At all times, regardless of the level of social life, changes in the spiritual and cultural development of man, the theme of the Russian soul will always be raised in Russian literature. Until now, modern authors continue the traditions of Russian classics, trying to explore this topic more and more deeply.
But even today this phenomenon has not been fully studied. In Leskov’s work, the issue of revealing the national essence occupies a significant place. One of the striking examples is the story “Lefty”. The work is based on a legend that existed among the Russian population in the 19th century.
The plot of the story "Lefty"
At the beginning of the work, the journey of the Russian Emperor Alexander I through European countries is described. Representatives of various states show him various unique things made by folk craftsmen, among them a tiny flea made of metal that can jump and dance.
The emperor was amazed by such work and bought the flea to show in Russia what European masters were capable of. Nikolai Pavlovich, who succeeded Alexander I on the throne, carefully preserves the flea, but the thought that Russian craftsmen could cope with such work no worse than foreigners haunts him.
The emperor sends his close associate to Tula to famous craftsmen with a request to improve this product. After some time, one of the craftsmen, Lefty, brought the flea back to St. Petersburg, but neither the emperor nor his entourage noticed any changes in it. The master advised to look at the flea under a microscope.
The flea's leg was shod with a real small horseshoe, on which the name of Master Lefty was engraved. The enthusiastic emperor sent the craftsman who created such a unique thing to Europe so that he could personally show the English government what the Russian people were capable of.
Russian patriot Lefty
The British were quite surprised by the work of Lefty, and asked him to stay in their country. But Lefty, like a true patriot, refused such a lucrative offer and, despite the storm, went back to Russia. Arriving home, Lefty drinks himself to death, never having felt the real taste of fame. Famous doctors begin to treat him, but, unfortunately, Lefty slowly began to leave this world.
The master’s last request was to tell the emperor that the Russian army should not clean guns with bricks, as they do in England. Naturally, the emperor was not told this, mistaking Lefty’s request for a dying delirium. According to history, one of the reasons for the defeat of the Russian army in the Caucasian War was that the soldiers used bricks to clean their guns, and they quickly broke down.
Lefty is a true Russian man, with golden hands and patriotism, because even at the last moment of his life he thought about his homeland, which was also not alien to national vices.
But all the time he commands respect, since he made it clear to the whole world that it is in Russia that there live people who are capable of creating seemingly impossible things. The hero's name has become a household name in the Russian environment, and means a man with golden hands, a magnificent master, who has no equal.
Today a story by Levsha Leskova appeared in the reader’s diary, so we invite you to get acquainted with the analysis of the work, which will make your work easier in the literature lesson.
Leskov's story Lefty
Nikolai Leskov wrote the fairy tale “Lefty” in 1881. Leskov also signed his story as the Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea. When you read Leskov and his work Lefty in order to retell the work, you get acquainted with Emperor Alexander the First, who admires the craftsmen abroad and does not hear his accompanying Platov, who claims that the masters in Russia are no worse. The emperor was amazed by the flea made by the British, because it was so plausible and so small that it could be examined under a microscope.
After the death of the emperor, Nicholas the First began to rule the country, who wanted Russian craftsmen to surpass the British and they did, because the Tula craftsmen, whom the author describes as lame and askew, managed to shoe that same steel flea. And here we meet Lefty, who was not afraid to go to the emperor in order to show the efforts of the masters. He was not afraid to go abroad, where he wanted to bring benefits to his country, because he tried to notice and notice everything. Moreover, Lefty turned out to be a real patriot, because the British invited him to stay, offered him good conditions for living and working, but no, Lefty went back to his homeland, because for a Russian peasant, there is nothing better than living in his own country, even if it is not valued there his talent and skills.
But Lefty, like other Russian craftsmen, has golden hands and it’s a shame that such a bitter fate awaited our hero. When Lefty was returning home, he met an English sailor with whom he drank without drying out and drank himself to hell. He is taken straight from the ship to the police, from where he is transported to the hospital and laid on the floor like a beggar, without documents. Here I really want Lefty to be taken away and saved, but alas. His English friend finds him very late. Lefty dies, but even here he thinks about how to be useful to the state. He asks to convey a request that the soldiers do not clean their weapons with stones, because they don’t do that abroad, so their weapons are in better condition.
