Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov - born in 1835, and died in 1895.

The writer was born in the City of Orel. He had a large family; Leskov was the eldest of the children. After moving from the city to the village, love and respect for the Russian people began to form in Leskov. His family moved because tragic death father and the loss of all property in a fire.

It is unknown for what reasons, but studies did not work out to the young writer and he was barely hired, and only thanks to his friends. Only in adolescence does Leskov begin to develop a creative view of many things.

His writing career begins with the publication of articles in various magazines. Things go uphill after Leskov moves to St. Petersburg. Already there he wrote many serious works, but there are different reviews about their content. Due to disagreements with revolutionary democrats and established views of that era, many publishing houses refuse to publish Leskov. But the writer does not give up and continues to work on stories.

Nikolai Semyonovich had two marriages, but both of them were unsuccessful. Officially, Leskov had three children - two from his first marriage (the eldest child died in infancy) and one from his second.

Leskov died of asthma, which recent years his life was actively developing.

Interesting facts, 6th grade.

Biography of Nikolaev Leskov

The writer, in the future nicknamed “the most Russian of all Russians,” was born on February 4, 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol district. The mother was from an insolvent noble family, and the father was a former seminarian, but left the clergy and became an investigator, did brilliant career and could have risen to the nobility, but a major quarrel with the management ruined all his plans and he had to quit and move with his wife and five children from Orel to Panino. Upon reaching the age of ten, Leskov goes to study at the gymnasium, although not for long: after 2 years he leaves the educational institution, unable to cope with his studies. In 1847 he entered service in the Criminal Chamber. A year later, the father contracts cholera and dies. Leskov asks to be transferred to Kyiv and, having received approval, moves.

Exactly 10 years later, Leskov leaves the service and goes to work for the agricultural trading company Schcott and Wilkens. Leskov would later call his time working for the company, thanks to many work trips throughout the country, the best period of his life. It was during this period that he began to write. In 1860 trading house closes, and Leskov has to return to Kyiv. This time he is trying his hand at journalism. A few months later, he rushes to St. Petersburg, where his literary career begins.

In 1862, in one of his articles, Leskov demands that the authorities comment on rumors of arson in St. Petersburg, which brought upon himself accusations of denunciation and criticism of the authorities. His articles reached Alexander II himself. Since 1862 he has been published in the Northern Bee, and his essays begin to receive the first high marks from his contemporaries.

In 1864, he published his first novel, “Nowhere,” about the life of nihilists, and the story “Lady Macbeth.” Mtsensk district" In 1866, the story “Warrior” was published, coolly received by contemporaries, but highly appreciated by descendants.

In 1870, the novel “On Knives” was published, full of ridicule of nihilistic revolutionaries who, in the writer’s opinion, had merged with criminals. Leskov himself was dissatisfied with the work and received criticism from his contemporaries. Immediately after this, his work turns to the clergy and local nobility. In 1872, he published the novel “The Councilors,” which became the cause of a conflict between the writer and the Church.

In 1881, one of the most successful and famous works Leskova - “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the steel flea. In 1872, the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” was written, which was very coldly received by contemporaries and was not allowed for publication in publications. It is because of “The Wanderer” that the friendship with M.N. Katkov ends. - an influential critic, publicist and publisher.

At the end of the 1880s. gets closer to L.N. Tolstoy, which radically changes Leskov’s attitude towards the Church. The main works showing his hostility towards the clergy are the story “Midnight Office” and the essay “Popov’s leapfrog and parish whim.” After their publication, a scandal broke out, and the writer was fired from the Ministry of Public Education. Leskov again found himself isolated by his contemporaries.

In 1889, he began publishing a multi-volume collection, which was warmly received by the public. Quick sales helped the writer improve his financial affairs. But in the same year, the first heart attack occurred, the cause of which was probably the news of censorship sanctions against the collection. In the last years of his creative work, Leskov’s works became even more biting and cynical, which the public and publishers did not like. From 1890 he fell ill, suffering from suffocation for the next 5 years - until his death on March 5, 1895.

