The main characters of "Lefty" Leskov. Who are they? Russian national character in the image of Leskov Levsha - a collective character

Instead of a preface: Statement of the problem

Leo Tolstoy called Leskov a writer of the future. Such a high assessment of the writer by a recognized great fellow writer seems to be quite justified. Lesk's works are remarkable not only for their skillful, "filigree" style of narration, but also for the artist's deep insight into the essence of large-scale cultural and historical phenomena, the figurative embodiment of which formed the basis of the ideological content of his prose. The artistic world of N.S. Leskov is unique, and therefore always attractive and mysterious. Whom you will not meet on the pages of his immortal stories and stories! Here the revived Lady Macbeth herself terrifies the reader with her deeds in the Mtsensk district, but the black earth Telemak takes her on a journey through a life filled with charm and fairy tales, and here is the legendary Lefty, who struck the British with unsurpassed skill, and the reader with his ridiculous and senseless death. But for all the poetry in the depiction of the hero, the writer was always worried about the lofty idea, connected primarily with the fate of the character in history, in time, in culture. Leskov's hero is close and understandable to us for one simple reason, which was pointed out by M. Gorky, who insisted that Leskov wrote “not about a peasant, not about a nihilist, not about a landowner, but always about a Russian person, about a person of this country. Each of his heroes is a link in the chain of people, in the chain of generations, and in every Leskov story you feel that his main thought is not about the fate of a person, but about the fate of Russia.

If we try to consider Leskov's hero in his typicality within the framework of the entire work of the artist, then we will certainly encounter not only the widest typological range in many characteristics, but also the unequal function of the hero in various genres. Many researchers (Yu.I. Seleznev, K. Kedrov, N.N. Starygina, S.M. Telegin) pointed out the proximity of Leskovsky narrative to folklore genres, especially fairy tales, but no attempt was made to consider this connection from the point of view of the function of the main hero. In addition, it is important to realize the fact that for all the mythological determinism of Leskov's characters, they represent a rather motley range of types, the essence of which largely depends on the subject and breadth of the narrative. Often the hero compensates for most of the story and contains the main idea of ​​the author.

In one of his works, addressing the problem of the epic hero, N.D. Tamarchenko points out the relevance and prospects of research in this direction: “A methodologically sound approach to the problem is seen as based on the establishment of the plot functions of the hero in various epic genres: these functions should be associated with nature (and specificity) the main epic situation.<…> Based on these considerations, it is the task of future researchers to develop a typology of the epic hero, taking into account both “generic” constants and genre and historical variations.

When referring to the work of N.S. Leskov, this problem seems to be more than relevant. The writer left a rich artistic heritage that allows modern researchers to consider his works from a variety of angles and never cease to be amazed at the versatility of the writer's talent.

In his work "Morphology of a fairy tale" V.Ya. Propp, considering the features of a fairy tale, pointed out the dominant functions of the character in the development of the plot. But to a fairy tale, about the specifics of the narration of which V.Ya. Propp, after all, only Leskov's stories are close, and it is in them that we find the maximum convergence of the epic function of the hero, on whose actions the entire narrative line rests. The most indicative in this regard, of course, is The Enchanted Wanderer, where each act of Ivan Flyagin is another impetus for further action, and therefore for the development of the plot. Cause-and-effect relationships that are established between the actions of the hero and further developments, is in the nature of predestination, and each new life situation becomes another test for the hero, which he must pass. The story is not complete without miraculous salvation: the most striking is the episode in the war, when the deceased gypsy Grusha, in the guise of an angel, spreads her wings over Flyagin-Serdyukov and saves him from inevitable death. At the same time, predestination, reinforced by the fatalistic motives of the narrative, does not exclude the problem of the hero's choice of "paths", which in the end still lead him to the goal determined by Providence. The wanderer Leskov, guided through life, acquires the greatest significance not from the point of view of the manifestation of personal principles that oppose him to the world around him, but as the bearer of a collective, national consciousness, which, first of all, brings him closer to the epic hero. Such a large-scale image of the protagonist changes not only the reader's idea of ​​Ivan Severyanych himself, but also the perception of the genre essence of this work. The obvious inclination of the narrative towards the heroic epic is primarily due to the specifics of the consciousness of the hero, who accumulates centuries of experience, while not pretending to self-reflection. The transfer of the function of the narrator to the character turns out to be another successful artistic device of the author, creating a complete picture of the life of not one person, but the whole people. Private life experience the hero only gradually reveals all aspects of this life and gives an idea of ​​the majority of "canonical" attitudes in connection with traditional and priority national values. Each episode and new plot move becomes not just a statement of an event in the hero's life, but an exposition of people's life in a historical and non-historical context. Similar tendencies can be traced in most of the stories and stories of the writer, especially later ones, where the artist clearly gravitates towards the parable and legendary basis of the story.

With the consolidation of the genre in Leskov's work, changes in the hero himself are also associated, not only in behavioral motivation, but also in the plot function. It is hardly possible to speak of a change in problem-thematic priorities, but the shift in artistic emphasis is obvious. The hero, as a bearer of certain traditional moral values, does not lose its significance in the memoirs, chronicles and novels of the writer, but the essence of his consciousness, worldview changes, the personal principle is clearly enhanced, and in connection with this, the typological range of the epic hero himself expands. This expansion can be explained primarily by the author's desire to more deeply illuminate the most painful points of modernity and connect it with traditional ideas about the world and man. There is an obvious relationship between genre changes and the specifics of the consciousness of the epic hero, and the novel, as the largest genre, is the most indicative in this respect. Memoirs and chronicles can be considered as a transitional, connecting genre layer in the writer's work. This is evidenced by the author's and speech characteristics of the heroes, in which, on the one hand, the hero's connection with eternal plots and images is preserved, and on the other hand, their personal authority and the significance of their own assessment of cultural and historical phenomena increase. So in the chronicles, Archpriest Savely Tuberozov, the landowner Marfa Andreevna Plodomasova ("The Cathedral") and Princess Varvara Nikanorovna Protozanova ("The Seedy Family") appear as the most ambitious characters. Their authority is repeatedly confirmed not only by the attitude of the people around them, but also by their role in resolving key plot situations. The author assigns a certain status to them both at the character level and in the ideological sound of the work. In these chronicles of Leskov, the very colorful figures of the deacon Achilles Desnitsyn from the Soboryan and the nobleman Rogozhin Dorimedont Vasilyevich from the Seedy Family are of particular interest to the reader. In its own way psychological organization and consequently, in behavioral motivation, these heroes are very close. Representing an extremely exalted, unpredictable type, both characters become an integral part of the narrative and personify the unrestrained element of their unconscious beginning. Often, they are the catalysts for the plot movement in the chronicles and connect the narrative and mythopoetic levels in the works, thereby giving a special genre flavor to Leskov's chronicles.

With the strengthening of the personal principle in the mind of the epic hero Leskov, further distancing of the hero from the environment is revealed, conflict moments are more clearly indicated, which at the level of the genre leads to the emergence of the so-called "novel situation". In one of his fundamental works, A.Ya. Esalnek defines the specifics of the genre of the novel: “The novel as a genre is associated with an interest in the individual and his self-awareness, which differs from that of the majority of members of the surrounding society and therefore harbors internal hidden or externally noticeable conflict beginnings, if compared with the mood of society as a whole. Naturally we are talking about the basic, semantically significant features of the genre as a content form, which manifest themselves in different ways in specific novels. This characterization is more than applicable to both completed novels by N.S. Leskov, "Nowhere" and "On Knives", both from the point of view of genre and from the point of view of the specifics of the epic hero. Grouping of characters, intrigue that determines the direction and dynamics storylines, insert episodes (for example, the legend of the Spanish nobleman in the novel "On Knives") and much more - everything is somehow connected primarily with the consciousness of the heroes of the novels, their self-esteem and role in the implementation of the author's intention. In Leskov's novels, dialogues are much more widely represented, often reaching the level of disputes between characters, each of which is the bearer of a certain consciousness, his own truth, which does not coincide with the truth of the interlocutor. Due to this, the degree of psychologism of the novel hero Leskov also rises, which cannot be said about the hero of the writer's small and even medium epic.

Thus, it can be stated that the study of the nature of the epic hero of Leskov's works leads to the discovery of a direct connection between his specificity and a certain genre as a form that adequately implements the author's intention and allows the writer to convey the main idea to the reader.

1.1. The worldview of the heroes of N.S. Leskov and features of narration in small and medium genres (the stories "At the End of the World" and "Buffoon Pamfalon")

One of the most striking features of N.S. Leskov is a mythologism. This feature of his works was repeatedly emphasized by many researchers (A.L. Volynsky, A.A. Gorelov, K. Kedrov, M.L. Ressler, Yu.I. Seleznev, S.M. Telegin, etc.). At the same time, the mythological consciousness of the personalities inhabiting the artistic world of this writer has its own specifics. As a rule, these are people who believe and do not represent themselves outside the Orthodox denomination. Ascending to archetypal principles, the religious worldview of Leskov's heroes takes on bizarre forms, generally retaining in its content the main, most valuable grain, called true faith. This is most clearly seen in the works of the “second row” - the stories “At the End of the World” and “Buffoon Pamphalon”. In them, this aspect can be considered not only in terms of problems, but also at the level of poetics.

Combined thematically, these two stories already in their titles turn out to be connected by a syncretic antinomy. "At the end of the world (from the memoirs of a bishop)" - under this heading, this work was published for the first time. On the one hand, the main part of the heading is a stable mythologeme and orients the reader to the inclusion of the text in the mythological idea of ​​the world. But the subtitle, as it were, hints at the purely religious content of the story and translates the main part into the category of pure symbols. This merging leads to the sacralization of the meaning of the name and to the ascent to the heavenly world already in the work itself.

