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 whole 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, according to my strength 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.
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 Leskovs was formed. The father of Nikolai Leskov, Semyon Dmitrievich (1789-1848), served as an assessor of the Oryol Chamber of the Criminal Court and received hereditary nobility by seniority. Mother - Marya Petrovna Alferyeva (1813-1886) belonged to a noble family.
Nikolai Leskov's childhood years were spent 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 arranged for him to serve as a clerk in the Oryol Chamber of the Criminal Court. In those years, he read a lot, rotated 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 in various positions: first as assistant clerk at the recruiting desk of the revision department, from 1853 - collegiate registrar, then clerk, from 1856 - provincial secretary. During these years, Leskov did a lot of self-education. As a volunteer, he attended lectures on agronomy, anatomy, criminalistics, state law at Kiev University, studied the Polish language, participated in a religious and philosophical student circle, communicated with pilgrims, sectarians, and Old Believers.
In 1930-1940. Andrei Leskov (1866-1953), the writer's son, compiled a biography of Nikolai Leskov, published in 1954 in two volumes.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources.
Nikolai Leskov is a Russian writer, publicist and memoirist. In his works, he paid great attention to the Russian people.
In the late period of his work, Leskov wrote a number of satirical stories, many of which were not censored. Nikolai Leskov was a deep psychologist, thanks to which he masterfully described the characters of his heroes.
Most of all, he is known for the famous work “Lefty”, which surprisingly conveys the features of the Russian character.
There were many interesting events in Leskov, the main ones of which we will introduce you right now.
So in front of you short biography of Leskov.
Leskov's biography
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov was born on February 4, 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol province. His father, Semyon Dmitrievich, was the son of a priest. He also graduated from the seminary, but preferred to work in the Oryol Criminal Chamber.
In the future, the stories of the father-seminarian and the grandfather-priest will seriously affect the formation of the views of the writer.
Leskov's father was a very gifted investigator, able to unravel the most difficult case. Due to his merits, he was awarded the title of nobility.
The writer's mother, Maria Petrovna, was from a noble family.
In addition to Nikolai, four more children were born in the Leskov family.
Childhood and youth
When the future writer was barely 8 years old, his father had a serious quarrel with his management. This led to the fact that their family moved to the village of Panino. There they bought a house and began to live a simple life.
Having reached a certain age, Leskov went to study at the Oryol gymnasium. An interesting fact is that in almost all subjects the young man received low marks.
After 5 years of study, he was issued a certificate of completion of only 2 classes. Leskov's biographers suggest that teachers were to blame for this, who treated students harshly and often punished them physically.
After studying, Nikolai had to get a job. His father sent him to the criminal chamber as a clerk.
In 1848, a tragedy occurred in Leskov's biography. His father died of cholera, leaving their family without support and a breadwinner.
The following year, at his own request, Leskov got a job in the state chamber in Kyiv. At that time, he lived with his own uncle.
Being at a new workplace, Nikolai Leskov became seriously interested in reading books. He soon began attending the university as a volunteer.
Unlike most students, the young man listened attentively to the lecturers, eagerly absorbing new knowledge.
During this period of his biography, he became seriously interested in icon painting, and also made acquaintance with various Old Believers and sectarians.
Then Leskov got a job at the Schcott and Wilkens company, owned by his relative.
He was often sent on business trips, in connection with which he managed to visit different ones. Later, Nikolai Leskov would call this period of time the best in his biography.
Creativity Leskov
For the first time, Nikolai Semenovich Leskov wanted to take up a pen while working at Schcott and Wilkens. Every day he had to meet different people and witness interesting situations.
Initially, he wrote articles on everyday social topics. For example, he denounced officials for illegal activities, after which criminal cases were opened against some of them.
When Leskov was 32 years old, he wrote the story "The Life of a Woman", which was later published in a St. Petersburg magazine.
He then presented several more short stories, which were positively received by critics.
Inspired by the first success, he continued writing. Soon, very deep and serious essays “The Warrior” and “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” came out from Leskov’s pen.
An interesting fact is that Leskov not only masterfully conveyed the images of his heroes, but also decorated the works with intellectual humor. They often contained sarcasm and skilfully disguised parody.
Thanks to these techniques, Nikolai Leskov developed his own and unique literary style.
In 1867 Leskov tried himself as a playwright. He wrote many plays, many of which were staged in theaters. The play "The Spender", which tells about the merchant's life, gained particular popularity.
Then Nikolai Leskov published several serious novels, including Nowhere and On Knives. In them, he criticized various kinds of revolutionaries, as well as nihilists.
Soon his novels caused a wave of discontent from the ruling elite. The editors of many publications refused to publish his works in their journals.
Leskov's next work, which today is included in the compulsory school curriculum, was "Lefty". In it, he described the masters of weapons in paints. Leskov managed to present the plot so well that they began to talk about him as an outstanding writer of our time.
In 1874, by decision of the Ministry of Public Education, Leskov was approved for the position of censor of new books. Thus, he had to determine which of the books was eligible for publication and which was not. For his work, Nikolai Leskov received a very small salary.