Leskov Lefty main characters
In Leskov's tale, Lefty, the main character is Lefty himself, whose name the author does not name because it is more of a collective image. Lefty is an unprepossessing little man who possessed such character traits as patriotism, rejection, and hard work. He has real talent and is admired abroad, offering to stay there forever and choose brides. But Lefty is eager to go home. He faced many trials, but he always remembered his homeland, and even in his dying hour he tries to convey a military secret that would help in the Crimean War, but this secret was not conveyed and, as a result, the war was lost.
Also the heroes of the story is Platov, a Cossack chieftain who revealed the deception of the British and who was also a patriot of his country. Nicholas was also a patriot, because he was proud of the country and its craftsmen, but Alexander the First admired everything foreign and did not notice the talents of his own people.
There is also such a hero as Chernyshev. It was Chernyshev who prevented the important news from being conveyed by Lefty, so it is difficult to call such a person a patriot.
Leskov Lefty main idea
It seems to me that the main idea in Leskov’s work, Lefty, is that in our country there are wonderful craftsmen, masters who are not only no worse, but even better than those abroad, and they are not for sale. They cannot be bought for pennies or for honors; they are ready to serve their country even when their talents are not valued in the country itself. That's how it was then, that's how it is now, and it's sad.
Leskov N.S. "Lefty." The theme and main idea of the tale.
Prepared by Fomochkina M.A.
1.Teacher's opening speech
From the black frame looks into my eyes
Leskov's face with greedy eyes,
Like a hidden thunderstorm
In the image of the smart Serov. (, slide 2)
What kind of writer do you think we will talk about today? (named)
Today we have a lesson - a holiday, an opening lesson. It’s a holiday because you can’t talk about a great writer in a casual, everyday way. The discovery is because the work we will be working on today is distinguished by its unusual narrative, where a vivid play with words amazes from its first lines.
Let's try to formulate the topic of today's lesson. Having made a short trip to the writer’s homeland, we will begin a conversation about his tale “Lefty”. Let's try to determine the theme and idea of this work. So, the topic of our lesson... Let's write it down in a notebook.
Now let's try to formulate the purpose of our lesson. From the list of goals, select the one that suits you:
1. Form your own opinion about the personality and work of N. S. Leskov
2. Based on the analysis of the first chapters of the work, determine its theme and central idea.
3. Learn to analyze a literary work.
4. Your own version of the goal.
2. Correspondence trip to the city of Orel.
I invite you to take a trip to the city of Orel - the city of N.S. Leskov’s childhood and youth. He loved his small homeland to the depths of his soul and was proud of it.
Here, in Oryol, a monument was erected to the writer, who never ceases to amaze Oryol residents and guests of the city. In the center is the figure of the writer, cast in bronze. “Intelligent, temperamental, with prickly black eyes, with a complex and whimsical soul, full of rebellious passions” - this is how Leskov was seen by his contemporaries, and this is how the creators of the monument portrayed him. And all around, raised on columns to the height of a man, Leskov’s heroes come to life.
Among them is the main character of the tale, which will be discussed today, the Tula gunsmith Lefty, who conjures over an anvil with a hammer in his left hand. He is the personification of the talent of our people.
The place where the monument was erected was not chosen by chance. This part of the city is connected with the life and work of Leskov.
Next to the monument is the building of the men's gymnasium where he studied. And this is the house on Third Dvoryanskaya Street, where the writer once lived, now here is the house-museum of N.S. Leskov. We can visit his office, carefully recreated from a photograph taken on March 5, 1895. The cabinet reflected not only the tastes and preferences, but also the character of its owner. The room is colorful, bright, and unique. Numerous antique clocks... Countless portraits, paintings, a long, narrow image of the Mother of God. There are lamps on the table, a lot of trinkets...
I would like to add microminiatures of modern masters, followers of Lefty, to the exhibition of this museum. In the photo we see the work of Tula left-hander Nikolai Aldunin.
Such masters are the pride of the Russian land.
It was to such people that Leskov dedicated his work.
Does anyone know how the idea for the tale “Lefty” came about?
The idea of “Lefty” arose from the proverb “The Englishman made a flea out of steel, and the Russian shod it,” but another version of this proverb in old collections is written as “The Tula people shod the flea.” There are also folklore stories about the skill of Tula gunsmiths, who were distinguished by the art of making miniature objects, barely visible to the eye or visible only with the help of strong lenses.
