the early 1970s, Gorky wrote: “After the evil novel On the Knives, Leskov’s literary work immediately becomes a vivid painting, or rather, icon painting, he begins to create for Russia an iconostasis of her saints and righteous. He, as it were, set himself the goal of encouraging, inspiring Russia, exhausted by slavery. In the soul of this man, confidence and doubt, idealism and skepticism were strangely combined” (Sobr. soch., vol. 24, M., 1953, pp. 231-233).
Nikolai Semenovichi Leskov begins to overestimate his attitude to the surrounding reality. He openly declares his departure from the reactionary literary camp led by M. N. Katkov. “I cannot but feel for him what a literary person cannot but feel for the killer of his native literature,” the writer writes about Katkov.
He also disagrees with the Slavophiles, as evidenced by his letters to I. Aksakov. During this period, he begins to create satirical works, in which with particular clarity one can see his gradual rapprochement with the democratic camp.
The review story “Laughter and Grief” (1871) opens up a kind of new stage in the creative development of the writer “I began to think responsibly when I wrote “Laughter and Grief”, and since then I have remained in this mood - critical and, within my power mine, gentle and condescending,” wrote Leskov later. The story “Laughter and Sorrow” depicts the life of the landowner Vatazhkov, for whom Russia is a country of “surprises”, where an ordinary person is unable to fight: “Here, every step is a surprise, and, moreover, the worst.” The writer showed the deep patterns of the unjust social system only as a chain of accidents - "surprises" that befell the loser Vatazhkov. And yet, this satire provided rich material for reflection. The story not only depicts the life of broad sections of post-reform Russia, but also created a number of bright satirical types, approaching the types of democratic satire of those years. The search for satirical techniques in Leskov went under the undoubted influence of Shchedrin, although his satire of the 70s. and devoid of the offensive spirit of Shchedrin. The narrator is usually chosen by Leskov as the most inexperienced in social matters, most often this is an ordinary layman. This determines the characteristic feature of the satire of those years - its everyday life.
Positive images of "Soboryan", the theme of talent, spiritual and physical power of the Russian people are further developed in the stories "The Enchanted Wanderer" And "The Sealed Angel" written in 1873.
The hero of "The Enchanted Wanderer" - Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin - a runaway serf, in appearance reminiscent of Achilles Desnitsytsa from "Cathedrals". All feelings in it are brought to extreme sizes: love, and joy, and kindness, and anger. His heart is full of all-encompassing love for the motherland and the long-suffering Russian people. “I really want to die for the people,” says Flyagin. He is a man of unbending will, incorruptible honesty and nobility. These qualities of his, like his whole life, filled with great suffering, are typical of the entire Russian people as a whole. Gorky was right, noting the typicality, the nationality of Leskov's heroes: "In every story of Leskov, you feel that his main thought is not about the fate of the person, but the fate of Russia."
The epitome of the bright talent of the Russian people in the story "The Sealed Angel" are the peasants - the builders of the Kiev bridge, striking the British with their art. They understand and feel in their hearts the great beauty of ancient Russian painting and are ready to give their lives for it. In the clash between the muzhik artel and greedy, corrupt officials, the moral victory remains on the side of the muzhiks.
In "The Sealed Angel" and "The Enchanted Wanderer" the writer's language reaches extraordinary artistic expressiveness. The story is told on behalf of the main characters, and the reader sees with his own eyes not only the events, the situation, but through speech he sees the appearance and behavior of each, even insignificant, character.
In the work of Nikolai Semenovich of the 70s and subsequent years, the motives of the national identity of the Russian people, faith in their own strength, in the bright future of Russia are extremely strong. These motives formed the basis of the satirical story "Iron Will" (1876), as well as the story "The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea" (1881).
