2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 12:36
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov (1831-1895) - a remarkable Russian writer, author of the immortal story about Lefty and many other works included in the Golden Fund of Russian literature. Leskov's childhood and adolescence passed in the house of relatives, small landed nobles. My father was in the service of the judicial chamber and was engaged in criminal investigation, there was no time left for household chores. When the time came to retire, Leskov's father left his unloved job without regret and acquired a small farm Panino in the Oryol province. It was then that the biography of the writer Leskov, complex and contradictory, began. In the dense wilderness of farm settlements, the growing Nikolai Leskov got acquainted with the primordially Russian way of life, bastard and hungry.
Maturity of Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Leskov, whose biography describes in detail his early years, studied at the gymnasium until the age of sixteen and, perhaps, he would have been able to get a decent education, but his father suddenly died. To top it all off, a fire soon broke out on the farm, the house burned down and with it all the property. To somehow bringmake ends meet and support a sickly sick mother, the young man joined the judicial chamber of the Oryol province, where his father once worked. His duties included office work, and thanks to natural observation, Nikolai Leskov collected extensive material, which he later used when writing his novels, novels and short stories. Leskov's biography on its pages reflects the entire period of his work in the judiciary.
In 1849, young Leskov unexpectedly received support from his mother's brother, Kyiv scientist S. Alferyev. At the request of an eminent relative, he was transferred to Kyiv and began to work in the city treasury chamber as a simple official. He lived with his uncle, who was a major medical specialist throughout the Kyiv region. The whole color of Kyiv professors, and not only medical ones, constantly gathered in the house. Thanks to new acquaintances, Leskov's biography was quickly replenished with interesting pages. He communicated with educated people, like a sponge absorbing information that was willingly shared with him. The future writer got acquainted with the work of the great Taras Shevchenko, imbued with Kyiv culture, began to study the architecture of the ancient city.
In 1857, Nikolai Leskov left the state service and was accepted into the company for the resettlement of peasant families to new lands. The work turned out to be difficult, on the issues of arranging the settlers had to travel all over the vast Russia. The material for Leskov's future works was collected by itself. And in 1860 Leskov's biographyreplenished with a new page, he becomes a writer. At the beginning of 1861, the young writer moved to St. Petersburg, determined to devote himself to journalism. The first publications were in Otechestvennye Zapiski. Then Leskov submitted several short stories and novellas for publication, among which were "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District", "The Robber", "The Life of a Woman".
The journalistic activity of the writer Nikolai Leskov and his later works
In 1862, Leskov was hired in the almanac "Northern Bee" as a correspondent. Unfortunately, Leskov's short biography does not contain all his achievements in the journalistic field. As a correspondent, he visited several European countries, including the Czech Republic and Poland. Nikolai Leskov also visited Paris. A multi-month trip to Europe formed the basis of the novels "Bypassed" and "On Knives Out". The plot of these works is built on the disagreements between revolutionary-minded democrats and the moderate wing of those in power.
A special place in the writer's work was occupied by the novel "On the Knives", published in 1870 after numerous revisions and alterations. Leskov himself spoke of the novel as the worst of his works. Much later, in 1881, the story "The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea" was published, which subsequently went through many editions. After "Lefty" the writer began to lean towards journalism, satirical and merciless. His works "Winterday" and "Zagon" Leskov described as cynical, but did not rewrite. One of Nikolai Leskov's later novels - "Devil's Dolls" - was completely banned by censorship. The story "Hare Remise" suffered the same fate. The end of the 80s was for the writer a difficult period in his work. In addition, his he alth deteriorated sharply, Leskov developed asthma, and in 1895 he died.
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