Let's look at the piece. Let's open the textbooks page... The work has a subtitle. Let's read it.
How is he unusual? What does it set the reader up for?
(Here the author names the genre of the work. “Skaz” (not “fairy tale”) sounds significant. What is a skaz? Are you familiar with this definition? (answers, if you don’t remember, turn to the textbook) A skaz is a genre of epic based on folk tradition and legends The narration is told on behalf of the narrator, a person with a special character and style of speech.
What other information does the subtitle convey? Determines the content of the tale.
"Steel Flea" Some funny trinket? Try to do it though! "Tula": Tula is a city of craftsmen. The main character is clearly unprepossessing - left-handed, and with a sideways eye.
Now, let's read the first sentence of the story. What does it tell us? Already from the first sentence we can determine the place and time of action.
-When and where does the action take place?
- What real historical events underlie the story of Alexander Pavlovich’s trip to Europe? (A footnote will help.) After the War of 1812, Russia is a victorious power, There is something to be proud of! Admire! There is something to reinforce the feeling of national pride. ( The action takes place in Russia and England shortly after the war with Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna of 1814-1815 is mentioned. The trip of Alexander I and Platov to London is a historical fact)
I suggest you listen to the actor's reading of Chapter 1. As you read, you will follow the text and look for answers to the questions proposed to you in the handout. VOICE!
How do Alexander 1 and Platov behave during the trip?
4. Listen to chapter 1 (actor's reading)
5. Working with the text of the work
Particular attention should be paid to the narrator, since in many ways it is this image that determines the originality of the work and its connection with folklore.
So, let's answer the first question.
How do you imagine a storyteller? What kind of person is this?
The narrator is most likely a simple person, a craftsman, a craftsman. His speech contains many irregularities, vernacular, and inversions characteristic of folklore works.
The narrator speaks on behalf of the people as their original mouthpiece. He conveys not the point of view of an individual, but embodies the “voice of the people.”
After listening to the first chapter, you couldn’t help but notice the unusual sound of many words.
–I invite you to play the role of translators: you must “translate” the following words from Leskov’s work into modern Russian. You can do this directly in the sheets offered to you. Task 2.
Marine storm gauges – sea barometers
Prelamut – mother of pearl
Beliefs – variations
Melkosko n – microscope
Egyptian ceramide – Egyptian pyramid
Nymphosoria – ciliates
Valdakhin – canopy
Pistol - gun
– Why does Leskov “distort” the sound of these words? Talking about foreign and unfamiliar things, the narrator, being a simple, illiterate person,
distorts their names according to his idea of them. Leskov puts a humorous meaning into them in the spirit of popular understanding
Fizminutka
What other characters did we meet in the first chapter? (Alexander 1 and Platov)
– How do they manifest themselves during the trip?
The Emperor is “very interested in foreigners” and believes “that we Russians are no good with our significance.” Even the heroic Platov could not prove to Alexander I that “we have our own at home no worse,” “that our people can do anything they look at, but they don’t have any useful teaching.”
Thus, 2 opinions are opposed, a situation of dispute arises that must be resolved.
Let's go back to the text again and find quotes that characterize the attitude of Alexander 1 and Platov to whether there are talented craftsmen on Russian soil. Write down the found phrases in a comparison table (task 3)
Let's remember what is discussed in the subsequent chapters you read.
What did the British want to do to defeat the Russian Emperor?
Why did the pistol arouse such interest of Alexander 1?
In what words did the emperor express his resentment for Russian craftsmen who do not know how to make such pistols?
Let's supplement our comparison table with this quote.
How did Platov manage to embarrass the British? Let's find it in the text and read it.
What tiny speck did the sovereign see on the silver platter?
Find the description of the flea and read it.
What words did Alexander 1 say to the English masters when he said goodbye?
How did Platov and Alexander 1 differ in their opinions on what happened?
So, guys, we see that the dispute continues and remains unresolved.
8. Summing up
Today we analyzed the first chapters of the tale. This will allow us to determine the theme and idea of the work. Let's try to formulate them.
What is the theme of the work? about the Tula craftsman, the talent of folk craftsmen.
And the idea: to evoke in the reader a feeling of pride in Russia and its craftsmen
Guys, what new did you learn in today's lesson?