Nikolai Semenovich created a whole gallery of satirical types in The Tale of the Lefty: Tsar Nicholas I, toadies and cowards of the "Russian" court counts Kiselvrod, Kleinmikheli and others. All of them are a force alien to the people, robbing them and mocking them. They are opposed by a man who is only one and thinks about the fate of Russia, about her glory. This is a talented self-taught craftsman Lefty. Leskov himself noted that Lefty is a generalized image: “In Lefty, I had the idea to bring out more than one person, but where “Levsha” stands, one should read “Russian people”. "Personified by the people's fantasy of the world", endowed with the spiritual wealth of the simple Russian people, Lefty managed to "shame" the British, rise above them, contemptuously treat their secure, wingless practicality and complacency. The fate of Lefty is tragic, as was the fate of the entire oppressed people of Russia. The language of "The Tale of the Lefty" is original. The narrator acts in it as a representative of the people, and therefore his speech, and often his appearance merges with the speech and appearance of Lefty himself. The speech of other characters is also transmitted through the perception of the narrator. He comically and satirically rethinks the language of an environment alien to him (both Russian and English), interprets many concepts and words in his own way, from the point of view of his idea of reality, uses purely folk speech, creates new phrases.
He used the same style of narration in the story "Leon is the butler's son"(1881), stylized as the folk language of the 17th century. The theme of the death of folk talents in Rus', the theme of exposing the feudal system with great artistic skill is solved by the writer in the story "Dumb Artist"(1883). It tells about brutally trampled love, about life ruined by a despot who has power over people. There are few books in Russian literature that capture the period of serfdom with such artistic power.
In the 70-80s. Nikolai Semenovich writes a number of works dedicated to the image of Russian righteous ( "Non-lethal Golovan", "Odnodum", "Pechora antiques"). Many stories are written on the plot of the Gospel and the Prologue. The righteous in the legends of Leskov lost their divine appearance. They acted like truly alive, suffering, loving people ( "Buffoon Pamphalon", "Ascalon villain", "Beautiful Aza", "Innocent Prudentius" and others). The legends showed the high mastery of stylization inherent in the author.
A large place in the work of Nikolai Semenovich is occupied by the theme of denunciation of Russian clergy. It acquires a particularly sharp, satirical coloring from the end of the 70s. This was due to the evolution of Leskov's worldview, his concern for the fight against the ignorance of the people, with his age-old prejudices.
A very characteristic book of satirical essays "Little Things of Bishop's Life"(1878-80), in which the pettiness, tyranny, money-grubbing of the “holy fathers”, as well as the Jesuit laws of the church and government on marriage, used by the church hierarchy for their own selfish purposes, are evilly ridiculed. The book inconsistently mixes very important and petty things, as well as sharp satire and just feuilletons, anecdotal facts, and yet, on the whole, it strongly hits the church as a faithful servant of the exploiting classes, exposes its reactionary social role, although not from an atheistic position. , but from the false positions of its renewal. During this period, the writer re-evaluates the positive images of the clergy he had previously created, including the images of the "Cathedrals". “Oaths to allow; bless knives, consecrate weaning through force; divorce marriages; enslave children; provide protection from the Creator or curse and do thousands more vulgarity and meanness, falsifying all the commandments and requests of the “righteous man hung on the cross” - this is what I would like to show people, ”Leskov writes with anger. In addition to "The Little Things of the Bishop's Life", Nikolai Semenovich wrote a large number of anti-church stories and essays, which were included (together with "The Little Things of the Bishop's Life") in the 6th volume of his first collection. op., which, by order of spiritual censorship, was confiscated and burned.
Satirical images of priests-spies and bribe-takers are also found in many of his works:
"Sheramur"
in a series of novels
"Notes from an Unknown",
"Christmas Stories",
"Stories by the Way",
stories
"Midnight",
"Winter day" ,
"Hare Remise" and others.
In his anti-church satire, Nikolai Semenovich followed Tolstoy, who began in the 80s. fight against the established church. L. Tolstoy had a great influence on the formation of the writer's ideology and on his work, especially in the 80s, but Leskov was not a Tolstoy and did not accept his theory of non-resistance to evil. The process of democratization of the writer's work becomes especially evident in the 80s and 90s. The writer follows the path of deepening the criticism of reality, subjecting at the same time to a radical revision of his previous views and beliefs. He approaches the solution of the main social problems that were at the center of attention of the democratic literature of this period.