The second story, at first glance, radically differs from the previous one in the basic principles and methods of creating artistic images designed to reveal the main idea. The very word "buffoon" contains unambiguousness in orientation towards a general cultural paradigm, in this case connected with the carnival tradition. Given the meaningful context of the work, it is easy to understand that we are talking about one of the most reliable mechanisms for the inclusion of an artistic image in the process of the so-called "crowning - dethroning" (M.M. Bakhtin). At the same time, the author complicates this process and follows the path of proof by contradiction. Ultimately, the acting, perceived at the beginning of the story in a negative sense, turns into a mountain world, and the finale of the story sounds like an apotheosis to the main character, whose name is already known to the reader from the title. Thus, “debunking” turns into “crowning”, which sets the course for intra-text harmonization at the level of both poetics and problematics.

Structural analysis of the texts under consideration only confirms the emerging idea of ​​proximity not only thematic, but also mythopoetic. In connection with checking the truth of the faith of the characters, we can consider the chronotope, which includes all the stages of the ascent of the main characters to the mountain heights. In both stories, the sacred element is associated with the motifs of the road, travel and return. At the same time, the return is nothing but the final chord in the general range of the main motives underlying the plots. In terms of composition, the plots themselves turn into stable mythologems, firmly connected with the ideological content of the stories and ascending to the same archetype. The endings of both stories are eschatological: the death of the heroes becomes a kind of initiation on the path to gaining the true faith.

As a result, it becomes obvious that the stories "At the End of the World" and "Buffoon Pamphalon" complement each other, creating the broadest non-literary context associated with the mythological idea of ​​the world and man. Thanks to this, the problem of the religious worldview of the heroes of N.S. Leskov is extremely actualized in the writer's work and takes it beyond the purely thematic.

2.1. The novels of N.S. Leskov as a reflection of the writer's creative search: genre features and compositional originality

The Russian novel of the second half of the 19th century, as the leading genre in the fiction of this period, is a very complex, multidimensional phenomenon in terms of both genesis and genre typology. A major epic by various artists of the word cannot be considered without taking into account the author's style, the specifics of the method of depicting reality, the writer's worldview, the degree of his skill: these criteria make the work unique and significant in terms of assessing its artistry. However, the appeal of the largest and most authoritative masters of the word is to this epic form testifies to a certain pattern, primarily due to the tasks that the artist sets for himself in the image of the reality he creates. The novel, being the most plastic, according to M.M. Bakhtin, and a “capacious” form of narration that allows the author to go beyond the boundaries of pure epic, as it were, secures for the author the right not only to choose a hero, but also to limit or expand the problem-thematic block, which determines the main content of the work, and in fact, its idea. The Russian classical novel of the second half of the 19th century is not so much a reflection as the result of the creative and personal searches of the writers of that period. In one of his works on epic genres, N.D. Tamarchenko rightly endows the novel with the following characteristic: “In the main line of the development of the novel, i.e. in the peak phenomena of the national classics of this genre, the focus is on ideological life in its universality and national-historical originality, and therefore, on the value aspects of the opposition of the capital and the province, nature and civilization, etc.” . At the same time, it is impossible not to take into account the fact that this or that novel is a kind of milestone completion, and therefore the threshold of a new stage in the understanding of large-scale phenomena of reality, associated not only with modern socio-historical trends, but also with general cultural patterns reflected in the course of historical developments. events.

The search for a universal, or rather, adequate form of coverage of exciting topics and problems pushes the author to enlarge the epic narrative that can accommodate the global system of values ​​and ideals, more or less fully represented in artistic reality. Of course, one cannot reduce the work of various authors to a common denominator and not take into account the individual worldview positions of individual artists. Each great master of the word has certain priorities, accentuated on various levels problems and poetics of their works.

Speaking about the genre-thematic conditionality of the works of N.S. Leskov, one must start from the fact that the writer himself adhered to rather democratic positions in determining the genre form of his narrative. However, as it seems, there is a fairly clearly traced pattern in the designation of the genre of a particular work. This is especially characteristic of his major prose: novels and chronicles. If we compare the problematic and thematic series that dominates stories and novels with the main theme of a larger epic, it becomes obvious that the writer deliberately follows the path of going beyond topical problems to highlighting eternal problems and affirming ideals, the inviolability of which is confirmed by the truth of life, which is being performed in his works. There is a relationship, including thematic, between medium and large epic genres in Leskov's work, but at the same time, differences related to the genre features of his works are also obvious. So, for example, in the short story “The Man on the Clock”, the topic of history clearly did not become a priority, and it is unlikely that we will talk about it here at all. The problems of true faith, duty and national paradox are brought to the forefront of the narrative. However, this particular story is replete with historical signs that allow the artist to fully recreate the context of the era. No less indicative is the story “The Toupee Artist”, which is preceded by a dedication that immediately orients the reader to the historical context of the pre-reform period in Russia. The main theme (based on the plot) is the theme of love. The pure and sincere feeling that arose between the serf actress Lyubov Anisimovna and the hairdresser Arkady, which is repeatedly tested for strength by insurmountable obstacles, still does not make it possible for two loving hearts to unite due to life circumstances, and, even when happiness becomes almost real, an absurd tragic the death of the protagonist last hope to the connection. The story contains quite specific indications of the time and place of events (the emperors are named, in the era of whose reign everything happened, the city, the dates of death of the counts Kamensky, who owned the theater, the frame text provides evidence of a real case of persecution of Borisoglebsk priests by greyhounds by one of the Kamenskys). However, with all the breadth and reliability (often conditional) of the historical plan, the story does not reveal the author's desire to create a large-scale artistic picture history of Russia. The historical plan remains, as it were, a backdrop for the main events related to the life of specific characters. Similar tendencies are observed in the so-called "memories", which are widely represented in the writer's work. The scale of vision of the main problems of the era, the origins and consequences of its contradictions is more typical for the larger works of N.S. Leskov, and this primarily applies to novels and chronicles.

It is known that the first novel of the writer - "Nowhere" - became for Leskov not so much a ticket to literary life, but a kind of stigma that hindered the recognition of even his brilliant works. Published in 1864, the novel was perceived as extremely conservative in terms of its thematic focus. The anti-nihilistic tendency that dominates the novel turned out to be too deliberate and convex, as a result of which the themes, and with them the problems directly related in the mind of the writer to the danger of the spread of nihilism, faded into the background. As you can see, in subsequent major works, the artist fully managed to realize his plan, balancing the problematic and thematic accents and linking together seemingly heterogeneous series. Tracing the evolution of the writer's work, one cannot fail to notice the gradual expansion of the thematic range of his works, the emergence of new types that are objectively born in the process of creative assimilation and comprehension of reality, and the author's desire to combine his observations and findings into a whole that can reflect the system of his views on man, the world. , history. It was in large-scale prose that Leskov managed to bring the combination of high artistry and frank publicism to syncretism. One of the most authoritative researchers of N.S. Leskova I.V. Stolyarova, considering the role and place of the writer's novels in the context of his entire work, points not so much to their genre commonality as to differences. She states: "Written in different time, Leskov's novels differ significantly from each other and, as expressed<…>polemical tendency, and on all specific issues, and on the nature of the social and moral-psychological conflicts reflected in them, and on the artistic manner. But one must also take into account the fact that most of the major works were created by Leskov at an early stage of his literary path and on the whole quite clearly reflects not so much the ideological evolution as creative formation, the gradual polishing of style, originality of artistic thinking, methods and techniques that allowed the author to expand not only the range of artistic means of creating artistic images, but also the range of the problem-thematic spectrum of his works. In this regard, his completed novels "Nowhere", "On Knives" and the chronicles "The Seedy Family" and "Cathedrals" are indicative, the latter of which initially received the genre definition of "romantic", fully embracing the main thematic blocks that in the future they will find a refraction in the creative mind of the author and will be embodied in new genre forms. This trend in Leskov's work is noted by N.N. Starygina: “One of the brightest creators of Christian preaching allegorical literature was Leskov. Having created sharply polemical novels in the 1860s and 1870s, the writer remained an antinihilist in the 1880s and 1890s, embodying the Christian image of man in Christmastide stories, legends, and fairy tales. Despite the genre reorientation, he maintained continuity in the methods and techniques of depicting heroes and creating an image of reality.

2.2. "Smart fools" and "stupid wise men" in the novel by N.S. Leskov "On knives"

"On knives" N.S. Leskova - classic pattern in the history of the Russian novel of the second half of the 19th century, not only and not so much in terms of problems. It deserves special attention from the point of view of the intertextual connection of all artistic elements that make up a surprisingly harmonious and harmonious system of images that reveals the main author's idea. First of all, this applies to acting characters - carriers of various elemental principles that have been transformed in the minds of the characters into certain beliefs. In this regard, the novel clearly distinguishes not only groups of types, but also various characters within the same type, which, of course, expands and complicates both the system of characters and the system of images as a whole.

Knives Out is traditionally (and quite rightly) viewed as an anti-nihilistic novel. But this is only the tip of the iceberg, since Leskov’s explanation of the nature of nihilism cannot be reduced only to social aspects. When addressing this issue, the problem of psychologism of a special kind, characteristic of the work of this particular writer, arises. L. Grossman, characterizing the heroes of Leskov, notes the most important feature of the author's concept of man: “In the novel“ On Knives ”< … >the main parameters and concepts of the personality and type of the hero are defined and clarified quite clearly: this is a spiritual principle, close to the moral foundations of national-national existence. And yet it must be added that each character is original and deserves separate consideration.

The images of the characters in the novel are complex and saturated to the limit. Throughout the story, the author adds more and more details that, at first glance, are not related to a particular event or character, but ultimately complete the mosaic pattern of a person’s inner world. The process of image formation is complicated by the fact that in the novel there are actually no lengthy monologues, dreams, reflections of the characters, i.e. those artistic attributes that would allow categorically to declare the presence of a psychological type in the world of Leskov's works. But if we take into account the special role of the author in the novel and the specific style of the artist, it becomes clear that most of the images of the main characters of "On Knives" can be combined primarily into this type. However, one must not forget that this characteristic does not imply uniformity. Rather, on the contrary: such a view of Leskov's heroes provides additional opportunities in the perception of the artistic reality of the novel.