Today in class we met the talented Russian writer N.S. Leskov, tried to penetrate the world of his heroes, remembered the features of the tale, tried to determine the theme and idea of the work “Lefty”. I would like to believe that Leskov’s heroes will find a response in your soul.
In order for me to evaluate your work in class, please turn in the test sheets.
Homework:Read the work to the end. Make a plan for the characterization of the main character in your notebook.
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (1831-1895) - Russian writer. His surname comes from his grandfather, a clergyman from the village of Leski. Nikolai spent his childhood in the family farm of Panino, where he spent a lot of time playing with peasant children. From here he learned the life of the Russian people down to the smallest detail, which was reflected in his work. As the writer himself said later: “... I grew up among the people... I was one of the people with the people...”.
Famous works of Leskov
The writer has written many novels, stories, short stories, plays and essays:
- "Nowhere."
- "At knifepoint."
- “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” - a film was made based on this story.
- "Lefty."
- "The Enchanted Wanderer".
- "The Life of a Woman"
- "Mysterious person".
- "Stupid artist."
“The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea”
N. S. Leskov wrote the story “Lefty” in 1881 and stylized it as a satirical legend. It will take from 45 to 60 minutes to read the original story. Reading the review “Lefty” (summary) takes approximately 10 minutes. The narrative in the work comes from a person from the people who is not trained to read and write and distorts words. The author deliberately constructs new words this way. The story raises the problem of the severity of life, autocracy and the incredibly difficult living conditions of ordinary Russian people of that time. Even a true talent, which is Lefty, Leskov is not able to impart any benefits in his homeland. Let's understand the work.
"Lefty." Summary (chapters 1-5)
Emperor Alexander I of Russia (from 1801 to 1825), after winning the war with Napoleon, decided to travel to European countries and see the achievements of science and technology of the Allied powers. The sovereign was accompanied by a general, a prominent commander of the Patriotic War of 1812, Platov (in the story - a Don Cossack). Every time the emperor began to admire something shown to him, Platov assured the sovereign that there was no worse food at home.
One day Platov and the sovereign went to the Kunstkamera to look at rare weapons. Platov greatly embarrassed the British by showing everyone the internal mechanism of the shown pistol, on which on the inside there was an inscription: “Ivan Moskvin in the city of Tula.”
In the last chamber of curiosities, English craftsmen presented a tray to the emperor. There was a small clockwork flea with a key on it. Through a microscope one could see a flea dancing a square dance. The emperor, without hesitation, paid a million in silver for the flea and took it to Russia in a case made of a solid diamond the size of a walnut. Platov remained silent and smoked all the way to St. Petersburg, being in great annoyance.
After the death of Alexander I, the flea passed to Emperor Nicholas I. When he decided to reconsider it, he found the flea immovable. Commander Platov told the emperor everything he knew. Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich was delighted with the dance of the forged flea, but did not believe in the talents of the Russian people. And Platov was instructed to prove the superiority of domestic masters over English skills.
Lefty appears in the story. Summary (chapters 6-14)
Three of the most skilled gunsmiths from Tula got to work. The author's description of Lefty is very meager. All that is said is that he had a sidelong hair, with a birthmark on his cheek and sparse hair at the temples, which had been torn out during his studies. Before the important task, the masters went to pray to the icon and perform a prayer service. Afterwards we returned home, locked ourselves in and did not leave the hut for two weeks, only hammering on anvils in complete secrecy by the light of a lamp.
On the way back to St. Petersburg, Platov was unable to get a flea because he had thick fingers. The angry chieftain jumped into the carriage, threw the first gunsmith he came across at his feet and took him to answer to the sovereign.
After the flea planted, nothing happened. She continued to lie motionless on her side. They dragged the Tula gunsmith, who had been under guard all this time, and ordered him to answer for the damage he had done.
They brought a microscope and Lefty showed the sovereign that the Tula craftsmen had shod the flea on all its legs with horseshoes and signed their names on them. The gunsmiths had this plan from the very beginning. Lefty made small nails that were used to nail horseshoes. The Emperor hugged and kissed Lefty, as he was covered in dust, and ordered him to take the savvy flea back to England to prove that Russian craftsmen were better than English ones.
