N. S. Leskov, "The Enchanted Wanderer": a summary of the chapters, analysis and reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Leskov's rich work, although not without controversy, is distinguished by its artistic and aesthetic value. His works combine realism and romantic dream. They are distinguished by a mass of specific, sometimes documentary details, naturalistic sketches and a deep generalization of the recreated paintings. A vivid example of this is Leskov's story "The Enchanted Wanderer", a summary of which is presented in this article.

Writer's work

In his works, Leskov represented unknown areas of life, forcing the reader to look at the entire Russian world. He narrated both about the "outgoing self-thinking Russia", and about contemporary reality. Having served literature for more than thirty-five years, he has always remained a democratic artist and humanist. Leskov defended the dignity of a person and stood up for freedom of conscience, perceiving a person as a person who is unacceptable to be sacrificed to opinions and ideas. After reviewing in detail the summary of "The EnchantedWanderer" by Leskov, one can see that in the artistic research the author was looking for the truth and revealed to readers a lot of beauty and previously unknown. Therefore, it is impossible not to appreciate his literary feat.

The writer's childhood passed in the countryside, and ancient legends and legends, peasant beliefs, which he heard from courtyards and nannies, forever sunk into his memory. He always had an interest in folk art, without which it is impossible to assess the spirituality of the people. Comprehension of the native country and connection with the people were born directly in communication. He knew the Russian people and Russian history. He emphasized the heroic character of antiquity and the greatness of the deeds of the people. Like no other, Leskov could convey the inner world of a simple person. These include the wonderful works "At the End of the World", "Cathedrals", "Peacock", "The Sealed Angel", "The Enchanted Wanderer" (a very brief summary of the story is in this article).

Image of Russia

Leskov has always sought to serve his homeland as a “word of truth and truth”, and each of his works is an artistic melody, born on the basis of real events, referring to the past and suggestive of the future. For example, The Enchanted Wanderer, the story that will be discussed in this article, was written in the 19th century, but the time the writer tells about is somewhat similar to our reality. The main image in it is Russia. But the author describes it, revealing the characters of the Russian people, the central characters of the story: Ivan Flyagin, the prince, the gypsy Grunya andothers. In the summary of The Enchanted Wanderer by Nikolai Semenovich Leskov, there will be an opportunity to get to know these characters better.

With his characteristic skill, Leskov tells not only about people, but reveals the features of the Russian character. Undoubtedly, all people are different, but the national trait is passivity. The author skillfully reveals the reason for this on the example of a simple Russian peasant Flyagin. The plot of the story is a description of Ivan's life and the trials that fell to his lot. He was born into a peasant family and intended to serve God. Ivan committed serious crimes, not wanting this, repenting with all his heart, reproaching himself for sins. The murder of the monk and the woman he loved were accidental, in fact, he committed them under the influence of evil fate and was not guilty. He eventually becomes a monk and is cleansed of his sins. Flyagin found peace, found quiet happiness in the monastery.

There is a deep meaning in "The Enchanted Wanderer" by N. S. Leskov (summary in this article). Using the example of his heroes, Leskov showed Russia. Suffering, unhappy, constantly fighting evil fate, like Ivan Flyagin. Loving and romantic, young and freedom-loving, like the gypsy Grunya. The rich prince fell in love with her and wanted to make her his wife against her will. Having forced to love himself, the dishonest prince eventually abandoned her. Unhappy, loving and free Grunya. There is no more precise description for the image of Russia. The fate of the girl is sad - Grunya died, but remained free. Often the political views of the writer turned into a heavy drama - his works were misinterpreted and causeda storm of condemnation and criticism. But the writer, with his heightened interest in Russian culture and a subtle sense of folk life, created an amazing and unique artistic world.

History of writing

Researchers of Leskov's work claim that The Enchanted Wanderer was conceived by the author after a trip to Lake Ladoga in 1872. He completed work on it in 1873. Initially, the work was called "Black Earth Telemak", and the author himself said that this was not a story, but a story. A summary of The Enchanted Wanderer is below, and now you are reading the history of the creation of the work, which the author sent to the Russian Messenger, where he was refused. After making corrections to the text and changing the title to The Enchanted Wanderer, the author sent the manuscript to Russkiy Mir, and it was published in 1873. The first publication was dedicated to Sergei Yegorovich Kuleshov. But later it was removed. The Enchanted Wanderer was published as a separate edition in 1874. The prototype of the owner of Ivan, Count K., is the cruel and wasteful Count S. M. Kamensky, the number of servants he had reached 400 people.