Biography by dates and interesting facts. The most important.

Other biographies:

• Alighieri Dante

  Famous poet, author of the well-known " Divine Comedy» Alighieri Dante was born in Florence in 1265 into a noble family. There are several versions of the poet's true date of birth, but the authenticity of none of them has been established.

• Zhitkov

  Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov was a great writer who dedicated all his works to children. Boris Zhitkov was not only a writer, but also a teacher. He was born in 882 on August 30, in the city of Novgorod.

• Salvador Dali

  The world-famous artist and creative figure Salvador Dali was born in 1904 on May 11 in the small province of Figueres. The head of the family worked as a notary and was a respected man.

• Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko

  Korolenko is one of the most underrated literary figures of his time. He wrote many wonderful works, in which he touched on a wide variety of topics, from helping the disadvantaged

• Odoevsky Vladimir Fedorovich

  Vladimir Odoevsky came from an ancient and noble family. On the one hand, he was related to both the Russian tsars and Leo Tolstoy himself, and on the other, his mother was a serf peasant.

Brief biography Nikolai Leskov

Nikolay Semyonovich Leskov – Russian writer XIX century, according to many, the most national writer Russia. Leskov was born on February 16, 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo (Oryol province) in a spiritual environment. The writer's father was an official of the criminal chamber, and his mother was a noblewoman. Nikolai spent his childhood years on the family estate in Orel. In 1839 the Leskov family moved to the village of Panino. Life in the village left its mark on the writer’s work. He studied the people through their everyday life and conversations, and also considered himself one of the people.

From 1841 to 1846 Leskov attended the Oryol gymnasium. In 1848, he lost his father, and their family property burned down in a fire. Around this time, he entered the service of the criminal chamber, where he collected a lot of material for his future works. A year later he was transferred to the state chamber of Kyiv. There he lived with his uncle Sergei Alferev. In Kyiv, in his free time from work, he attended lectures at the university, was interested in icon painting and the Polish language, and also attended religious and philosophical circles and communicated a lot with Old Believers. During this period, he developed an interest in Ukrainian culture, in the works of Herzen and Taras Shevchenko.

In 1857, Leskov resigned and entered the service of Scott, the English husband of his aunt. While working for Schcott & Wilkens, he gained extensive experience in many sectors, including industry and agriculture. For the first time, he showed himself as a publicist in 1860. A year later he moved to St. Petersburg and decided to devote himself to literary activity. His works began to appear in Otechestvennye zapiski. Many of his stories were based on knowledge of Russian original life, and were imbued with sincere participation in the needs of the people. This can be seen in the stories “The Extinguished Cause” (1862) and “Musk Ox” (1863), in the story “The Life of a Woman” (1863), in the novel “Outlooked” (1865). One of the most popular works The writer became the story “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” (1865).

In his stories, Leskov also tried to show tragic fate Russia and its unpreparedness for the revolution. In this regard, he was in conflicting relationships with the revolutionary democrats. Much has changed in the writer’s work after meeting Leo Tolstoy. National-historical issues also appeared in his works of 1870-1880. During these years, he wrote several novels and stories about artists. Among them are “Islanders”, “Soborians”, “Sealed Angel” and others. Leskov has always admired the breadth of the Russian soul, and this theme is reflected in the story “Lefty”. The writer died in St. Petersburg on March 5, 1895 at the age of 64. He was buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Video short biography of Nikolai Leskov

You can shoe a flea, you can meet an enchanted wanderer only when you plunge into art world famous writer Nikolai Semenovich. A short biography of Nikolai Leskov allows you to understand what he talks about in his works.

In the Oryol province, in the small village of Gorokhovo, Nikolai was born in February 1831. His mother came to this area to visit relatives, and it turned out that this visit also served as the birth of the future writer. The relatives were rich and prosperous people. It is worth noting that the Leskov family belongs to the clergy in its origin. So, all men on the paternal side were priests in the village of Leska, belonging to the Oryol region. This is where the surname of the writer Nikolai Semenovich came from - Leskovy.