How Lefty gets to London and what comes of it (chapters 15-20)
The British received the oblique master very well. They explained to Leftsha that the Tula masters, due to illiteracy, did not take into account the weight of the horseshoes. That's why the flea couldn't dance the square dance. They offered Lefty to study, stay and get married. But Lefty, loyal to the Fatherland, answered through an interpreter that he would not stay in a foreign land and he did not need a foreign wife. The foreman walked around and was amazed at how well people work in English factories and how well they take care of it. They took Lefty around factories and factories for a long time, until one day he hurriedly began to ask to go to Russia. He saw something among the English that he certainly had to tell the sovereign.
On the way back from London, Lefty sailed on a ship and looked into the distance, looking out for his homeland. Lefty got bored and started drinking in a race with the ship's skipper. Yes, they drank so much that everyone saw the devil of the sea in the foam behind the stern. We almost jumped in to hug the devil. I had to lock them both in the hold until they returned.
An Englishman came from the ship sick to the embassy, where he had care and a doctor. And Lefty was thrown onto a cart and taken to a poor area. There, his patient, after swimming and drinking, was robbed and began to be transported to free hospitals in a cart in the cold. But nowhere did they accept a person without documents. They shifted it from cart to cart and kept dropping it and dropping it.
When the Englishman came to his senses, he found his friend Lefty on the floor in the hospital corridor. The master asked only one thing - to say two words to the sovereign. While they were waiting for the doctor, Lefty began to die. He only managed to whisper to the doctor to convey his words to the sovereign - so that they would not clean our guns with broken bricks. Otherwise they won't be able to shoot. The British don't do that. But the doctor was not allowed to see the sovereign. But the guns continued to be cleaned with brick chips, which was one of the reasons for the defeat in the Crimean War.
The main idea of the work
In his most famous work, “Lefty,” Leskov tried to convey that Russia has always had many unprecedented craftsmen. But how difficult life was for peasants and talented people, how tragically their inglorious life ended. A striking example of this is Lefty. The summary does not convey all the beauty of the Russian language and the emphasis of the identified problem. To fully understand all the humiliation, injustice and downtroddenness of ordinary people in tsarist times, it is recommended to read the story “Lefty” in the original.
The colorful character of a gifted Russian man, the extent of his creative capabilities and his fate in Russia are the focus of Leskov’s attention in his later work - the famous tale of the sideways Lefty (1882).
Realizing the certain similarity of this story to “The Enchanted Wanderer,” Leskov intended to subsequently publish both of these works together under the general title “Well done.”
However, if in “The Enchanted Wanderer” the author takes the main character far beyond the boundaries of his “biographical” time, then Lefty, on the contrary, is tied to him in an incomparably more rigid way, and this circumstance significantly changes the overall tone of the work.
In revealing the character of this wonderful Russian nugget, Leskov actively uses the traditions of folk tales, oral traditions, and jokes. Following his constant desire for authenticity in the depiction of folk life, the writer especially values those specific storytelling techniques developed by folklore, which reduce to almost nothing possible bias in the coverage of persons and events, ensuring maximum objectivity of the story.
The plot of the tale is based on the motif of competition, rivalry, and struggle, characteristic of the folk epic, affecting the interests of the entire nation.
Such a broad content of the conflict, which lurks behind the seemingly eccentric and funny story of an English curiosity, determines the entire system of author’s assessments in the tale, significantly different from those to which the complacent narrator is inclined.
True to his conviction that the artist’s social vocation is to “re-establish points of view” (false in the light of the highest truth), Leskov organizes the movement of the plot in his tale in such a way that those who are most far from caring about the national and state interests of Russia appear to be those who First of all, one should take care of the prestige of the country - its highest rulers, kings.
The laudatory characteristics of the monarchs expressed in the spirit of patriarchal morality not only do not later receive confirmation in the development of events, but on the contrary, from the very beginning of the narrative they come into sharp contradiction with the objective meaning of the specific situations in which these crowned heads appear before the reader.
Thus, the victorious Tsar Alexander, making his entertaining journey through Europe, as if forgetting about the great strengths of his people, easily and thoughtlessly succumbs to the influence of the British, who want to “captivate him with foreignness” and “distract him from the Russians.” He looks trustingly at all their specially prepared rarities. Sooner than they themselves hope, he begins to root for their interests and with amazing speed comes to the categorical conclusion that “we Russians are no good with our significance.”