N.N. Starygina defines external conflict in the novel as the main motive in the development of the plot: "... Leskov designates as "light" and "dark" two opposing forces, the conflict between which makes up the plot of the novel ". It is impossible not to agree with this. But at the same time, the internal conflict associated with the characterological features of each hero goes out of sight. Not all events and clashes can be explained by the a priori nature of demonism or righteousness of representatives of antagonistic camps, especially since many characters, being involved in this struggle, are not determined in their choice. In all likelihood, it is more productive to consider the origins of the consciousness of the characters, or rather, the way each of them perceives the surrounding reality. The study of this aspect dictates a different principle for the classification of Leskov's characters: they can be conditionally divided into people "cordial" and "heartless". At the same time, it should be noted that both emotional and rational principles are inherent in both. Another thing is what is the ratio of these principles in the minds of the heroes and what these proportions give as a result.

The novel clearly stands out exposition, which, in fact, can be attributed to the frame text. This peculiar preface highlights the prehistory of the fate of far from all the characters. The author not only reveals, but creates a mystery around past events that predetermined the development of the plot, which does not coincide with the plot. Throughout the novel, the reader learns more and more new facts from past life of this or that hero either from the dialogues or from the author's comments.

The degree of reader sympathy for a particular character, as a rule, is directly dependent on the attitude of the author-creator himself towards them. In the novel "On the Knives" "pretty" characters are found in various types: this is the "fool" Goody, and the nihilist Vanskok, and the "sister of mercy" Katerina Astafyevna, and the "Spanish nobleman" Podozerov, and, of course, the righteous Alexandra Sintyanina. What brings these characters together? Let's turn to the novel.

Perhaps the brightest and clearest is the image of Alexandra Ivanovna Sintyanina. The reader gets acquainted with this heroine at the very beginning of the novel, when she, being still very young, shows amazing prudence, bordering on pragmatism. In this regard, the point of view of the author is of particular interest, which at first glance coincides with the general opinion of the inhabitants provincial city N, in which the main events take place. The love story of the emotional Iosaf Vislenev and the “prudent” Sasha Grinevich is initially perceived as a story about the betrayal of the latter. The reader involuntarily experiences frankly negative emotions in relation to her, sharing, as it seems to him, the position of the author: , an extremely spoiled and selfish girl, Alexandra Ivanovna Grinevich ”(8; 100). Only later it becomes clear that the coincidence of the point of view of the author and the inhabitants is nothing but irony towards the latter. Gradually, in the course of the novel, the true essence of the heroine emerges - a whole, self-denying nature, unshakable in her convictions. At the end of the novel, we learn about the true reasons for Sasha's breakup with Iosaph. Entering into marriage with Sintyanin, she deliberately sacrifices herself for the sake of saving many innocent people, whose fates are thoughtlessly broken by the frivolous Vislenev. Her decision, like all subsequent ones in the novel, is based on reflection, connected not so much with emotions as with the cordiality inherent in the heroine. The rational principle prevails in Alexandra's mind, which, together with kindness, transforms into wisdom.

Alexandra Ivanovna Sintyanina is certainly a model of integrity and integrity of nature in the novel. She deservedly won, if not love, then the sincere respect of all the acting characters. At the same time, the reader does not leave the feeling that the author himself is much closer and prettier than the other female type, whose characteristics are given in the remark of Major Forov about the possibility of his marriage to Alexander, Larisa Visleneva or Glafira Bodrostina. Without even allowing the thought of connecting his fate with these three beauties, he motivates his position in this way: “... I only like a special kind of women: smart fools who, like all good things, are unusually rare.” These include Katerina Astafyevna, the wife of Evangel Minervin Goody and Anna Skokova. The colorful oxymoron "smart fools" becomes the key to understanding the author's likes and dislikes. As a matter of fact, Fileter Ivanovich himself belongs to the category of "smart fools", which is repeatedly confirmed in the course of further narration. Particularly indicative is his offer of legal marriage to the nihilist Vanskok after the death of Katerina Astafyevna. It is unlikely that this impulse can be explained only by the major's concern for Skokova's material support after his death. Between these heroes initially there is a spiritual relationship. In general, it is worth paying attention to the semantic nature of the phrase "smart fools" in the context of the ideological content of the novel.

The same Forovs gave a definition to the actors who, in the aggregate of images, represent a predatory type, the most sinister and dangerous. These are the so-called "stupid wise men" who live exclusively by calculation, not knowing the anguish of the heart and remorse. There are a great many of them in the novel "On Knives" among the characters of both the first and second plan. This includes the "nehilist" Pavel Gordanov, and his accomplices in dirty deeds Alina Figurina with Kishinsky, and the seemingly invincible Glafira Bodrostina, and Tsipri-Kypri with Kazemira, making up for missed opportunities in marriage. Obsessed with greed and lust for power, they do not disdain any means to achieve their goals. Any simpleton they meet on the way can fall into the web of their intrigues, and then he can no longer be saved. However, in the course of the novel, it turns out that victory is guaranteed only to those predators who are devoid of an emotional beginning. Only bare calculation can give an absolute hit on the target. Emotions that make even a cold heart tremble turn out to be fatal for predators. This explains the final defeat of Pavel Gordanov, who fell under the spell of the smart and beautiful Glafira, who, in turn, possessed by a passion for Podozerov, eventually becomes a victim of Ropshin.

In the system of characters in the novel, another type stands out - the so-called victims of predators. But, as the analysis of some images shows, the frames of this type are blurred. If Iosaf Vislenev is a victim both for Gordanov, and for Glafira, and for Alinka and Kishensky, and can be attributed to him unconditionally, then the same Gordanov and Glafira themselves fall into a trap and cannot be interpreted unambiguously. However, typologically, Iosaf Vislenev is not connected with them, since he is only stupid, but far from smart. His own aunt calls him “Iosafushka is a fool” (9; 81). At the same time, the nickname "fool" given to Iosaf by Katerina Astafyevna, in semantics, has nothing to do with the nickname "fool" in relation to Goodboy. In the context of the novel, these are more antinomies than related definitions. After all, the wife of Evangel Minervina, in the words of her husband, is a “good fool” (9; 79), which cannot be said about Vislenev. True, there is something in common in their characters - this is impulsiveness and increased emotionality. The good girl, already married, falls in love with a hussar, and this becomes a rather serious test of the sincerity and strength of the feelings of the spouses, which they endure with dignity.

In the novel, Larisa Visleneva also finds herself in a similar situation. But the lack of heartfelt reflection and a rational beginning leads her to the abyss. Becoming a bigamist, the heroine dooms herself to the final death. In fact, brother and sister are the same in nature and can be combined into a third type of character not stated in the novel itself, stupid fools. Imagining themselves as "wise men", they refuse to comply with human laws, but at the same time they are not able to adapt in the environment of seasoned predators. They are suitable only to serve as auxiliary material in the criminal cases of the Gordanovs and Glafir. Larisa ends her mediocre life by suicide, no less tragic is the life outcome of Josaph, who has gone mad (which, however, he never had).

Thus, the typology of characters is clearly traced in the novel, which is in no way connected with the traditional classification of Leskov's heroes into predators, the lost and the righteous. only true and pure heart can suggest the right decision, regardless of how rational or emotional a person is in his actions. In this regard, the image of the deaf-mute Vera, the stepdaughter of Sintyanina, is of particular interest. Like the image of Svetozar Vodopyanov, it is permeated with mysticism and mystery. The special gift of the Faith is not only in the ability to foresee. She is the personification of human conscience and justice. Her green dress only flashes before Iosaf Vislenev and Glafira Bodrostina, but Alexandra Ivanovna not only lives with Vera in the same house, but takes care of her welfare and loves her with all her heart. It is Vera who exposes Pavel Gordanov in the murder of Bodrostin, pointing to the weapon of the crime.

Returning to the oxymorons "smart fools" and "stupid smarties" and their semantics in the context of the novel, we can state that in addition to these figurative designations of certain groups of characters, two more tautological combinations naturally suggest themselves that complete the typological series: smart smart girls, to whom from all over obviously include Alexandra Sintyanina, Andrey Ivanovich Podozerov, Evangel Minervin, and stupid fools, who in the novel are represented, as already mentioned, by Iosaf and Larisa Vislenev. In the system of author's assessments of the human personality, the positive vector is always directed not to intellectual superiority, but to the "smart" heart, which saves Leskov's heroes from fatal mistakes and allows them to make the people around them happy. In this regard, the characteristics of some of the heroes of the novel are indicative. So, for example, Podozerov speaks of Sintyanina: “What sweet peace pours into her soul a sober word spoken from the heart” (8; 336). Or let us remember how the Gospel explains to Major Forov the ability of Goodwill to reason so wisely:

“My wife is a fool.

So you think she's not smart?

She is a complete fool.

What is she talking about?

But this here! - exclaimed the Evangel, touching the major on that part of the chest where the heart is ”(9; 72).

Thus, in the novel by N.S. Leskov "On Knives" clearly emerges a hierarchy of images-characters, indicating the scale and complexity of the artistic reality of the work as a whole. The author skillfully and delicately attracts the reader to his side, gradually unfolding a picturesque picture of the life of the inhabitants of the world he created. Skillfully combining the author's irony with speech characteristics, masterfully using expressive and visual means, the writer unobtrusively but convincingly asserts the idea of ​​the priority of sincerity over intellectuality. Leskov builds his concept of personality on a deep understanding of human nature in general and the individual qualities inherent in a particular behavioral type. Each hero eventually receives a reward or retribution for his deeds. "Smarts" who deny the laws of morality and conscience and focus only on their own selfish needs, eventually fail. Their nihilism turns out to be nothing but stupidity. Really smart are only those who are capable of self-sacrifice and active love for others. And it does not matter whether this person is endowed with high intelligence from birth. Much more important is the fact that Leskov's positive heroes are always ready for spiritual feats associated with heartfelt reflection.