New Passenger

Let's start the summary of The Enchanted Wanderer by getting to know the passengers of the ship sailing along Lake Ladoga to Valaam. The ship moored at the pier in Korela. Many passengers went ashore and, out of curiosity, went to the old Russian village, after visiting which, of course, they started talking about it. Inclined to philosophical judgments, the passenger noticed that, for some reason, objectionable people were accepted.in St. Petersburg send people somewhere at a loss to the treasury, although there is Korela near the capital.

Soon a new passenger of a heroic physique joined the conversation. And, apparently, the simple-hearted and kind stranger was preparing to become a monk. At first glance, it was clear that this man had seen a lot in his lifetime. He, introducing himself as Ivan Severyanych Flyagin, shared with his interlocutors that he traveled a lot and got into such troubles that he "died several times and could not die." They persuaded him to tell about it.

An old monk's prediction

Let's continue the summary of The Enchanted Wanderer with Flyagin's story about himself. He was born and raised in the Oryol province in a serf family. His father was a coachman, and from childhood Ivan knew everything there was to know about horses. When he grew up, he began, like his father, to carry the count. Once, a cart in which an old monk had dozed off did not give way to him. Ivan, bypassing him, pulled the monk on the back with a whip. He fell awake from the wagon under the wheels of the cart and died. The case was hushed up, but the monk appeared in a dream and predicted that Ivan would die, but not die, and then go to the monks.

The prediction immediately began to come true. He drove the gentlemen along a steep road, and the brake of the carriage burst in the most dangerous place. The front horses had already fallen into the abyss, and they managed to hold back the rear ones by throwing themselves on the drawbar. Lord Ivan saved, but he himself flew into the abyss. Only a miracle saved Ivan - he fell on a block of clay and rolled on it like on a sleigh to the very bottom of the abyss.

Escape Ivan

Soon started Ivan onpigeon stable. But the cat got into the habit of dragging pigeons, he caught her and cut off her tail. The maid came running, the cat was the master's, began to scold Ivan and hit him on the cheek. He drove her away. Ivan was flogged and sent pebbles for paths in the garden to be beaten with a hammer. The summary of The Enchanted Wanderer cannot convey how difficult and tedious the work is. But Ivan got tired of crawling on his knees all day, it became completely unbearable, and he decided to hang himself. Went to the forest and jumped from a tree with a rope around his neck. It was cut by a gypsy who appeared from nowhere. He offered Flyagin to run away from the masters and engage in horse-stealing. Ivan didn't want to steal, but he couldn't go back either.

The same night they took away the best horses from the master's stable and galloped off to Karachev. The horses were sold, for which Ivan received only a ruble. Ivan quarreled with the gypsy, and on this they parted. Ivan made himself a vacation sheet and went to work for the master, from whom his wife ran away, leaving her little daughter. So Ivan was assigned to her as a nanny. Ivan led the girl along the seashore and gave goat's milk to drink. But somehow a monk appeared to him in a dream and said that Ivan still had to endure a lot, and showed a vision - the steppe and galloping horsemen. The mother, secretly from the master, began to visit the girl and persuade Ivan to give her daughter to her for good money. But he did not want to deceive the master.

At auction

Let's continue the summary of The Enchanted Wanderer from the scene on the seashore. The lady's new husband came to Ivan and started a fight. Ivan took pity on his mother, andgave her the girl. I had to run with them. I reached Penza, where they gave Ivan two hundred rubles, and he set off to look for a new place for himself. Across the river was a brisk horse trade. On the last day of the auction, a white mare of extraordinary beauty and agility was brought in for sale. A dispute ensued between two noble Tatars because of her - none of them wanted to concede. They sat down opposite each other and began to whip each other - whoever surrenders first, he lost. The winner got a mare, and Ivan got excited - he wanted to participate in such a competition himself.