The evolution of Leskov's worldview was difficult and painful. In a letter to the critic Protopopov, he speaks of his “difficult growth”: “Noble tendencies, church piety, narrow nationality and statehood, the glory of the country, and the like. I grew up in all this, and all this often seemed disgusting to me, but ... I did not see “where the truth is”!
In satirical works of the 80s. a great place is occupied by the struggle against the anti-people bureaucratic apparatus of the autocracy. In this struggle, he went along with Shchedrin, Chekhov and L. Tolstoy. He creates a number of satirically generalized types of predatory officials, personifying the anti-people nature of the autocracy:
"White Eagle" ,
"Simple Remedy",
"Old Genius"
"The Man on the Clock".
The images of the bourgeoisie depicted in the stories
"Midnight",
"Chertogon",
"Robbery"
"Selective Grain" and others, have much in common with similar images of Shchedrin, Nekrasov, Ostrovsky, Mamin-Sibiryak. But the writer paid the main attention to the moral character of the bourgeois, leaving aside his political activities.
In the early 90s. Nikolai Semenovich created a number of politically sharp satirical works:
stories
"Administrative Grace" (1893),
"Zagon" (1893),
"Midnight" (1891),
"Winter Day" (1894),
"Lady and fefela" (1894),
The main feature of these works is their open orientation against the reaction of the 80-90s, direct defense of the progressive forces of Russia, in particular the revolutionaries, showing the spiritual, moral corruption of the ruling classes and an angry denunciation of their methods of political struggle against the revolutionary movement. The colors of satire also became evil, the drawing of the image became immeasurably thinner, everyday satire gave way to social satire, deep generalizations appeared, expressed in figurative and journalistic form. Leskov was well aware of the destructive power of these works: “My latest works about Russian society are very cruel ... The public does not like these things for their cynicism and directness. Yes, I do not want to please the public. Let her at least choke on my stories, let her read... I want to scourge and torment her. The novel becomes an indictment of life."
In the story “Administrative Grace”, he depicts the struggle of the united reactionary camp represented by the minister, the governor, the priest and the police against a progressive-minded professor who was driven to suicide by their harassment and slander. This story could not be published during the life of the writer and appeared only in Soviet times.
In the essay "Zagon", Nikolai Semenovich's satire achieves a particularly broad political generalization. Drawing pictures of the poor and wild life of the people, who do not believe in any reforms carried out by the masters, He shows no less wild, full of superstitions, the life of the ruling society. This society is led by "apostles" of obscurantism and reaction like Katkov, who preach the separation of Russia by the "Chinese wall" from other states, the formation of their own Russian "pen". The ruling circles and the reactionary press that expresses their opinion strive to keep the people forever in bondage and ignorance. Without resorting to hyperbole in the essay, he selects such real-life facts that look even more striking than the most evil satirical hyperbole. The journalistic intensity of Leskov's satire here is in many respects close to Shchedrin's satire, although Leskov could not rise to Shchedrin's heights of satirical generalization.
Even more vivid and diverse in their artistic form are the satirical stories of Leskov N. S. "Midnight", "Winter Day", "Hare Remise". They created positive images of progressive youth fighting for the rights of the people. Basically, these are images of noble girls who have broken with their class. But Leskov's ideal is not an active revolutionary, but an educator who fights for the improvement of the social system by means of moral persuasion, by promoting the gospel ideals of goodness, justice, and equality.
The "Midnight Men" captures the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois life of the 80s, with its ignorance, cruelty, fear of the social movement and faith in the miracles of the obscurantist John of Kronstadt. The plastic expressiveness of the images of the Midnight Men is achieved by the writer mainly by emphasizing their social qualities and a peculiar, uniquely individual language. Here, Nikolai Semenovich also creates satirical images-symbols, defining the essence of their nicknames: "Echidna", "Tarantula" and the like.