One of the most staunch defenders of N.S. Leskov M. Gorky expressed a wonderful idea: “Leskov’s mind is a sober and distrustful mind, he doubts everything, but the task of justifying Rus', writing lovely icons of her righteous for the joy of sinners, he set this task not from the mind, but from the heart. And so it<…>charmed by love for life and people, the wanderers of this world are so charmingly vital, so physically palpable to the heart of an open-minded and thoughtful reader.

2.3. About one mythologeme in the novel by N.S. Leskov "On knives" in connection with the problem of speaking proper names

Reading “On Knives” by N.S. Leskova inevitably leads to reflections on the problem of speaking names, which are widely represented in the novel. Attracts attention varying degrees their motivation in a literary text. Three groups can be distinguished. The first includes proper names, which are commented on in the dialogues, remarks and hints of the acting characters themselves. For example, the name of Iosaf Vislenev, already at the beginning of the novel, in a conversation between Evangel Minervin and Major Forov, is associated with the name of the biblical Joseph the Beautiful, and this fact becomes an additional basis for considering the image of Vislenev in line with the carnival tradition.

Another group consists of names that are not discussed in the novel itself, but are oriented by the author to a certain reader's perception. Thus, the semantics of the name of the priest Evangel Minervin is more than obvious, in the image of which the features of a preacher, a zealous minister of the church and a wise old man, a kind of priest, bearer and keeper of eternal secrets, are harmoniously combined. Such a combination of biblical and ancient principles, characteristic of the writer, already leads to a concrete interpretation of this image in the context of the novel.

But the most interesting from the point of view of the study is the third group of names, which at first glance are not motivated by anything, but, as it turns out in the process of analysis, they have great importance in understanding the richness of the poetics of the novel. Their decoding requires not only a careful reading of the work, but also an appeal both to the structure of the literary text itself and to additional sources that feed it. This group includes the name Sid, the bearer of which is the former serf of Mikhail Andreevich Bodrostin, the leader of the nobility, whose planned and carried out murder becomes almost the main plot intrigue.

In the complex, multi-level system of characters in the novel, Sid is given an episodic role. He appears only at the end of the work, after the mysterious death of the former master. The action with the participation of a crazy old man takes only one chapter, which is called "Undead rushing about." It is quite obvious that it is the death of Bodrostin that becomes the basis for the appearance on the stage of Sid, who, as it turns out, nurtured Mikhail Andreevich in infancy and never parted with his master. For most of his life, Sid was a nightmare for Bodrostin, haunted him, and the latter had no way to get rid of his uncle, who was literally obsessed with the idea of ​​outliving the master and “dying” in order to “appear before the Judge and sue” with him (9; 332 ). There are quite a few nominal reasons for the insoluble conflict between the former serf and the landowner, but in the context of the indicated problem, it is important to note that the old man blames Bodrostin and his brothers for the loss of his real name - Sidor. The history of the nickname is very banal: “He [Sid] watched them even at that time when they couldn’t speak well and instead of Sidor they pronounced Sid: that’s why everyone began to call him that, and he reproached the dead man that for his sake he lost even his name of the cross" (9; 334). This life fact, which at first glance does not testify to anything, becomes a kind of predestination for the further relationship between the master and the servant, which develops into an eternal conflict that goes beyond personal insults and is included in the general mythological basis of the novel. He is especially curious in the light of the role of an old servant who takes on the mission of an eternal avenger, ruthless and invincible. It is quite possible that the proposed hypothesis will shed some light on the appearance of this name in the novel by N.S. Leskov.

In the history of world literature, Sid is known as the hero of the Spanish epic poem "The Song of My Sid", created by by unknown author in the twelfth century. Sid is a real historical person. It is known that this nickname was worn by the Spanish knight Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, who lived and accomplished his exploits in the second half of the 11th century. The very name Sid comes from the Arabic word "seid", which means mister. In folk heroic epic the image of the legendary Sid appears as the image of a fighter, liberator, avenger, enemy of the feudal nobility, cruel, vile and cowardly. Clearly, there is a process of mythologization of the real legendary person and the development of a heroic image into an image-symbol, acting as a universal idea of ​​nobility and virtue. Later, Sid was sung by P. Corneille in the tragedy of the same name, in which further idealization of the legendary personality is observed. How legitimate is the assumption of a connection between the image of the Lesk hero and the hero of the Spanish folk epic? There is no specific information that it was the historical Sid in one form or another that became the prototype of Sid from the novel On the Knives. However, given the rich mythopoetics of the writer's works and their connection not only with specific literary texts, one can speak of the presence of a mythologeme that goes back to the heroic archetype. In the context of the novel, the name Sid.

It would seem that the question of the genesis of the name Sid in the novel by N.S. Leskov's "On the Knives" may well be limited by the scope of hypothetical reasoning on this matter. But in the novel itself there is still indirect evidence of the connection between the name of the character in question and the Spanish tradition.

Completely irrespective of the old Sid, the novel voices the legend of the Spanish Nobleman, which is told by Svetozar Vodopyanov in Bodrostin's house on the eve of almost fantastic events leading to the death of the noble leader. The figure of the Crazy Bedouin (such is Vodopyanov's nickname in the novel) is one of the most colorful. His image is shrouded in mysticism, like everything connected with this character. Being a spiritualist and philosopher, Svetozar appears as an invulnerable interlocutor and seems to know the answers to all questions of life, as he is initiated into the most incomprehensible secrets: “Vodopyanov deftly selected arguments for his positions; civil and biblical history gave him an abyss of examples of the participation of forces unknown to us in the affairs of mortals, and he enumerated these phenomena with amazing memory; in the philosophy of different eras, he drew evidence of the eternity of the spirit and its unearthly origin; found similarities with spiritualistic beliefs in religions” (9; 278). The legend of the Spanish Nobleman, told by the Crazy Bedouin, has literary roots indicated in the novel itself. In the narrative, she is associated with the play by F. Dumanoir and A. Dennery, which has two titles: “The Spanish Nobleman” and “Don Cesar de Basan”. But the fact that in the novel itself this legend is in demand in a certain context is important. The spirit of the Spanish Nobleman, according to the medium Vodopyanov, finds its abode in the soul of one of the main characters of the novel, Andrei Ivanovich Podozerov, personifying honor, nobility and virtue.

Thus, the Spanish motifs that permeate the figurative system of the novel become another means that expands the mythopoetic plan of the work and allows us to talk about the internal connection of the majority. structural components literary text of the novel by N.S. Leskov "On knives".

3. Chronicles of N.S. Leskov: axiological aspect

IN last years in domestic literary criticism, there has clearly been a sharpening of interest in the history of genres. This is due, on the one hand, to the objective need to update approaches and methodologies in the study of literary texts, including, perhaps, primarily classical ones, and on the other hand, to the obvious process of updating the ideological content of the works under study. In this regard, the major epic N.S. Leskov is seen as the most fertile object for understanding some of the trends and patterns that characterize the history of Russian literature as a whole.

Observation of the specifics of the process of genre formation in Leskov's work yields very curious results. As you know, the writer himself had a rather democratic attitude to the designation of the genre of one or another of his works. Even today, researchers often find it difficult to distinguish between the artist's prose, even within the framework of an epic narrative. Such a diffuse state is characteristic primarily of Leskov's medium and small genres. However, similar trends are also found in major epic, and the boundaries are blurred not only between novels and chronicles, but also between chronicles and stories and even short stories. This is due not only and not so much to the peculiarities of the individual writing style: the main reason for genre metamorphoses in Leskov's work lies in the organic combination of the poetics and problems of his works of art, their form and content.

In one of his early works, M.M. Bakhtin points out: “... Poetics should proceed precisely from the genre. After all, a genre is a typical form of a whole work, a whole utterance. A work is real only in the form of a certain genre. This statement is fully applicable to Leskov's chronicles. Here it is necessary to immediately clarify that only two works of the writer received a clear genre designation: “The Cathedral”, published in 1872, and “The seedy family. Family chronicle of the princes Protozanov (From the notes of Princess V.D.P.)”, the publication of which the author himself interrupted in 1874. They were preceded by "Old Years in the Village of Plodomasovo" (1869), which is traditionally also referred to as a chronicle, although compositionally they are presented as an essay trilogy. But the subsequent inclusion of one of its parts in the text of "Soboryan" secures not only a nominal, but also a formal right to such a genre definition. What is the unifying core for these works and how applicable are the general genre characteristics of Leskov's chronicles to other genres in his work?

A.V. Mikhailov in his article "Novel and Style" defines three levels of the "narrative "historical" word" in connection with the "novel word" that sums it up. In this regard, the researcher singles out as the final “level of the poetic creation of history, creating a factually oriented historical story about real or fictional events.<…>At this level, the difference between an event real history and fiction is largely erased: every fiction assimilated history, while the reality of the event has already been obtained, restored from within the novel word. But in the meantime, even such a novelistic word continues to remain associated with the chronicle, with the chronicle style of relation, insofar as it is oriented in one way or another to history, further to the facticity of history, and is obliged to satisfy the requirements of such facticity. Study genre features large epic works by Leskov allows us to assert that all of them, to one degree or another, gravitate towards historical distance in relation to the present, retrospectiveness of events, which are narrated as having key value in understanding the ideological content of the work as a whole. The fusion of artistic and historical principles is maximally represented precisely in the named chronicles of the writer. However, similar syncretism is also observed in the novels Nowhere and On Knives. In the first one, chronicleness is represented by the history and prehistory of Rainer's life, by the image of the abbess of the monastery, Mother Agnia, and by some plot situations directly related to the historical plan of the narrative. In the second, this phenomenon is mainly connected with the composition of the plot, not concise, but clearly chronicle, consistently unfolding and absorbing not only modern events, but also recognizable historical situations, the consequences of which they are. Related tendencies are observed in other works of the writer. The beginning of the narration, conducted on behalf of the protagonist, of the story “Childhood (From the memoirs of Merkul Praottsev) is indicative: “I think that I must certainly write my story, or, better, my confession.<…>I will not truncate some and exaggerate the significance of other events: I am not forced to do this by the artificial and unnatural form of the novel, which requires a rounding of the plot and concentration of everything around the main center. That doesn't happen in life. A person's life goes like a charter developing from a rolling pin, and I will develop it so simply with a ribbon in the notes I propose. In addition, it may be of some interest here that these notes were written by a person who will not live at a time when his notes can be read. It is important for the writer not only to restore the historical context of what is happening, but also to bring his narrative beyond the present - into the past and into the future, thereby revealing the patterns of cultural and historical processes in general, and discovering the cause-and-effect relationships of various phenomena of reality.