In all the vicissitudes of his relations with the British, he appears as a “natural” person, easily controlled by someone else’s will, in this case, by the will of those who in a future war will have to act as enemies of Russia and inflict a severe defeat on it. In his later satirical work, Leskov would call people like Alexander “devil's dolls” and make them the main target of his satire.
Enthusiastically accepting the “insidious” gift of the British - a metal flea, Alexander is far from thinking about possible competition with them in such an outlandish art. He capitulates without a fight.
The incomparably more active attitude towards the English flea, which is shown by another Russian Tsar (Nicholas I), nevertheless conceals a certain compromising meaning: this is an activity of a special kind, dictated most of all by petty personal motives, a thirst for self-affirmation, vanity, aplomb.
Nikolai’s delight, which he expresses at the sight of a Tula-savvy flea, is far from actual patriotic inspiration, from selfless admiration for the miracle of human labor, art, and resourcefulness.
The true background of this delight is revealed by Nikolai’s own remark: “You see, I knew better than anyone that my Russians would not deceive me.” For the Tsar, the flea subjected to “Russian revisions” is, most of all, material proof of the loyal devotion to him of all Russian people, new manifestations of which his soul, wounded by the recent “confusion,” so craves.
In the tale, the true arbiters of events aimed at exalting the glory of Russia are Lefty and his comrades - those Tula masters to whose art they entrust the English wonder. It is they who demonstrate by their behavior true dignity, calm fortitude, and the full creation of national responsibility.
Thinking over the current situation, they judge it, not allowing any overlapping of assessments in one direction or another: “... the Aglitsky nation is also not stupid, but rather cunning, and the art in it has great meaning. Against it,” they say, “we must take action.” after thinking and with God’s blessing.” Such behavior, free from empty vanity, contrasts especially sharply with the pettiness of the motives of the Russian tsars.
This plot twist expresses the writer’s favorite idea about “little great people” who, standing aloof from historical events, decide the historical destinies of the country. “These are straightforward and reliable people,” Leskov will speak of them with respect and warmth in his later story “The Man on the Clock,” coming closer to L. Tolstoy in his assessment of the democratic masses.
However, this highly respectful attitude of the writer towards the Tula masters does not at all exclude gentle irony towards them in the tale. Leskov is far from idealizing the people's capabilities here; he soberly assesses them. The writer took into account the role of socio-historical circumstances that limit the creative powers of the people, imposing on many Russian inventions the stamp of buffoonish eccentricity or practical incongruity.
From this point of view, to understand the general meaning of the tale, it is fundamentally important that the very result of the “relentless”, selfless and inspired work of the Tula masters is fraught with an “insidious” duality of impression: they really manage to create a miracle - to forge a “nymphosoria”. And yet their superiority is not absolute. An eye-savvy flea can no longer “dance.” The “improved” English wonder turns out to be hopelessly broken at the same time.
In the development of the plot, this unfortunate moment for the prestige of Russian invention receives its specific explanation, which is important for understanding the general idea of the tale. As the English rightly judge, the Russian masters, who showed amazing audacity of imagination, obviously did not know “calculation of force,” and Lefty has to agree with this: “There is no doubt about this,” he says, “that we have not gone far enough in the sciences...” .
Thus, in the depiction of the amazing work of Tula masters, which simultaneously elevates them above their overseas rivals and reveals their well-known weakness, Leskov’s bitter, alarming thought about Russian ignorance, which cruelly oppresses and fetters great forces, expresses itself, alien to any conciliatory and apologetic tendencies and the capabilities of the people, dooming them to a series of defeats and setbacks.
The question of what a Russian person can do immediately entails other equally important questions in Leskov’s tale: how does this person live, does he, like the English masters, have “absolute circumstances” for the development of his talent, what attitude does he have towards himself? faced by those in power, how his fate turns out.
True, neither the narrator nor Lefty himself, who have become accustomed to a certain order of things that has long been established in Russia (contrasting with the one that Platov and Lefty saw in England), ask themselves these questions, but the writer takes special measures to ensure that they inevitably became inevitable in the minds of his readers.
Telling, for example, with what “ceremony” Platov rode, fulfilling the sovereign’s order, Leskov paints the figures of “whistling” Cossacks, who sit on both sides of the coachman’s beam and throughout the entire journey constantly shower their driver with whip blows. “These incentive measures worked so successfully that nowhere could the horses be kept at any station, and they always jumped past the stopping place a hundred races...”