They brought a carac stallion to the auction, a hundred times better than that mare, and Ivan went to fight with the Tatar. In the end, his opponent fell down dead. The Tatars had no complaints - there was an honest argument, but the Russian police came to arrest him. Ivan had to flee with the Tatars to Ryn-Sands.

Life in the steppe

Starting from the sixth chapter, a brief summary of The Enchanted Wanderer tells about Ivan's life in the steppe. The Tatars mistook him for a doctor. Everything would be fine, but his longing for Russia began to torment him. I tried to run away, but they caught him and “bristled” - they cut the skin on the foot and stuffed chopped horse mane there. Horsehair pricked my leg like needles, and I had to move only by twisting my leg. They didn’t offend him anymore, they even gave him two wives. Five years later they sent him to a neighboring horde to “treat”, and they took him away with them a “skillful doctor” and gave him two other wives. From all the wives, Ivan had children whom he did not consider his own, since they were not baptized.

The longing for my native land tormented me more and more. Ivan chewed hard horsemeat and remembered his nativevillage: on God's feast they will slaughter ducks and geese, and the priest goes from house to house, collects refreshments and drinks a glass of wine. Ivan had to live unmarried among the Tatars, you see, and he would die not inveterate. He crawled out behind the yurts and prayed like a Christian.

Fire from the sky

Ivan once heard that Christian preachers came to the Tatars. The ninth chapter of The Enchanted Wanderer tells about this. The summary cannot convey Ivan's joy - a spark of hope lit up in his heart. He found the preachers, fell at his feet so that they would take him away from the Tatars. But they did not have the money to redeem Ivan, and it is not permissible for them to frighten the infidels with the king. Ivan later found one of the preachers killed, and a cross was carved on his forehead. The Tatars did the same with a person spreading the Jewish faith.

Soon, two strange people with boxes came and began to frighten the Tatars with the “god Talafoy”, who cast fire from the sky. And that same night, multi-colored fire began to pour from the sky. Ivan immediately realized that it was fireworks and, picking up these tubes, he began to light the fires himself. The Tatars, who had never seen fireworks, fell to their knees. Infidel Ivan forced to be baptized, and then he noticed that the “caustic earth” from fireworks burns the skin. He began to apply it to his feet until the horse bristles came out.

He fled from the Tatars, for the sake of "giving them" new fireworks. The Tatars did not dare to pursue him. Ivan went through the entire steppe, reached Astrakhan. Ivan took to drink in his native land. He got into the police, and they took him to the estate to his count. Pop Ilya excommunicated Flyagin from the church for three years - for polygamy insteppes. The count did not dare to endure the uninvolved near him, ordered him to be whipped and put into quitrent.

Gypsy Grunya

We continue the summary of Leskov's The Enchanted Wanderer. Chapter ten tells about Ivan's resourcefulness. He went to the fair and began to help with advice to peasants deceived in the horse trade. Ivan gained great fame and one noble prince took him as his assistant. For three years he lived with the prince, earning good money. The owner entrusted Flyagin with his savings, because he often played cards. And Ivan stopped giving him money. Ivan suffered only from temporary binges. And before drinking, he, in turn, gave the prince money.

One time Ivan was drawn to "wash it down", but the prince was not in the city at that time. There was no one to give money to. By evening, he was so drunk that he could hardly remember himself. Ivan was still afraid that his drinking companion would rob him and groped for the bundle in his bosom. When they left the tavern, he brought Ivan to some house and disappeared.

The thirteenth chapter of Leskov's The Enchanted Wanderer tells about Ivan's further adventures. We will continue the summary with a story about Ivan's meeting with the gypsy Grusha. Ivan entered the house where the gypsies were singing. A lot of people gathered here, and among them walked the gypsy Grusha of extraordinary beauty. She treated the guests to champagne, and they put banknotes on her tray. The girl went up to Ivan, and the rich began to turn up their noses, they say, why does a peasant need champagne. Flyagin, after drinking a glass, threw more money on the tray. Herethe gypsies put him in the first row. The gypsy choir sang and danced. Grusha walked with a tray, and Ivan threw one hundred rubles to her one after another. Then he scooped up the rest of the money and threw it on her tray.