The system of life values, assimilated and promoted by N.S. Leskov, acquires special completeness in his works of art, in their poetic order. The most fertile form for combining high artistry and historical authenticity, of course, is the chronicle genre, so beloved by the author. Thanks to the possibility and even the need to reproduce the historical past in its specificity, the images created by the artist acquire meaning. scale symbol, and the figures of acting characters are perceived by the reader not only in their typicality and specificity, but also in their significance. In this regard, the formulation proposed by K.M. Butyrin: “... A poetic symbol is a multidimensional phenomenon and, for its correct understanding, requires the researcher to correlate with the ideological and compositional structure of this individual work, with a cultural and historical tradition, with an individual poetic system as a whole, taken in a synchronous context.

In the chronicle "Soboryane" the most obvious image-symbol is Stargorod, a provincial town that personifies the whole of Holy Rus' outside of historical time, with its centuries-old cultural traditions, foundations, often contradictory and even cruel, but still beautiful in its solidity and originality. All the inhabitants of Stargorod in one way or another reflect a certain facet of the Russian national character, are carriers of the spirit of catholicity. Among them, of course, three clergy stand out: Archpriest Savely Tuberozov, Priest Zakharia Benefaktov, and Deacon Achilla Desnitsyn. It is these heroes who stand guard over the best folk traditions. And they themselves are nothing but the embodiment of various aspects of a single large-scale phenomenon. Here wisdom is combined with militancy, humility bestows harmony and love, and childish naivety and gullibility are replaced by spontaneity. The author is not inclined to idealize Russia's past, but is anxious about the possibility of an external intrusion into the natural historical course. It seems that the image of Marfa Andreevna Plodomasova, already created in the chronicle "Old Years in the Village of Plodomasovo", is in demand in "Cathedrals" for a reason. In the system of artistic images of the novel, it has a special meaning. It reflected not only the essence of the Russian character, but also the whole history of Russia: “... Marfa Andreevna had a great and indestructible spirit, and she argued with Pugachev and danced with three sovereigns ...” (4, 145-146). Symptomatic is the fact that for the first time the reader learns about boyar Plodomasova from the “Demikoton book of Archpriest Tuberozov”, in which historically reliable information is concentrated, and the events are dated. This gives the utmost scale and significance to the figure of Marfa Andreevna herself, who lives on her estate near Stargorod. The system of her life values ​​coincides with the convictions of Savely Tuberozov, in him she sees her like-minded person and successor. Having not left her estate for twenty years, Plodomasova personally comes to the clergyman to make sure in a conversation with him that the heroes of the spirit have not died out on Russian land yet. After all, she herself, in fact, is the same hero, standing guard over the centuries-old foundations of her ancestors. If we consider the image of Marfa Andreevna in the typological system female images N.S. Leskov, then it can be clearly stated that this type, if not the most beloved, then the most respected by the author. Later, he will be embodied in another chronicle of the writer - "The Seedy Family" - in the form of Princess Varvara Nikanorovna Protozanova. Nature is whole and honest, the princess has her own judgment in every respect. Her relations with the people around her are built according to the moral canons learned from her ancestors and jealously guarded. The indisputable authority of Princess Protozanova in all sectors of society is explained not only by the hardness of the character of the heroine: she is the bearer of a certain system of life values, traditions, the oblivion of which threatens to destroy not only the connection between generations, but also the national culture as a whole. The chronicle presents a fairly broad historical plan: since ancient times, the history of the family of the princes Protozanov can be traced, which reflects the entire history of the Russian state. For the author, the main task remains to find and preserve the most valuable core that crystallized in this difficult and difficult experience.

Message from N.S. Leskov to the chronicle genre is quite motivated. It was in these works that the writer managed to embody the most daring ideas. In fact, the genre of the chronicle has become an artistic tool that allowed the author through poetics to reach the problematics, the system of moral values.

* * *

What do we end up with? No matter how N.S. Leskov to genre forms, demanding freedom of artistic embodiment in the images of his literary heroes, he remains true to creative intuition. Offering the reader the most various genres epic prose, the author, in fact, himself proves the existence of certain laws in the interrelation and close conditionality of the features of the epic hero in their genre specificity. Every new genre, involved in the work of this author, is another confirmation of the conformity of the form with the content of the work, when it is created by a great master of the word.

Literature:

1. Butyrin K.M. The problem of the poetic symbol in Russian literary criticism (XIX - XX centuries) // Studies in poetics and stylistics. L., 1972.

2.Gorky M. History of Russian literature. M., 1939.

3.Gorky M. N.S. Leskov // M. Gorky. Uncollected literary-critical articles.

M., 1941.

4. Grossman L.P. N.S. Leskov. M., 1945.

5.Leskov N.S. Sobr. op. in 12 t.t. M., 1989

6.Leskov N.S. Sobr. cit.: In 11 volumes. V.5. M., 1957

7.Medvedev P.N. (Bakhtin M.M.) The Formal Method in Literary Studies: A Critical Introduction to Sociological Poetics. L., 1928.

8.Mikhailov A.V. Novel and Style // Theory of Literature. T.3. Genera and genres (main problems in historical coverage). M., 2003.

9. Propp V.Ya. Morphology of a fairy tale. M., 1969.

10.Starygina N.N. Russian novel in the situation of philosophical and religious controversy in the 1860s-1870s. M., 2003.

11.Starygina N.N. The gospel background (semantic and stylistic) in the novel by N.S. Leskov "On Knives" // Gospel text in Russian literature of the 18th-20th centuries. Quote, reminiscence, motive, plot, genre. Collection of scientific papers Petrozavodsk, 1994.

12.Stolyarova I.V. In search of the ideal. Creativity N.S. Leskov. L., 1978.

13.Tamarchenko N.D. Epic // Theory of Literature. T. 3. Genera and genres (main problems in historical coverage). M., 2003.

14.Esalnek A.Ya. Fundamentals of literary criticism. Analysis of the novel text. M., 2004.

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Cheryukina Guzel Leonidovna

The stories and novels written at the time of N. S. Leskov's artistic maturity give a fairly complete picture of all his work. Different and different, they are united\"thought about the fate of Russia \". Russia is here many-sided, in a complex interweaving of contradictions,\"wretched and plentiful, \"\"powerful and powerless \" at the same time. In all manifestations national life, its little things and anecdotes Leskov is looking for\"the core of the whole \". And he finds it most often in eccentrics and poor-bearers, as if echoing Dostoevsky, who wrote in \"The Brothers Karamazov\" that an eccentric \"is not always particularity and isolation, but, on the contrary, it happens that he, perhaps, and sometimes carries in itself the core of the whole, and the rest of the people of his era - all with some kind of influx of wind, for some reason for a while they broke away from it \".
The hero of the story\"Non-lethal Golovan \" is one of these eccentrics. \"Non-lethality \" attributed to mere mortals by popular rumor. However, contrary to the legend, already in the first chapter of the story, Golovan's death is described in all its inevitability and reality: he \"died during the so-called\"big fire\" in the city of Orel, drowning in a boiling pit... \" Contrasting the legend with objective facts , tearing the mystical veils from the myth of \"non-lethal \" of the hero, the narrator invites the reader to think about a riddle that has universal significance. Why does a mere mortal sometimes become a legendary hero? Derzhavin's quote in the text from the narrator evokes additional associations with Horace and Pushkin's "Monument", and thus the story of a simple peasant is immediately given scale and philosophy.
The first hint at unraveling the mystery that constantly \"thickened\" around Golovan, despite the extreme purity and openness of his life, contains a small clarification: Golovan got into the \"boiling pit\" saving someone's life or someone's property \". Each new chapter of the story contributes to the deciphering of the artistic meaning of the concept\"non-lethal \". And in the end it turns out that not attending church,\"doubtful in faith\" Golovan is a true Christian and really belongs to the\"temple of the Almighty Creator\", being related to the whole world. Building his life according to the laws of his own conscience, this simple Russian peasant reaches the ultimate moral heights, and it is he who is given to know\"perfect love \".
\"Mystery \" Golovan is in front of everyone's eyes, but its solution does not become the property of rumors. Rumor ascribes to him the only\"sin \"-a relationship with someone else's wife. In fact, Golovan and Pavlageya, having lived under the same roof for many years and endlessly loving each other, could not unite. They did not allow themselves to step over another person, even the most "empty and harmful" - Pavla's drunken and degraded husband, whom everyone else considered missing.
The legend, created by the people, nevertheless turned out to be involved in the truth. In the general inclination towards a miracle, the need of life itself for the high is manifested, a need that is satisfied only by selfless and from the heart service to the good. A miracle in Leskovsky's world always goes hand in hand with life practice, because the condition for the emergence of the miraculous is the writer's human deed, performed \"not for service, but for the soul\"

The fate of Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895) is one of the most dramatic and instructive chapters in the history of Russian literature of the 19th century. The time of creativity, the spiritual quest of a writer of mighty talent fell on an unusually difficult post-reform era. Time has called...