Leskov's parents are pious people, but have a noble title. Thus, the father of the future writer Leskov Semyon Dmitrievich was a servant of the chamber of the criminal court, for such service he was awarded the title of nobleman. Nikolai Semenovich’s mother, Marya Mikhailovna, bore the surname Alferyeva as a girl, and belonged to a family where noble family was passed down from generation to generation.

Born in the village of Gorokhov, in the house of a close relative, Nikolai spent the first years of his life with the Strakhovs. Until the age of 8, he lived and was raised with his cousins ​​and brothers, of whom he had 6 people. To teach the children in this family, teachers were hired, both Russian and German, as well as a French woman.

But soon Nikolai showed his talents and began to do much better in his studies than him. cousins and brothers. Of course, the children’s parents did not like this state of affairs, so very soon the future writer was disliked. Grandmother, the mother of Nikolai’s father, wrote a letter to her son asking him to take the boy home. So, future writer At the age of 8, he finally ended up in the house of his parents, who at that time lived in Orel. But Nikolai Semenovich did not have to live long in this city, because the family soon moved to the Pagnino estate. So, his father was engaged in housekeeping and farming, and Nikolai was sent to study at the Oryol gymnasium. The future writer was 10 years old at that time.

Nikolai Semenovich studied at the gymnasium for five years and proved himself to be a talented and gifted student who found it very easy to study. But in the 4th grade he did poorly on the exam and suddenly, unexpectedly for the teachers, he refused to retake it. As a result of this situation, he was issued a certificate instead of a certificate. There was no way to continue his studies without a certificate, so he was forced to go to work.

His father helped Nikolai Semenovich find a position as a scribe in the Oryol Criminal Chamber. At the age of 17, he held the position of assistant to the head of the same chamber. But in 1848, Nikolai’s father unexpectedly dies and help in future fate young man wants another relative of Alferyev. Professor Kyiv University was the husband of his mother’s sister, and he invites Nikolai Semenovich to move to Kyiv with him.

Nikolai Semenovich accepted the invitation of a relative and already in 1849 he moved to Kyiv, where already in the Kyiv chamber he occupied the position of assistant to the chief clerk, but already at the recruiting table. And here, completely unexpectedly for all relatives, Leskov decides to get married. His parents try to dissuade him, but everything is useless. His bride was the daughter of a well-known businessman in Kyiv, and besides, he was also a rich man. But the interests of the spouses, as it turned out later, turned out to be completely different, and the death of their first child only widened the gap between them. And already in 1860 this marriage practically did not exist.

But at the same time, his career advancement began: 1853 - collegiate registrar, then chief of staff. In 1856 - provincial secretary. 1857 - agent of the company "Schcott and Wilkins", which was headed by the husband of Leskov's aunt, an Englishman who came to Russia. On the business of this company, Nikolai Semenovich had to travel a lot, so he managed to visit many cities. He spent three years on this service and decided to try his hand at literary creativity. He really liked writing. But he did not want to publish his works under his real name, so he used the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. But then he came up with other pseudonyms: Nikolai Gorokhov, V., Peresvetov, Freishits and others. For example, there were such interesting ones as the Watch Lover, or the Man from the Crowd.

In 1861, Nikolai Semenovich moved to St. Petersburg. He published his articles in the most popular magazines of the time. But only after leaving his homeland did Leskov begin to write novels.

Nikolai Semenovich died in early March 1895 in St. Petersburg. His death was not unexpected, because he had already suffered from asthma attacks for 5 years and from its next attack he died.

Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov. Born on February 4 (February 16), 1831, the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol district, Oryol province - died February 21 (March 5), 1895, St. Petersburg. Russian writer.

Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born on February 4, 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol district (now the village of Staroye Gorokhovo, Sverdlovsk district, Oryol region).

Leskov's father, Semyon Dmitrievich Leskov (1789-1848), came from a spiritual background. Having broken with the spiritual environment, he entered the service of the Oryol Criminal Chamber, where he rose to ranks that gave the right to hereditary nobility, and, according to contemporaries, acquired a reputation as an astute investigator capable of unraveling complex cases.