Against the background of such an image of “fast Russian driving”, contrasting with the famous Gogol description, the narrator’s explanatory remark seems very ambiguous: “So in those days everything was required very carefully and strictly, so that not a single minute was wasted for Russian usefulness.” The degree of causticity of this formula becomes even more obvious when comparing it with a similar remark by Shchedrin.
In “The History of a City,” which even more sharply denounces Russian despotism, the appearance of mayor Brudasty is said as follows: “He galloped into Foolov, as they say, at full speed (the time was such that not a single minute could be lost), and barely broke in into the city pasture, when right there, on the very border, I crossed a lot of coachmen.”
The narrator himself does not emphasize such details; he speaks about them casually, casually, as if by the way. However, all these “little things” of Russian life included in his narrative - the ingenious cutting of the coachmen, Platov’s rude swearing at the Tula masters, the almost arrest of Lefty, who is being taken to St. Petersburg in the front of Platov’s wagon, the haste of his departure to England - all these are phenomena of one thing order, accumulating in themselves the general spirit of Russian life of Nicholas's times with its unbridled autocracy of some and lawlessness of others, a spirit that inspires the author with the most bitter feeling.
Saturated with the sad details of the death of Lefty, the last chapters of the story even more persistently focus the reader’s attention on the situation of the individual in Russia, where “it’s scary for a person.”
A talented master, an artist of his craft, deeply devoted to his fatherland, dies, forgotten by everyone, in the corridor of the Obukhov hospital for the poor, without having time to serve his country with his last advice. This conclusion to the plot, which contains a bitter paradox, enhances the sound of the humanistic theme of the tale - the tragic fate of a talented person in Russia, doomed to waste away a lot of opportunities without worthy use.
The thought of the defenselessness of a talented individual in Russia was one of the most bitter and persistent thoughts of the writer, appearing in a wide variety of variations in his artistic work, articles and letters. Leskov talks about the tragic fate of the serf artist in one of his most famous and powerful stories, “The Stupid Artist” (1883). In “Russian Public Notes” (1869), he complains that in no European country is such a disrespectful attitude towards a writer as in Russia unthinkable.
In a late letter to A.I. Faresov, he makes a significant remark (regarding the harsh assessments of M.O. Menshikov’s critical articles that arose): “In general, one can and should adhere to the rule that smart and gifted people should be protected, and not thrown around , at random; but that’s not the case with us. Pushkin said about us:
People are protected here,
Like a Turkish shootout
That's why there are so many of them! However, literature torments me more than it interests me. It’s always clear to me that we are a wild people and cannot handle anything with care: “if we bend, we don’t soar, if we break, we don’t push.”
The general concept of the story about Lefty, despite the sad ending, is optimistic. The “secret” of this optimism lies in the author’s understanding of Lefty’s personality, her creative and moral resources. No matter how difficult it is for Lefty to withstand the “surprises” of Russian life, and in these circumstances he not only displays amazing audacity of imagination and fanatical obsession with work, but also moral strength, true self-esteem, and purity of patriotic feeling.
He is not shy in front of Platov, who inflicts a cruel beating on him. And in the palace, where he is forced to appear before the king in the most unkempt form, unlike the cowardly courtiers, he not only does not show any signs of timidity, but behaves with dignity and simplicity, like a man who knows the true value of himself and his work; calmly talks to the king himself.
Lefty remains mentally unbroken even in the bitter circumstances of his untimely death: until the last minute he is focused not on the thought of his possible salvation, but on the military secret he learned from the British that could serve Russia. As if confirming the importance of this last thought in his life, the folk legend conveyed by the narrator connects Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War precisely with the fact that no one then heeded Lefty’s voice.
In the “Literary Explanation” about this story, Leskov agreed with the opinion of one of the reviewers that where “Lefty” stands, one should read “Russian people”. At the end of the tale itself, it is no coincidence that the character of the main character of the legend is called epic, the personification of a myth created by folk fantasy.
In the great wealth of spiritual and creative potential of the people, who retain great vitality and humanity despite all the circumstances that constrain them, Leskov drew his faith in the future, which permeates his tale about Lefty.
History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983.