The Prince's Marriage

Ivan did not remember how he got home. The prince, having returned in the morning, lost to the nines, began to ask Flyagin for money. He told him how he spent five "thousands" on a gypsy. Ivan drank, that he got into the hospital with delirium tremens, and then went to the prince to repent. But he told him that when he saw Grusha, he gave fifty thousand for her so that she would be released from the camp. The pear lived with the prince. She sang a sad song, and the prince sat and sobbed.

Soon the Prince got bored with Grusha. He began to travel to the city often, and Grusha became worried, had the prince found someone for himself? The fifteenth chapter of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" introduces the prince's former love. Let's start the summary with a story about Evgenia Semyonovna. From the prince she had a daughter, and he bought them a tenement house so that they would not live in poverty. Once Ivan stopped by to Evgenia Semyonovna, and then the prince arrived. The hostess hid Ivan in the dressing room, and he heard their entire conversation.

The prince persuaded her to mortgage the house and give him money to buy a factory. But Evgenia Semyonovna quickly realized that he did not want to buy a factory, but to marry the daughter of a manufacturer. She agreed, but asked where he would put Grusha? The prince said that he would marry Ivan and Grusha and build a house for them. But Grusha disappeared somewhere. They were preparing the prince's wedding, and Ivan yearned for Grusha. Once he was walking along the shore, suddenly a Pear appeared and hung around his neck.

Ragged, dirty, in the last month of pregnancy, Grusha frenziedly repeated that she would kill the prince's bride. The gypsy told that once the prince invited her to ride in a carriage, but he deceived her - he took her to some house under the supervision of three girls. But Grusha managed to escape from them. And here she is. Grusha begged Ivan to kill her, otherwise she would destroy the prince's bride. Ivan pushed Grusha away, and she fell into the river and drowned.

To the monastery

Ivan ran wherever his eyes looked, and it seemed to him that Grusha's soul was flying after him. I met an old man and an old woman along the way. I learned from them that their son was being recruited, and asked for it in his place. Ivan fought in the Caucasus for fifteen years. The summary of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" will not be able to tell about all the heroes of Ivan. But in one of the battles, he volunteered to swim across the river under fire from the highlanders in order to build a bridge. For this, Ivan was presented for an award and given an officer's rank. But this did not bring him prosperity. Ivan retired, pushed around in an office position, and then went to the monastery, where he was appointed as a coachman.

Thus ended Ivan's ordeal. True, at first Ivan was bothered by demons in the monastery, but he resisted them with prayers and fasts. He read "spiritual books" and prophesied about an imminent war. The abbot sent him to Solovki as a pilgrim. On this trip, he met with his listeners. And he told them about his life with all frankness. This is how the last, twentieth chapter of The Enchanted Wanderer and a brief summary are downloaded. in detailyou can learn about the hero, his misadventures, experiences and thoughts only in the original.

Analysis of the product

Here the skill of the storyteller Leskov reached its highest point. And since the narration is in the first person, the author gave vent to verbal ingenuity. Events develop with breathtaking speed, the author tells about them at a fast pace, saturating them with expressive and picturesque details. As you could see from the summary, Leskov's "The Enchanted Wanderer" is the life of an unwilling adventurer full of unusual events. Whether he likes it or not, he, like a bewitched one, falls from one misfortune to another.

The hero of the story is a serf who grew up in a manor's stable. The indefatigable vital energy of this "natural person" pushes him at the very beginning of his life to reckless actions. The natural force, which "shimmered with zest" through his veins, makes the young Flyagin related to the heroes of Russian epics, the similarity with which the author mentioned from the first lines. Thus, Leskov noted that the character of the character is rooted in the life and history of the Russian people. But the heroic strength slumbers in Ivan Severyanych for a long time, and for the time being he lives outside of good and evil, carelessness is manifested in his actions, which ultimately leads to the most dramatic consequences. Apparently, he is not particularly bothered by them, but the monk he killed appears to him in dreams and predicts difficult trials.