Maxim Gorky said that "as an artist of the word, N. S. Leskov is quite worthy to stand next to such creators of Russian literature as L. Tolstoy, Gogol, Turgenev, Goncharov." Leskov's path in literature was complex and difficult. He began to print in tense ...

Among the Russian classics, Gorky pointed precisely to Leskov as a writer who, with the greatest exertion of all the forces of his talent, strove to create a "positive type" of Russian man, to find crystal among the "sinners" of this world ...

Nikolai Semenovich Leskov is an original Russian writer, whose popularity is growing year by year. The more and more often there is talk about the mysterious Russian soul, the more willingly they remember Leskov, who fully, peculiarly and realistically showed the Russian person ...

Leskov is certainly a writer of the first rank. Its significance is gradually growing in our literature: its influence on literature is growing, and readers' interest in it is growing. However, it is difficult to call him a classic of Russian literature. He is an amazing experimenter who gave rise to a whole wave of such experimenters in Russian literature - a mischievous experimenter, sometimes irritated, sometimes cheerful, and at the same time extremely serious, who set himself great educational goals, in the name of which he conducted his experiments.

The first thing I want to draw attention to is Leskov's search for literary genres. He is constantly looking for, trying his hand at new and new genres, some of which he takes from "business" writing, from the literature of magazines, newspapers or scientific prose.

Very many of Leskov's works have genre definitions under their titles that Leskov gives them, as if warning the reader about the unusual nature of their form for "great literature": "autobiographical note", "author's confession", "open letter", "biographical sketch" ("Alexey Petrovich Ermolov"), " fantasy story"("White Eagle"), "public note" ("Big battles"), "small feuilleton", "notes on generic nicknames" ("Heraldic fog"), "family chronicle" ("The seedy family"), "observations , experiments and adventures "(" Hare remise ")," pictures from life "(" Improvisers "and" Little things of bishop's life ")," from folk legends new build» (“Leon the butler’s son (Table predator)”), “Nota bene to memories” (“Populists and schismatics in the service”), “ legendary case"("Unbaptized pop"), "bibliographic note" ("Unprinted manuscripts of the plays of dead writers"), "post scriptum" ("About the" Quakers ""), "literary explanation" ("About the Russian left-hander"), "a short trilogy in a dream» (“Selective grain”), “reference” (“Where are the plots of the play by Count L. N. Tolstoy “The First Distiller” borrowed from”), “excerpts from youthful memories” (“Pechersk antiques”), “scientific note” (“On the Russian icon painting"), "historical correction" ("The incongruity about Gogol and Kostomarov"), "landscape and genre" ("Winter day", "Midnight clerks"), "rhapsody" ("Yudol"), "the story of an official for special assignments" ( "Stinging"), "a bucolic story on a historical canvas" ("Part-timers"), "spiritual case" ("The Spirit of Madame Janlis"), etc., etc.

Leskov, as it were, avoids the usual genres for literature. If he even writes a novel, then as a genre definition he puts in the subtitle "a novel in three books”(“ Nowhere ”), making it clear to the reader that this is not quite a novel, but a novel with something unusual. If he writes a story, then in this case he also strives to somehow distinguish it from an ordinary story - for example: “a story on a grave” (“Dumb Artist”).

Leskov, as it were, wants to pretend that his works do not belong to serious literature and that they are written in such a way - casually, written in small forms, belong to the lowest kind of literature. This is not only the result of a special “shamefulness of form”, which is very characteristic of Russian literature, but the desire that the reader does not see something complete in his works, “does not believe” him as an author, and himself thinks out the moral meaning of his work. At the same time, Leskov destroys the genre form of his works, as soon as they acquire some kind of genre tradition, they can be perceived as works of “ordinary” and high literature, “Here it would be necessary to end the story,” but ... Leskov continues him, takes him into side, passes to another narrator, etc.

Strange and non-literary genre definitions play a special role in Leskov's works; they act as a kind of warning to the reader not to take them as an expression of the author's attitude to what is being described. This gives readers freedom: the author leaves them face to face with the work: "if you want - believe it, if you want - no." He relieves himself of a certain share of responsibility: making the form of his works as if someone else's, he seeks to shift the responsibility for them to the narrator, to the document that he cites. He seems to be hiding from his reader.

This reinforces that curious feature of Leskov's works that they intrigue the reader by interpreting the moral meaning of what is happening in them (which I wrote about in a previous article).

If we compare the collection of Leskov's works with some kind of a shop in which Leskov lays out goods, supplying them with labels, then first of all, this shop is compared with a palm tree toy trade or with a fair trade, in which folk, simple elements, "cheap toys" ( tales, legends, bucolic pictures, feuilletons, references, etc.) occupy a dominant position.

But even this comparison, with all its relative fidelity in its essence, requires one more clarification.

Lesk's toy shop (and he himself made sure that his works were with a cheerful confusion in intrigue *(( In a letter to V. M. Lavrov dated November 24, 1887, Leskov wrote about his story “Robbery”: “ According to the genre, it is everyday, according to the plot, it is a cheerful confusion», « in general, a fun read and a true everyday picture of a thieves' city». ))) could be compared with a store that usually bears the name "Do it yourself!". Reader myself must make a toy from the materials offered to him or find the answer to the questions that Leskov poses to him.

If I had to look for a subtitle for a collection of his works in the spirit of Leskov's genre definitions, I would give him such a genre definition: "A literary problem book in 30 volumes" (or 25, - you can't do less). His collected works are a huge problem book, a problem book in which the most difficult life situations are given for their moral assessment, and direct answers are not suggested, and sometimes even different solutions are allowed, but in general it is still a problem book that teaches the reader about active goodness, active understanding people and independently finding solutions to the moral issues of life. At the same time, as in any problem book, the construction of problems should not be repeated often, because this would facilitate their solution.

Leskov has such a literary form invented by him - “landscape and genre” (by “genre” Leskov means genre paintings). Leskov creates this literary form (which, by the way, is very modern - many of the achievements of twentieth-century literature are anticipated here) for the complete elimination of the author's self. The author does not even hide here behind the backs of his narrators or correspondents, from whose words he allegedly conveys events, as in his other works - he is generally absent, offering the reader, as it were, a shorthand record of conversations taking place in the living room (“Winter Day”) or the hotel ("The Midnighters"). According to these conversations, the reader himself must judge the character and moral character of those who are talking and about those events and life situations that, behind these conversations, are gradually revealed to the reader.

The moral impact on the reader of these works is especially strong in that nothing is explicitly imposed on the reader in them: the reader seems to guess everything himself. In essence, he actually solves the moral problem that is presented to him.

Leskov's story "Lefty", which is usually perceived as clearly patriotic, as glorifying the labor and skill of the Tula workers, is far from simple in its tendency. He is patriotic, but not only ... Leskov, for some reason, removed author's preface, which indicates that the author cannot be identified with the narrator. And the question remains unanswered: why did all the skill of the Tula blacksmiths only lead to the result that the flea stopped “dancing dances” and “doing variations”? The answer, obviously, is that all the art of the Tula blacksmiths is put at the service of the whims of the masters. This is not a glorification of labor, but an image of the tragic situation of Russian craftsmen.

Let us pay attention to one more extremely characteristic technique. fiction Leskov - his addiction to special words-distortions in the spirit of folk etymology and to the creation of mysterious terms for various phenomena. This technique is known mainly from Leskov's most popular novel "Lefty" and has been repeatedly studied as a phenomenon of linguistic style.

But this technique can by no means be reduced only to style - to jokes, the desire to make the reader laugh. This is also a device of literary intrigue, an essential element of the plot construction of his works. "Words" and "terms", artificially created in the language of Leskov's works in a variety of ways (here not only folk etymology, but also the use of local expressions, sometimes nicknames, etc.), also pose riddles to the reader that intrigue the reader at intermediate stages of development plot. Leskov informs the reader of his terms and cryptic definitions, strange nicknames, etc., before he gives the reader material to understand their meaning, and it is precisely in this way that he gives additional interest to the main intrigue.

Here, for example, is the story "Dead estate", which has a subtitle (genre definition) "from memories". First of all, we note that the very title of the work introduces an element of intrigue, entertainment - what class, and even “dead”, will we be talking about? Then the very first term that Leskov introduces into these memoirs is the "wild fantasies" of the old Russian governors, the antics of officials. Only in the following is it explained what kind of antics they are. The riddle is solved unexpectedly for the reader. The reader expects that he will read about some monstrous behavior of the old governors (after all, they say - "wild fantasies"), but it turns out that it is just about eccentricities. Leskov undertakes to oppose the bad old "war time" to modern prosperity, but it turns out that in the old days everything was simpler and even more harmless. The "wildness" of old fantasies is not at all terrible. The past, opposed to the new, very often serves Leskov to criticize his present.

Leskov uses the “term” “combat time”, but then it turns out that the whole war boils down to the fact that the Oryol governor Trubetskoy was a big fan of “making noise” (again, the term), and, as it turns out, he loved to “make noise” not out of malice, but as a kind of artist, actor. Leskov writes: About the bosses, whom they especially wanted to praise, they always said: "Hunter to make some noise." If he gets attached to something, and makes noise, and scolds as badly as possible, and won't make trouble. All ended with one noise!"Further, the term" insolent "is used (again in quotation marks) and added:" About him (that is, about the same governor.- D. L.),so they said in Orel that he "likes to be daring"". In the same vein, the terms "strain", "upstart" are given. And then it turns out that the governors' quick driving served as a sign of "solid power" and "decorated", according to Leskov, the old Russian cities, when the bosses went "upstart". Leskov also speaks of the erratic driving of the ancient governors in his other works, but characteristically - again intriguing the reader, but in other terms. In Odnodum, for example, Leskov writes: “Then (in the old days.- D. L.)governors traveled "scary", but met them "quiveringly"". The explanation of both terms is made in Odnodum is surprising, and Leskov casually uses various other terms that serve as auxiliary intriguing devices that prepare the reader for the appearance in the narrative of the “haughty figure” of “himself”.