During this period of his biography, he wrote the story "The Enchanted Wanderer", which no publisher wanted to publish.
The story was different in that many of its plots deliberately did not have a logical conclusion. Critics did not understand Leskov's idea and were very sarcastic about the story.
After that, Nikolai Leskov released a collection of short stories "The Righteous", in which he described the fate of ordinary people who met on his way. However, these works were also negatively received by critics.
In the 80s, signs of religiosity began to clearly appear in his works. In particular, Nikolai Semenovich wrote about early Christianity.
At a later stage of his work, Leskov wrote works in which he denounced officials, military personnel and church leaders.
This period of his creative biography includes such works as "The Beast", "Scarecrow", "Dumb Artist" and others. In addition, Leskov managed to write a number of stories for children.
It is worth noting that he spoke of Leskov as "the most Russian of our writers", and they considered him one of their main teachers.
He spoke about Nikolai Leskov as follows:
“As an artist of the word, N. S. Leskov is quite worthy to stand next to such creators of Russian as L. Tolstoy, Turgenev,. Leskov’s talent, in strength and beauty, is not much inferior to the talent of any of the named creators of the sacred writings about the Russian land, and in the breadth of coverage of the phenomena of life, the depth of understanding of its everyday mysteries, and the subtle knowledge of the Great Russian language, he often exceeds his named predecessors and associates.
Personal life
In the biography of Nikolai Leskov there were 2 official marriages. His first wife was the daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur, Olga Smirnova, whom he married at the age of 22.
Over time, Olga began to have mental disorders. Later, she even had to be sent to a clinic for treatment.
Nikolai Leskov and his first wife Olga Smirnova In this marriage, the writer had a girl, Vera, and a boy, Mitya, who died at an early age.
Left virtually without a wife, Leskov began to cohabit with Ekaterina Bubnova. In 1866 their son Andrei was born. Having lived in a civil marriage for 11 years, they decided to leave.
Nikolai Leskov and his second wife Ekaterina Bubnova An interesting fact is that Nikolai Leskov was a staunch vegetarian for almost his entire biography. He was an ardent opponent of killing for food.
Moreover, in June 1892, Leskov published an appeal in the Novoye Vremya newspaper entitled “On the need to publish in Russian a well-composed detailed kitchen book for vegetarians.”
Death
Throughout his life, Leskov suffered from asthma attacks, which in recent years began to progress.
He was buried in St. Petersburg at the Volkovskoye cemetery.
Shortly before his death, in 1889-1893, Leskov compiled and published the Complete Works of A.S. Suvorin in 12 volumes, which included most of his works of art.
For the first time, a truly complete (30-volume) collected works of the writer began to be published by the Terra publishing house in 1996 and continues to this day.
If you liked Leskov's short biography, share it on social networks. If you like biographies of great people in general, and in particular, subscribe to the site. It's always interesting with us!
Liked the post? Press any button.
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (February 4 (February 16), 1831, the village of Gorokhovo, Orlovsky district, Oryol province, - February 21 (March 5), 1895, St. Petersburg) - Russian writer.
“Russian people recognize Leskov as the most Russian of Russian writers and who knew the Russian people more deeply and broadly as they are,” wrote D. P. Svyatopolk-Mirsky (1926).
Educated at the Oryol gymnasium. From the age of 16 he served as an official in Orel, then in Kyiv.
In 1861 he moved to St. Petersburg. He began his writing career with articles and feuilletons.
In the 60s. Leskov created a number of realistic stories and novellas, in which a broad panorama of Russian life is given (“Extinguished Case”, 1862; “Stinging”, “The Life of a Woman”, both 1863; “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District”, 1865. ; "The Warrior", 1866; the play "The Spender", 1867).
At the same time, one of Leskov's early articles - about the fires in St. Petersburg (1862) - served as the beginning of his long polemic with the revolutionary democrats. The story "Musk Ox" (1863), the novels "Nowhere" (1864; under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky) and "Bypassed" (1865) are directed against the "new people" bred in the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky " What to do?".
The writer creates caricatured types of nihilists (the story "The Mysterious Man", 1870; the novel "On Knives", 1870-1871). Leskov's ideal is not a revolutionary, but an educator trying to improve the social system with the help of moral persuasion, propaganda of the gospel ideals of goodness and justice.
In the mid 70s. Leskov created images of Orthodox righteous men, mighty in spirit (the novel "Soboryane", 1872; novels and stories "The Enchanted Wanderer", "The Sealed Angel", both 1873; "Non-Deadly Golovan", 1880; 1883; Odnodum, 1889).
The motives of the national identity of the Russian people are strong in the writer's work (the story "Iron Will", 1876; "The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea", 1881).
The theme of the death of folk talents in Rus' is revealed in the story "Dumb Artist" (1883).
In the mid 80s - 90s. The writer is occupied by a new type for Russia - the bourgeois ("Chertogon", 1879, another name is "Christmas Evening at the Hypochondriac"; "Selective Grain", 1884; "Robbery", 1887; "Midnights", 1891. ).
The fusion of literary and folk language forms Leskov's uniquely bright and lively tale style, when the image is revealed mainly through speech characteristics. So, in Lefty, the hero rethinks comically and satirically the language of an environment alien to him, interprets many concepts in his own way, and creates new phrases.