Self-awareness

"The Enchanted Hero" with his inherentartistry reaches a higher level of life. His inherent sense of beauty gradually outgrows only an inner experience, and is enriched with ardent attachments to everything that causes admiration in him. The episode where he meets the gypsy Grunya perfectly represents the development of these feelings. A connoisseur of horses and a connoisseur of their beauty, he discovers a completely new “beauty” for himself - the beauty of talent and a woman. The charm of this girl revealed completely the soul of Ivan. And he began to understand another person, to feel someone else's suffering, he learned to show brotherly love and devotion. He took the death of Grusha so hard that he became a “different person.”

In this, one might say, a new period of life, self-will was replaced by purposefulness, raising him to a new moral purity. Now Ivan thinks only about how to pray for his sins. Instead of a recruit, he goes to the Caucasus and serves valiantly. But he is still dissatisfied with himself. On the contrary, the voice of conscience sounds louder and louder in him, and he feels like a "great sinner." He calmly and simply tells random fellow travelers that he wants to "die for the people." The image of the "enchanted hero", created by the author, makes it possible to comprehend the future and present of the people. According to Leskov, the people are a baby with an inexhaustible supply of strength, but barely entering the historical stage. The concept of "artistry", which the author used for his hero, is associated not only with his natural talent, but also with the strength of character, and the awakening of the soul. In Leskov's understanding, a true artist is a person who has overcome the primitive in himself.“I”, in a word, having overcome the “beast” in myself.

Genre-compositional features

"The Enchanted Wanderer" is a story of a complex genre character. This is a work that uses the motifs of the folk epic and ancient Russian biographies. This is a story-biography, composed of several separate episodes. The lives of the saints were built in a similar way, the same principle is characteristic of adventure novels. By the way, the very title of the story in the original version was stylized as philosophical novels. Ivan, like their characters, goes from sin to atonement and repentance. And as the hero of his life, Flyagin goes to the monastery. But the departure from the vicissitudes of life acquires far from a predetermined meaning, but almost everyday: Ivan was left “without shelter and without food”, “there was nowhere to go” and “went to the monastery”. Monasticism is dictated not by the choice of a hero, but by everyday necessity. Actually, the lives of the saints know unexpected cases of God's providence.

Also, the story is brought together with the lives of the hero's visions. In one of them, the Solovetsky monastery was revealed, where the hero was heading. This is not mentioned in the summary of The Enchanted Wanderer. Flyagin's prophetic dreams and "the harassment of demons" are reflected in detail in the original story. Another key moment of the story goes back to the Old Testament story - the birth of Ivan through parental prayers, referring the reader to the birth of the long-awaited son of Sarah and Abraham.

The genre-forming features of an adventure novel are the misadventures of Flyagin - the vicissitudes of fate lie in wait for him at every turn. He cannot stop atsome one role - he is both a coachman and a slave, a horse rider and a nanny, a soldier and a serf, which is characteristic of the heroes of adventure novels. He, like them, does not have his own home, and he wanders the world in search of a better life. The author brings his hero closer to the epic heroes - here is not only the heroic appearance of the hero, but also the love of horses, and the duel with the Basurman, and the karak stallion, which gallops as if "riding through the air." The parallels cited by Leskov to The Enchanted Wanderer (an analysis of the summary of the story is a vivid example of this) are examples of "epos". Leskov was able to deeply understand the contradictions of Russian life, penetrate into the peculiarities of the Russian character and vividly capture the spiritual beauty of the Russian people, opening up new perspectives in Russian literature.

Reviews from readers

Almost two hundred years have passed since the first publication of the story. During this time, she was criticized many times by writers - the author's contemporaries. Now, on the contrary, it is a classic recognized by everyone - both specialists and readers. The work is rich in turns of speech: from the vernacular of the "lower" class to Church Slavonicisms. It is very difficult to tear yourself away from the book, because you worry about the main character, who set off to "wander" according to the circumstances, and the shadow of the old monk's prophecy always follows him.

The speech in the book is colorful, "folk", the content is also very "burning", with incredible twists. Lots of interesting regional and historical information. The unbridled, "wild" temper of Ivan "calmed down" under the inevitable troubles that fell on him, and his nature is revealed from a completely different side - in selfless deeds for the sake of others, in kindness and selfless deeds. Humanity and perseverance, sharpness and innocence, love for the motherland and endurance - these are the remarkable features of the Leskovsky wanderer.