Mother, Maria Petrovna Leskova (nee Alfereva) (1813-1886) was the daughter of an impoverished Moscow nobleman. One of her sisters was married to a wealthy Oryol landowner, the other to a wealthy Englishman.

The younger brother, Alexey, (1837-1909) became a doctor, had academic degree Doctor of Medical Sciences.

Early childhood N.S. Leskova took place in Orel. After 1839, when the father left the service (due to a quarrel with his superiors, which, according to Leskov, incurred the wrath of the governor), the family - his wife, three sons and two daughters - moved to the village of Panino (Panin Khutor) not far from the city Kromy. Here, as the future writer recalled, his knowledge of the people began.

In August 1841, at the age of ten, Leskov entered the first grade of the Oryol provincial gymnasium, where he studied poorly: five years later he received a certificate of completion of only two classes.

In June 1847, Leskov entered service in the Oryol Criminal Chamber of the Criminal Court, where his father worked, as a 2nd class clerical officer. After the death of his father from cholera (in 1848), Nikolai Semenovich received another promotion, becoming an assistant to the head of the Oryol Chamber of the Criminal Court, and in December 1849, at his own request, he was transferred to the staff of the Kyiv Treasury Chamber. He moved to Kyiv, where he lived with his uncle S.P. Alferyev.

In Kyiv (1850-1857) Leskov attended lectures at the university as a volunteer, studied Polish, became interested in icon painting, took part in a religious and philosophical student circle, communicated with pilgrims, Old Believers, and sectarians.

In 1857, Leskov left the service and began working in the company of his aunt’s husband A. Ya. Shcott (Scott) “Schcott and Wilkens”. In the enterprise, which, in his words, tried to “exploit everything for which the region offered any convenience,” Leskov acquired a huge practical experience and knowledge in numerous areas of industry and agriculture. At the same time, on company business, Leskov constantly went on “wanderings around Russia,” which also contributed to his acquaintance with the language and way of life different areas countries.

During this period (until 1860) he lived with his family in the village of Nikolo-Raisky, Gorodishchensky district, Penza province and in Penza. Here he first put pen to paper.

In 1859, when a wave of “drinking riots” swept across the Penza province, as well as throughout Russia, Nikolai Semyonovich wrote “Essays on the distillery industry (Penza province),” published in Otechestvennye zapiski. This work is not only about distillery production, but also about agriculture, which, according to him, in the province is “far from flourishing,” and peasant cattle breeding is “in complete decline.”

Some time later, however, the trading house ceased to exist, and Leskov returned to Kyiv in the summer of 1860, where he took up journalism and literary activity. Six months later he moved to St. Petersburg, staying with.

Leskov began publishing relatively late - in the twenty-sixth year of his life, having published several notes in the newspaper "St. Petersburg Vedomosti" (1859-1860), several articles in the Kyiv publications "Modern Medicine", which was published by A.P. Walter (article "About working class", several notes about doctors) and "Economic Index".

Leskov’s articles, which exposed the corruption of police doctors, led to a conflict with his colleagues: as a result of the provocation they organized, Leskov, who conducted an internal investigation, was accused of bribery and was forced to leave the service.

At the beginning of its literary career N. S. Leskov collaborated with many St. Petersburg newspapers and magazines, most of all publishing in “Otechestvennye zapiski” (where he was patronized by his familiar Oryol publicist S. S. Gromeko), in “Russian speech” and “Northern Bee”.

In "Domestic Notes" were published “Essays on the distillery industry (Penza province)”, which Leskov himself called his first work), considered his first major publication.