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born in 1835 and died in 1895.
The writer was born in the City of Orel. His family was large, of the children Leskov was the eldest. After moving from the city to the village, love and respect for the Russian people began to form in Leskov. His family moved due to the tragic death of his father and the loss of all property in a fire.
It is not known for what reasons, but the study was not given to the young writer in any way and he was hardly hired, and then thanks to his friends. Only in adolescence does Leskov begin to form a creative look at many things.
His writing career begins by publishing articles in various magazines. Things are going uphill after Leskov moved to St. Petersburg. Already there he wrote a lot of serious works, but there are different reviews about their content. Due to disagreements with the revolutionary democrats and the views established in that era, many publishing houses refuse to publish Leskov. But the writer does not give up and continues to work on stories.
Nikolai Semyonovich had two marriages, but both of them were unsuccessful. Officially, Leskov had three children - two from his first marriage (the eldest child died in infancy) and one from the second.
Leskov died of asthma, which in the last years of his life was actively developing.
Interesting facts, 6th grade.
Biography of Nikolaev Leskov
The writer, in the future nicknamed "the most Russian of all Russians", was born on February 4, 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol district. His mother was from an insolvent noble family, and his father was a former seminarian, but he left the clergy and became an investigator, made a brilliant career and could rise to the nobility, but a major quarrel with the leadership ruined all plans and he had to quit and move with his wife and five children from Orel to Panino. Upon reaching the age of ten, Leskov goes to study at the gymnasium, though not for long: after 2 years he leaves the educational institution, unable to cope with the training. In 1847 he entered the service of the Criminal Chamber. A year later, the father falls ill with cholera and dies. Leskov asks to be transferred to Kyiv and, having received approval, he moves.
Exactly 10 years later, Leskov leaves the service and goes to work for the agricultural trading company Schcott and Wilkens. Thanks to the many business trips across the country, Leskov will later call the time he worked for the company the best period in his life. It was during this period that he began to write. In 1860, the trading house was closed, and Leskov had to return to Kyiv. This time he tries his hand at journalism. A few months later, he breaks off to St. Petersburg, where his literary career begins.
In 1862, in one of his articles, Leskov demanded that the authorities comment on rumors of arson in St. Petersburg, which brought charges of denunciation and criticism of the authorities. His articles reached Alexander II himself. Since 1862, he has been published in the Northern Bee, and his essays begin to receive the first high marks from his contemporaries.
In 1864, he published his first novel, Nowhere, about the life of nihilists, and the story Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. In 1866, the story "The Warrior" was published, coolly received by contemporaries, but highly appreciated by descendants.
In 1870, the novel "Knives" was published, full of ridicule at nihilistic-minded revolutionaries, who, according to the writer, had grown together with criminals. Leskov himself was dissatisfied with the work and received criticism from his contemporaries. Immediately after that, his work appeals to the clergy and the local nobility. In 1872, he published the novel The Sobors, which became the reason for the conflict between the writer and the Church.
In 1881, one of the most successful and famous works of Leskov, “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea,” was published. In 1872, the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" was written, which was very coldly received by contemporaries and was not allowed to be published in publications. It is because of the "Wanderer" that friendship with M.N. Katkov ends. - an influential critic, publicist and publisher.
At the end of the 1880s. draws closer to L.N. Tolstoy, which radically changes Leskov's attitude to the Church. The main works that show his dislike for the clergy are the story "Midnight Officers" and the essay "Priestly Leapfrog and Parish Whim". After their publication, a scandal erupted, and the writer was fired from the Ministry of Public Education. Leskov again found himself in the isolation of his contemporaries.
In 1889, he began to publish a multi-volume collection, which was warmly received by the public. Quick sales helped the writer improve his financial affairs. But in the same year, the first heart attack occurred, the cause of which was probably the news of censorship sanctions against the collection. In the last years of his work, Leskov's works become even more biting and cynical, which the public and publishers did not like. From 1890 he fell ill, suffering from suffocation for the next 5 years - until his death on March 5, 1895.
Biography by dates and interesting facts. The most important.
Other biographies:
- Alighieri Dante
The famous poet, author of the well-known "Divine Comedy" Alighieri Dante was born in Florence in 1265 into a noble family. There are several versions of the true date of birth of the poet, but the authenticity of none of them has been established.
- Zhitkov
Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov was a great writer who devoted all his works to children. Boris Zhitkov was not only a writer, but also a teacher. He was born in 882 on August 30, in the city of Novgorod.
- Salvador Dali
The world-famous artist and creative figure Salvador Dali was born in 1904 on May 11 in the small province of Figueres. The head of the family worked as a notary and was a respected person.
- Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko
Korolenko is one of the most underestimated literary figures of his time. He wrote many wonderful works in which he touched on a wide variety of topics, from helping the disadvantaged
- Odoevsky Vladimir Fyodorovich
Vladimir Odoevsky came from an ancient and noble family. On the one hand, he was related to both the Russian tsars and Leo Tolstoy himself, and on the other hand, his mother was a serf.