But the results of Leskov's ideological evolution and the artistic achievements of his satire in the story "Hare Remise" depicting the political struggle during the reaction of the 1980s are especially expressive. Speaking about the Aesopian style in this story, Leskov wrote: “There is a “delicate matter” in the story, but everything that is ticklish is very carefully masked and deliberately confused. The flavor is Little Russian and crazy.” In this story, Nikolai Semenovich showed himself to be a brilliant student of Shchedrin and Gogol, who continued their traditions in a new historical setting. In the center of the story is Onopry Peregud, a nobleman and former bailiff, who is being treated in a lunatic asylum. He became obsessed with catching "Sicilists", which was demanded of him by the Okhrana and local police and spiritual authorities. “What a terrible environment in which he lived ... For mercy, what head can endure this and maintain a sound mind!” - says one of the heroes of the story. Peregud is a servant and at the same time a victim of the reaction, a pitiful and terrible offspring of the autocratic system. The methods of satirical typification in the "Hare Remise" are conditioned by the political task set by Leskov: to depict the social system of Russia as a kingdom of arbitrariness and madness. Therefore, Nikolai Semenovich used the means of hyperbole, satirical fiction, and the grotesque.
“Leskov Nikolai Semenovich is a magician of words, but he did not write plastically, but told stories, and in this art he has no equal,” wrote M. Gorky.
Indeed, Leskov's style is characterized by the fact that the main attention is paid to the speech of the character, with the help of which a complete picture of the era, the specific environment, the character of people, and their actions is created. The secret of the verbal mastery of Nikolai Semenovich lies in his excellent knowledge of folk life, everyday life, ideological and moral features of the appearance of all estates and classes of Russia in the 2nd half of the 19th century. “I pierced all of Rus',” one of Gorky’s heroes aptly said about Leskov.
Died -, Petersburg.
Russian writers. Biobibliographic dictionary.
Nikolai Leskov (02/04/1831 - 02/21/1895) is a Russian writer who is called the most national writer in Russia, believing that he knew the Russian people deeper and wider than all other writers. In the spiritual formation of Nikolai Leskov, an important role was also played by Ukrainian culture, which became close to him during the eight years of his Kiev life in his youth, as well as English culture, which Leskov mastered during close long-term communication with his wife's relative A. Scott.
Biography
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov was born on February 4, 1831, in the Orel district, in the village of Gorohovo. His father came from a spiritual environment, who eventually broke with her and entered the service in the Orel criminal chamber, where he rose to the ranks that gave the right to hereditary nobility. Nikolai Leskov's father had a reputation as an astute investigator and unraveled the most complex criminal cases.
Nikolai's early childhood was spent in Orel. In 1839, his father quarreled with his superiors, incurred the wrath of the governor, so the Leskov family moved to the village of Panino, located near the city of Kromy, where the future writer got acquainted with the life and language of the people.
In 1841, Nikolai was assigned to study at the Oryol provincial gymnasium, where he studied very poorly and could master only two classes in five years of study.
In 1847, Leskov was hired in the same chamber of the criminal court in which his father worked, in the place of a clerk. In 1949, Nikolai Leskov's father died of cholera. In 1949, Nikolai filed a petition for transfer to the staff of the state chamber of Kyiv and settled in Kyiv with his uncle S.P. Alferyev.
In 1850-1857, Leskov lived in Kyiv, where he attended lectures at the university as a volunteer, was fond of icon painting, studied the Polish language, participated in a student religious and philosophical circle, communicated with sectarians, Old Believers, and pilgrims. In 1853 Nikolai Leskov married Olga Smirnova, the daughter of a Kyiv businessman.
In 1857, Leskov retired from the service, began working in the company of A.Ya. Scott, husband of his aunt, where he gained a lot of practical experience, as well as knowledge in various areas of agricultural production, as well as industry. In addition, on the business of the company, Nikolai Leskov often traveled around Russia, which allowed him to get acquainted with the life and language of people living in various regions of the country.
Until 1860, Leskov and his family lived in the Penza province, the village of Rayskoye. When the Schcott and Wilkens company, in which Leskov worked, ceased to exist, Nikolai returned to Kyiv in the summer of 1860 to engage in literary and journalistic activities. Six months later, Leskov moved to St. Petersburg, where he stayed with Ivan Vernadsky.
Nikolai Leskov began to print relatively late, at the age of 28. Several of his articles were published in Saint Petersburg Vedomosti, Modern Medicine, and Economic Index. In these articles, Leskov denounced the corruption of police doctors, which led to a conflict with colleagues, accusations of bribery and the dismissal of Leskov.