Nicknames of Nikolai Leskov: At the beginning creative activity Leskov wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. The pseudonymous signature “Stebnitsky” first appeared on March 25, 1862, under the first fictional work, “The Extinguished Case” (later “Drought”). It lasted until August 14, 1869. At times the signatures “M. S", "S", and finally, in 1872, "L. S", "P. Leskov-Stebnitsky" and "M. Leskov-Stebnitsky." Among other conventional signatures and pseudonyms used by Leskov, the following are known: “Freishitz”, “V. Peresvetov”, “Nikolai Ponukalov”, “Nikolai Gorokhov”, “Someone”, “Dm. M-ev”, “N.”, “Member of Society”, “Psalmist”, “Priest. P. Kastorsky", "Divyanka", "M. P.", "B. Protozanov", "Nikolai-ov", "N. L.", "N. L.--v”, “Lover of Antiquities”, “Traveler”, “Watch Lover”, “N. L.", "L."

From the beginning of 1862, N. S. Leskov became a permanent contributor to the newspaper “Northern Bee”, where he began to write both editorials and essays, often on everyday, ethnographic topics, but also - critical articles, directed, in particular, against “vulgar materialism” and nihilism. His work was highly praised on the pages of the then Sovremennik.

Writing career N. S. Leskova began in 1863, his first stories were published "The Life of a Woman" And "Musk Ox"(1863-1864). At the same time, the novel began to be published in the magazine “Library for Reading”. "Nowhere"(1864). “This novel bears all the signs of my haste and ineptitude,” the writer himself later admitted.

“Nowhere,” satirically depicting the life of a nihilistic commune, which was contrasted with the hard work of the Russian people and Christian family values, caused the displeasure of the radicals. It was noted that most of the “nihilists” depicted by Leskov had recognizable prototypes (the writer V. A. Sleptsov was guessed in the image of the head of the Beloyartsev commune).

It was this first novel - politically a radical debut - that for many years predetermined Leskov’s special place in the literary community, which, for the most part, was inclined to attribute to him “reactionary”, anti-democratic views. The left-wing press actively spread rumors according to which the novel was written “commissioned” by the Third Section. This “vile slander,” according to the writer, ruined his entire creative life, depriving him of the opportunity to publish in popular magazines for many years. This predetermined his rapprochement with M. N. Katkov, publisher of the Russian Messenger.

In 1863, the magazine “Library for Reading” published the story “The Life of a Woman” (1863). During the writer’s lifetime, the work was not republished and was then published only in 1924 in a modified form under the title “Cupid in Shoes. A Peasant Novel" (Vremya Publishing House, edited by P. V. Bykov).

In the same years, Leskov’s works were published, "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" (1864), "Warrior"(1866) - stories, mainly of a tragic sound, in which the author brought out bright female images different classes. Almost ignored by modern criticism, they subsequently received the highest ratings from specialists. It was in the first stories that Leskov’s individual humor manifested itself, and for the first time his unique style began to take shape, a type of tale, the ancestor of which, along with Gogol, he later began to be considered.

Elements of Leskov who made him famous literary style is also in the story "Kotin Doilets and Platonida"(1867). Around this time, N. S. Leskov made his debut as a playwright.

In 1867 Alexandrinsky Theater staged his play "Waster", a drama from the life of a merchant, after which Leskov in once again was accused by critics of “pessimism and antisocial tendencies.”

From others major works Leskov in the 1860s, critics noted the story "Bypassed"(1865), which polemicized with the novel “What is to be done?”, and "Islanders"(1866), a morally descriptive story about the Germans living on Vasilyevsky Island.

In 1870, N. S. Leskov published the novel "At Knives", in which he continued to angrily ridicule the nihilists, representatives of the revolutionary movement that was emerging in Russia in those years, which in the writer’s mind merged with criminality. Leskov himself was dissatisfied with the novel, subsequently calling it his worst work.

Some contemporaries (in particular) noted the complexity of the adventurous plot of the novel, the tension and implausibility of the events described in it. After this, N. S. Leskov never returned to the genre of the novel in its pure form.

The novel “On Knives” was a turning point in the writer’s work. The main characters in Leskov’s works were representatives of the Russian clergy, partly landed nobility. Scattered passages and essays gradually began to form into great novel, eventually called "Soborians" and published in 1872 in the Russian Bulletin.

