Nikolai Leskov
1831–1895
Biography
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born in 1831 in Gorokhovo, a village in Oryol province, and died in Saint Petersburg in 1895. He worked as a clerk in Oryol and Kyiv and later for a trading company, and those years gave him a close view of many kinds of Russian life. He began publishing in the early 1860s. His first novel, No Way Out (1864), came out under the pen name M. Stebnitsky, which he used for a long time.
Leskov is best known for short stories and novellas written in skaz, a storytelling style that imitates the voice of a particular narrator and draws on folk speech. Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1865) is a harsh tale of a merchant's wife whose affair leads to murder; Shostakovich later turned it into an opera. The Enchanted Wanderer (1873) follows a restless travelling man across Russia, and The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea (1881) is a comic story about a Tula craftsman who shoes a steel flea. Tolstoy and Chekhov both admired him, and some of his later works, which satirised the Orthodox Church, were banned.
The site holds three of his works. Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (Леди Макбет Мценского уезда) is a bleak picture of provincial life. The Enchanted Wanderer (Очарованный странник) is a loose, episodic work that moves through many scenes and voices. Lefty (Левша) is the story most often counted among his finest for its wit and its language. Leskov paid close attention to how ordinary people talked, which is one reason his stories still read as fresh.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
Левша
by Николай Семенович Лесков
When the English make a tiny steel flea that dances, the Tsar's court sends it to Tula, where a squint-eyed gunsmith, Lefty, and his friends shoe it. Leskov's tale, told in a comic invented speech, honours Russian skill and mourns how Russia treats its craftsmen.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Леди Макбет Мценского уезда
by Николай Семенович Лесков
A bored merchant's wife, Katerina Izmailova, takes the clerk Sergey as her lover and goes to murder to keep him. Leskov's tale of passion and crime ends in Siberian chains. This book uses the racial and other slurs of its period as written; the Book Guide explains these words…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Очарованный странник
by Николай Семенович Лесков
Ivan Flyagin, a former serf and horse-tamer, tells fellow passengers on a Lake Ladoga steamer of the many lives he has led, from the Tatar steppe to a monastery. Leskov's rambling tale is a picture of a strong, simple and doomed Russian soul. This book uses the racial and other…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.