When creating a “term”, Leskov usually refers to “local use”, to “local rumor”, giving those terms a folk flavor. About the same governor of Oryol Trubetskoy, whom I have already mentioned, Leskov cites many local expressions. " Add to that, - writes Leskov, - that the person we are talking about, according to the correct local definition, was "unintelligible"(again term.- D. L.),rude and autocratic - and then it will become clear to you that he could inspire both horror and a desire to avoid any meeting with him. But the common people liked to look with pleasure when “yon sadit”. The men who visited Orel and had happiness (underlined by me.- D. L.),to see the prince riding, it used to be a long story:
- And-and-and, how yon sits down! Agio bydto the whole city rumbles!»

Further, Leskov says about Trubetskoy: “ It was the governor from all sides "(again term.- D. L.);such a governor, which are now transferred due to "unfavorable circumstances"».

The last term that is associated with this Oryol governor is the term "spread out." The term is given first to amaze the reader with its unexpectedness, and then its explanation is already reported: “ It was his favorite(Governor.-D. L.)arranging his figure when he had to go, not go. He took his hands “at the sides” or “forth”, which is why the hood and the hems of his military cloak spread out and occupied so much latitude that three people could pass in his place: everyone can see that the governor is coming».

I do not touch here on many other terms associated in the same work with another governor: Ivan Ivanovich Fundukley of Kiev: “exhausting”, “beautiful Spaniard”, “clerk descends from the mountain”, etc. The following is important: such terms have already been encountered in Russian literature (in Dostoevsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin), but in Leskov they are introduced into the very intrigue of the narrative, serve to increase interest. This is an additional element of intrigue. When in the work of Leskov, the Kiev governor Fundukley (“Dead estate”) is called “the beautiful Spaniard”, it is natural that the reader is waiting for an explanation of this nickname. Other expressions of Leskov also require explanations, and he never rushes with these explanations, counting at the same time that the reader has not had time to forget these enigmatic words and expressions.

I. V. Stolyarova in her work “Principles of Leskov’s “insidious satire” (a word in the tale of Lefty)” draws attention to this remarkable feature of Leskov’s “insidious word”. She writes: " As a kind of signal of attention addressed to the reader, the writer uses a neologism or just an unusual word that is mysterious in its real meaning and therefore arouses the reader's interest. Telling, for example, about the trip of the tsar's ambassador, Leskov pointedly remarks: "Platov rode very hastily and with ceremony..." story "The Enchanted Wanderer"). Everything that follows in this long period is a description of this ceremony, which, as the reader has the right to expect, is something interesting, unusual, worthy of attention.» *{{ Stolyarova I.V. The principles of Leskov's "insidious satire" (a word in the tale of Lefty). // Creativity of N. S. Leskov: Collection. Kursk, 1977, pp. 64-66.}}.

Along with strange and mysterious words and expressions (terms, as I call them), nicknames are also introduced into the intrigue of the works, which “work” in the same way. These are also riddles that are posed at the beginning of the work and only then are explained. This is how even the largest works, such as "Cathedrals", begin. In the first chapter of The Cathedral, Leskov gives four nicknames for Achilles Desnitsyn. And although the fourth nickname, “Wounded,” is explained in the same first chapter, but in the aggregate, all four nicknames are revealed gradually as the “Cathedrals” are read. Explanation of the first nickname only maintains the reader's interest in the meaning of the other three.

The unusual language of the narrator in Leskov, individual expressions defined by Leskov as local, buzzwords, nicknames serve at the same time in the works, again, to conceal the identity of the author, his personal relationship to what is being described. He speaks in "strange words" - therefore, he does not give any assessment to what he is talking about. Leskov the author, as it were, hides behind other people's words and phrases, just as he hides behind his own narrators, behind a fictitious document, or behind some pseudonym.

Leskov is like a "Russian Dickens". Not because he resembles Dickens in general, in the manner of his writing, but because both Dickens and Leskov are "family writers", writers who were read in the family, discussed by the whole family, writers who are of great importance for moral formation a person is brought up in his youth, and then accompanied all his life, along with the best childhood memories. But Dickens is a typically English family writer, and Leskov is a Russian. Even very Russian. So Russian that, of course, he will never be able to enter the English family in the same way that Dickens entered the Russian. And this is despite the ever-increasing popularity of Leskov abroad and, above all, in English-speaking countries.

There is one thing that brings Leskov and Dickens very close: they are eccentric righteous people. Why not the Leskian righteous Mr. Dick in David Copperfield, whose favorite pastime was to fly kites and who found the right and kind answer to all questions? And why not the Dickensian eccentric Nesmertny Golovan, who did good in secret, without even noticing that he was doing good?

But a good hero is just what is needed for family reading. Deliberately "ideal" hero does not always have a chance to become a favorite hero. The beloved hero should be, to a certain extent, the secret of the reader and writer, for a truly kind person, if he does good, always does it in secret, in secret.

The eccentric not only keeps the secret of his kindness, but he also makes literary riddle that intrigues the reader. The removal of eccentrics in works, at least in Leskov, is also one of the methods of literary intrigue. The eccentric always carries a riddle. Intrigue in Leskov, therefore, subordinates to itself the moral assessment, the language of the work and the "characterography" of the work. Without Leskov, Russian literature would have lost a significant share of its national color and national problematics.

Leskov's work has its main sources not even in literature, but in the oral colloquial tradition, going back to what I would call "talking Russia". It came out of conversations, disputes in various companies and families and again returned to these conversations and disputes, returned to the whole huge family and “talking Russia”, giving rise to new conversations, disputes, discussions, awakening the moral sense of people and teaching them to decide on their own. moral issues.

For Leskov, the whole world of official and unofficial Russia is, as it were, “his own”. He generally referred to all modern literature and Russian literature. public life like a kind of conversation. All of Russia was his native, native land, where everyone knows each other, remembers and honors the dead, knows how to tell about them, knows them family secrets. So he says about Tolstoy, Pushkin, Zhukovsky and even Katkov. He even calls the deceased chief of the gendarmes "the unforgettable Leonty Vasilyevich Dubelt" (see "Administrative Grace"). Yermolov for him, first of all, Alexey Petrovich, and Miloradovich - Mikhail Andreevich. And he never forgets to mention them family life, about their kinship with one or another character in the story, about acquaintances ... And this is by no means conceited boasting of "a short acquaintance with big people." This consciousness - sincere and deep - of its kinship with all of Russia, with all its people - both good and unkind, with its centuries-old culture. And this is also his position as a writer.

The writer's style can be seen as part of his behavior. I write "may" because the style is sometimes perceived by the writer as ready-made. Then it's not his behavior. The writer only reproduces it. Sometimes the style follows the accepted etiquette in the literature. Etiquette, of course, is also behavior, or rather, a certain accepted stamp of behavior, and then the style of the writer is devoid of individual features. However, when the individuality of the writer is clearly expressed, the style of the writer is his behavior, his behavior in literature.

Leskov's style is part of his behavior in literature. The style of his works includes not only the style of the language, but also the attitude to genres, the choice of the "image of the author", the choice of themes and plots, the ways of constructing intrigue, attempts to enter into special "mischievous" relationships with the reader, the creation of the "image of the reader" - distrustful and at the same time simple-minded, and on the other hand - sophisticated in literature and thinking on public topics, a reader-friend and a reader-enemy, a polemical reader and a “false” reader (for example, a work is addressed to a single person, but is printed for everyone).

Above, we tried to show Leskov, as it were, hiding, hiding, playing hide and seek with the reader, writing under pseudonyms, as if for random reasons in the secondary sections of magazines, as if refusing authoritative and imposing genres, a writer conceited and, as it were, offended ...

I think the answer suggests itself.

Leskov's unsuccessful article on the fire that started in St. Petersburg on May 28, 1862, undermined his "literary position ... for almost two decades" *(( Leskov A.N. The life of Nikolai Leskov according to his personal, family and non-family records and memories. Tula, 1981, p. 141.)). It was perceived as inciting public opinion against students and forced Leskov to go abroad for a long time, and then to avoid literary circles, or, in any case, treat these circles with caution. He was insulted and insulted himself. A new wave of public indignation against Leskov was caused by his novel Nowhere. The genre of the novel not only failed Leskov, but forced D. I. Pisarev to declare: “Will there be 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 Mr. Stebnitsky "*(( Pisarev D. I. Soch.: In 4 vols. T. 3. M., 1956. S. 263.}}.

All Leskov's activity as a writer, his searches are subordinated to the task of "hiding", leaving the environment he hates, hiding, speaking as if from someone else's voice. And he could love eccentrics - because to a certain extent he identified them with himself. That is why he made his eccentrics and righteous for the most part lonely and incomprehensible ... "Rejection from literature" affected the whole character of Leskov's work. But is it possible to recognize that it formed all its features? No! Everything was there together: "rejection" created the character of creativity, and the character of creativity and style in the broadest sense of the word led to "rejection from literature" - from the literature of the front row, of course, only. But this is precisely what allowed Leskov to become an innovator in literature, because the birth of a new one in literature often comes from below - from minor and semi-business genres, from the prose of letters, from stories and conversations, from approaching everyday life and everyday life.

"The origin of man on Earth" - Ships went from Mainak to Aralsk. Is evolution finished now? And there was evening and there was morning: the sixth day. What is a person? Now the sea level has dropped thirteen meters. Additional nipples; Claws on separate fingers; Strongly developed fangs. Wisdom teeth". Indeed, human activity changes the environment very strongly and at lightning speed.