Since 1862, Nikolai Leskov became an employee of the Severnaya Pchela newspaper, for which he wrote various articles and essays. Leskov's writing career began in 1863, when his first novels, The Musk Ox, and The Life of a Woman, were published, and the Library for Reading magazine began publishing his novel Nowhere, which depicted in a satirical form the life of a nihilistic commune. In 1864, the novel Nowhere was published as a separate edition, in 1865 the novel Bypassed appeared, and in 1866 - The Islanders.
As a playwright, Leskov made his debut thanks to the production of his play "The Spender" by the troupe of the Alexandrinsky Theater.
In 1865, Leskov, whose first wife suffered from a mental illness, entered into a civil marriage with Ekaterina Bubnova, and a year later their son Andrei was born.
In 1870, Leskov's novel On Knives was published, ridiculing the nihilists, with which the author himself was dissatisfied, considering it his worst work. In 1872 the novel The Soboryane was published, and in 1873 Leskov's story The Enchanted Wanderer was published.
The works of Nikolai Leskov, which were written by him at the end of his life, are distinguished by an acutely satirical orientation. The public did not like them too much for their directness and cynicism, which, however, did not upset Leskov at all.
Nikolai Leskov died on March 5, 1895. from an asthma attack that tormented the writers for the last 5 years of his life. Leskov was buried in St. Petersburg at the Volkovo cemetery.
The main achievements of Leskov as a writer
- Many great Russian writers, classics of Russian literature admired the works of Leskov and his literary talent. Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy considered Leskov "the most Russian of our writers", while Chekhov considered him one of his main teachers.
- Many researchers note Leskov's unique knowledge of the spoken Russian language, as well as the masterful use of this knowledge. Gorky declared that, as an artist of the word, Leskov is on a par with such great creators of Russian literature as Tolstoy, Turgenev, Gogol and Goncharov, and with the breadth of coverage of life phenomena, the depth of knowledge of everyday mysteries, as well as the subtle knowledge of the Russian language, he even exceeds these brilliant writers.
- Literary criticism often reproached Leskov for the deliberate expressiveness of his speech and the excessiveness of superimposed colors, but the writer himself was not going to simplify his literary language to please critics. The speech characteristics of the characters and the individualization of the language of the characters Leskov considered the most important element of literature.
The main dates of Leskov's biography
- 02/04/1831 - was born in the Oryol district, in the village of Gorohovo.
- 1839 - the Leskov family moved from Orel to the estate located in the village of Panino, Oryol province.
- 1841 - admission to the Oryol provincial gymnasium.
- 1846 - the end of the gymnasium.
- 1847 - enrollment in the chamber of the criminal court for service.
- 1848 - the appointment of an assistant clerk of the chamber of the criminal court.
- 1849 - moving to Kyiv.
- 1853 - marriage to Olga Smirnova. Leskov was promoted to collegiate registrar, and was soon appointed head of the Treasury Chamber of Kyiv.
- 1854 - the birth of his son Dmitry.
- 1856 - the birth of Leskov's daughter Vera.
- 1857 - leaving the service in the Treasury, the beginning of work in the Scott company.
- 1862 - the beginning of work in the "Northern Bee".
- 1864 - publication of the novel "Nowhere".
- 1865 - The Bypassed novel is published.
- 1866 - novel "Islanders".
- 1870 - the release of the novel "Knives".
- 1872 - the novel "Cathedrals".
- 1873 - "The Enchanted Wanderer".
- March 5, 1895 - Leskov died of an asthma attack.
- Nikolai Leskov, like Leo Tolstoy, was a vegetarian, and vegetarianism influenced not only his life, but also his work. The press sometimes ridiculed Leskov's vegetarianism, which he did not pay attention to, considering the use of animals for food completely unacceptable.
- Leskov published notes in newspapers talking about vegetarianism, and he also placed a call for a vegetarian cookbook in the Novoye Vremya newspaper. Leskov addresses the issues of animal protection and food ethics in many works. He created the first vegetarian characters in Russian literature.