"Leskov Old Genius" - Key words. 1) The highest degree of creative talent; What a funny passage! Blatant - causing extreme indignation, completely unacceptable. Evil genius. A fragment of a piece of music, usually of a virtuoso nature. Frant in a new suit. Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov. Moral problems of the story "The Old Genius".

Leskov N.S. - Ataman Platov picks the pistol lock. Summary of the lesson. Francispis to N.S. Leskov's tale "Lefty". Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich examines a steel flea through a "melkoscope". Compare the illustrations and note the peculiarity of the reflection of the Leskovsky text in the figures. Lesson - excursion. Platov on the "annoying couch". Kukryniksy.

“Writer Leskov” - At times, the signatures “M. Creation. Monument to N. Leskov in Orel. At first creative activity Leskov wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. House-Museum of N.S. Leskov. "Righteous". Leskov-Stebnitsky" and "M. literary career. Latest works about Russian society are very cruel. "Zagon", "Winter Day", "Lady and Fefela" ...

"Leskov Nikolai Semyonovich" - Leskov Nikolay Semyonovich 1831-1895. And the Leskovsky righteous people have the idea of ​​order in life and active goodness. House-Museum of N.S. Leskov. From left to right: Vasily, Mikhail, Nikolai, Alexei. N.S. Leskov Autograph: “The portrait is very similar to me. Filmed at Bem, in Merekkül, July 17, 1892. Childhood years were spent in the estate of the Strakhovs' relatives, then in Orel.

"Leskov life and work" - Authors - Moscow sculptors Orekhovs, architects V.A. Petersburg and A.V. Stepanov. “Literature is a difficult field, a field that requires a great spirit. “He didn’t go far in the sciences,” Leskov will say about himself and call himself “poorly educated” for literary work. Monument to N.S. Leskov. The great legacy of N.S. Leskov.

Article

Among the Russian classics, Gorky pointed precisely to Leskov as a writer who, with the greatest exertion of all the forces of his talent, strove to create a "positive type" of Russian man, to find among the "sinners" of this world a crystal-clear man, a "righteous man." The writer proudly declared: "The strength of my talent is in positive types." And he asked: "Show me in another writer such an abundance of positive Russian types?"

In the filigree tale of the Lefty (1881), a wonderful master gunsmith performed a technical miracle shod a steel flea made by the British, which cannot be seen without a "melkoscope". But Leskov did not reduce the essence of his story only to the fabulous ingenuity of the self-taught Lefty, although in the writer's eyes it was of exceptional importance for understanding the "soul of the people." the writer penetrates into the complex dialectic of the external and internal content of the image of the Lefty and puts him in characteristic circumstances.

The left-hander is a small, nondescript, dark person who does not know the "calculation of strength", because he did not get into the "sciences" and instead of the four rules of addition from arithmetic, everything still wanders according to the "Psalter and the Half Dream Book". But the wealth of nature inherent in him, diligence, dignity, the height of moral feeling and innate delicacy immeasurably elevate him above all the stupid and cruel masters of life. Of course, Lefty believed in the king-father and was a religious person. The image of Lefty under the pen of Leskov turns into a generalized symbol of the Russian people. In the eyes of Leskov moral value of a person lies in his organic connection with the living national element with his native land and its nature, with its people and traditions that go back into the distant past. The most remarkable thing was that Leskov, an excellent connoisseur of the life of his time, did not submit to the idealization of the people that dominated the Russian intelligentsia in the 70s and 80s. The author of "Lefty" does not flatter the people, but he does not belittle them either. He portrays the people in accordance with specific historical conditions, and at the same time penetrates into the richest opportunities hidden in the people for creativity, ingenuity, and service to the motherland. Gorky wrote that Leskov "loved all Rus' as it is, with all the absurdities of its ancient way of life, he loved the half-starved, half-drunk people, battered by officials."

In the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" (1873), Leskov depicts the versatile giftedness of the fugitive serf Ivan Flyagin in a merger with his struggle with hostile and difficult circumstances of life. The author draws an analogy with the image of the first Russian hero Ilya Muromets. He calls him "a typical simple-hearted, kind Russian hero, reminiscent of grandfather Ilya Muromets in the beautiful picture of Vereshchagin and in the poem of Count A. K. Tolstoy." It is noteworthy that Leskov chose the narrative in the form of a story about the hero's wanderings in his native country. This allowed him to draw a broad picture of Russian life, to confront his indomitable hero, in love with life and people, with its most diverse conditions.

Leskov, without idealizing the hero and not simplifying him, creates a holistic, but contradictory, unbalanced character. Ivan Severyanovich can also be wildly cruel, unbridled in his ebullient passions. But his nature is truly revealed in good and chivalrous disinterested deeds for the sake of others, in selfless deeds, in the ability to cope with any business. Innocence and humanity, practical intelligence and perseverance, courage and endurance, a sense of duty and love for the motherland - these are the remarkable features of the Leskovsky wanderer.

Why did Leskov call his hero an enchanted wanderer? What meaning did he put into such a name? This meaning is significant and very deep. The artist convincingly showed that his hero is unusually sensitive to everything beautiful in life. Beauty has a magical effect on him. His whole life is spent in various and high charms, in artistic, disinterested hobbies. Ivan Severyanovich is under the spell of love for life and people, for nature and homeland. Such natures are capable of becoming obsessed, they fall into illusions. into self-forgetfulness, into daydreams, into an enthusiastically poetic, exalted state.

The positive types depicted by Leskov opposed the "mercantile age" approved by capitalism, which carried the depreciation of the personality of the common man, turned him into a stereotype, into a "fifty". Leskov, by means of fiction, resisted the heartlessness and selfishness of the people of the "banking period", the invasion of the bourgeois-petty-bourgeois plague, which kills everything poetic and bright in a person.

In the works about "the righteous" and "artists" Leskov has a strong satirical, critical stream when he reproduces the dramatic relationship of his positive characters with the socially hostile environment surrounding them, with the anti-people authorities, when he talks about the senseless death of talented people in Russia. The originality of Leskov lies in the fact that his optimistic portrayal of the positive and heroic, talented and extraordinary in the Russian people is inevitably accompanied by bitter irony, when the author sorrowfully talks about the sad and often tragic fate of the representatives of the people. In "Lefty" there is a whole gallery of satirically depicted representatives of the corrupt, stupid and greedy ruling elite. Satirical elements are also strong in The Dumb Artist. The whole life of the hero of this work consisted in single combat with lordly cruelty, lack of rights, soldiery. And the story of a serf actress, a simple and courageous girl? Isn't her broken life, the tragic outcome of which gave rise to the habit of "filling the coal" of the suffering she endured with sips from the "plakon" with vodka, is not a denunciation of serfdom?!

The formula "all of Rus' appeared in Leskov's stories" should be understood primarily in the sense that the writer comprehended essential national characteristics spiritual world of the Russian people. But "all Rus' appeared in Leskov's stories" in a different sense. Life for him is perceived as a panorama of the most diverse ways of life and customs in various regions of a vast country. Leskov turned to such successful ways of constructing a plot that allowed him to embody "all of Rus'" in a single picture. He closely studies the experience of Gogol, the author of "Dead Souls", and not only draws a fruitful lesson from Gogol's device (Chichikov's trips), but also rethinks this method in relation to his subject of depiction. The hero's wanderings as one of the ways to unfold the narrative are necessary for Leskov in order to show a simple Russian person a runaway peasant in different circumstances, in collision with various people. such is the peculiar odyssey of the enchanted wanderer.

Leskov called himself an "artist of style", that is, a writer who owns a living, and not a literary speech. In this speech, he drew its imagery and strength, clarity and accuracy, lively emotional excitement and musicality. Leskov believed that in the Oryol and Tula provinces, the peasants speak surprisingly figuratively and aptly. “So, for example,” the writer says, “a woman does not say about her husband “he loves me,” but says “he pities me.” Think about it, and you will see how complete, tender, precise and clear it is. A husband does not talk about a pleasant wife says that he "liked" her, he says, "she came by all thoughts". Look again, what clarity and completeness."

In an effort to enrich and strengthen the linguistic means of artistic depiction and expressiveness, Leskov skillfully used the so-called folk etymology. Its essence lies in the rethinking of words and phrases in the folk spirit, as well as in the sound deformation of words (especially of foreign origin). Both are carried out on the basis of the corresponding semantic and sound analogies. In "Lady Macbeth" Mtsensk district"we read:" Few people will speak your tongue with a long tongue. "In" The Warrior ":" What are you doing ... you really nasty yourself. Of course, Leskov overheard such sayings not for the sake of aesthetic collecting or photographic copying, but in order to achieve certain ideological and artistic goals.Rethinking and sound deformation of words and phrases in the narrator's speech often gave the language of the work an almost imperceptible comic or parodic-satirical, humorous and ironic.

But the structure of Leskov's author's speech is also distinguished by the same jewelry finish and iridescent play. Not hiding behind the character-narrator, but leading the whole story on his own behalf or acting in it as the author-interlocutor, Leskov "forged" the speech of his heroes, transferred the features of their vocabulary and phraseology into his language. This is how stylization arose, which, in combination with the tale, gave Leskov's entire prose the deepest originality. Ironic stylization of the Church Slavonic language, stylization of folklore, lubok, legend, the "epos of workers", and even a foreign language all this was imbued with polemics, mockery, sarcasm, denunciation or good-natured humor, loving attitude, pathos. Here Levsha was called to the king. He "walks in what he was: in shorts, one trouser leg in a boot, the other is dangling, and the ozyamchik is old, the hooks do not fasten, they are lost, and the collar is torn; but nothing, it will not be embarrassing."

Only a Russian person who merged with the spirit of the living could write like that spoken language, who penetrated the psychology of a forced, unsightly, but artistically talented and self-aware worker. "Wizard of the word" - this is how Gorky called the author of "Lefty".

According to the article by N. Prutskov "The most original Russian writer" / N. S. Leskov. Leads and stories. Lenizdat, 1977.