Simultaneously with the novel, two “chronicles” were written, consonant in theme and mood with the main work: “Old Years in the Village of Plodomasovo” (1869) and “A Seedy Family” (full title: “A Seedy Family. Family chronicle of the Protazanov princes. From the notes of Princess V. D.P.", 1873). According to one critic, the heroines of both chronicles are “examples of persistent virtue, calm dignity, high courage, and reasonable philanthropy.”

One of the most bright images in the gallery of Leskov’s “righteous people” became Lefty ( “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea”, 1881). Subsequently, critics noted here, on the one hand, the virtuosity of the embodiment of Leskov’s “tale”, full of wordplay and original neologisms (often with a mocking, satirical overtone), on the other hand, the multi-layered nature of the narrative, the presence of two points of view: “where the narrator constantly holds the same views, and the author inclines the reader to something completely different, often opposite.”

In 1872, a story by N. S. Leskov was written and a year later published "Sealed Angel", which told about the miracle that led the schismatic community to unity with Orthodoxy. In a work where there are echoes of ancient Russian “walkings” and legends about miraculous icons and subsequently recognized as one of the writer’s best works, Leskov’s “tale” received the most powerful and expressive embodiment. “The Captured Angel” turned out to be practically the only work of the writer that was not subject to editorial editing by the Russian Messenger, because, as the writer noted, “it passed through their lack of leisure in the shadows.”

The same year the story was published "The Enchanted Wanderer", a work of free forms that did not have a complete plot, built on the interweaving of disparate storylines. Leskov believed that such a genre should replace what was considered traditional modern novel. Subsequently, it was noted that the image of the hero Ivan Flyagin resembles the epic Ilya of Muromets and symbolizes “the physical and moral fortitude of the Russian people amid the suffering that befalls them.” Despite the fact that The Enchanted Wanderer criticized the dishonesty of the authorities, the story was a success in official spheres and even at court.

If until then Leskov’s works had been edited, this was simply rejected, and the writer had to publish it in different issues of the newspaper. Not only Katkov, but also “leftist” critics reacted with hostility to the story.

After the break with Katkov, the writer’s financial situation worsened. In January 1874, N. S. Leskov was appointed a member of the special department of the Academic Committee of the Ministry of Public Education for the review of books published for the people, with a very modest salary of 1000 rubles per year. Leskov’s duties included reviewing books to determine whether they could be sent to libraries and reading rooms. In 1875, he briefly went abroad without stopping his literary work.

In the 1890s, Leskov became even more sharply journalistic in his work than before: his stories and novellas in the last years of his life were sharply satirical in nature.

Printing of the novel in the magazine “Russian Thought” "Devil's Dolls", the prototypes of which were Nicholas I and the artist K. Bryullov, was suspended by censorship. Leskov was also unable to publish the story “Hare Remiz” - neither in Russian Thought, nor in Vestnik Evropy: it was published only after 1917. Not a single major later work of the writer (including the novels “Falcon Flight” and “Invisible Trace”) was published in full: the chapters rejected by censorship were published after the revolution.

Nikolai Semenovich Leskov died on March 5 (old style - February 21) 1895 in St. Petersburg from another attack of asthma, which tormented him for the last five years of his life. Nikolai Leskov was buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Shortly before his death, in 1889-1893, Leskov compiled and published from A. S. Suvorin “ Complete collection works" in 12 volumes (republished in 1897 by A.F. Marx), which included most of his works of art(Moreover, in the first edition the 6th volume was not passed by the censor).

In 1902-1903, the printing house of A. F. Marx (as a supplement to the Niva magazine) published a 36-volume collected works, in which the editors also tried to collect the writer’s journalistic heritage and which caused a wave of public interest in the writer’s work.

After the revolution of 1917, Leskov was declared a “reactionary, bourgeois-minded writer,” and his works on for many years(the exception is the inclusion of 2 stories by the writer in the 1927 collection) were consigned to oblivion.

During the short Khrushchev thaw, Soviet readers finally got the opportunity to come into contact with Leskov’s work again - in 1956-1958, an 11-volume collection of the writer’s works was published, which, however, is not complete: for ideological reasons, the most harsh in tone was not included in it the anti-nihilistic novel “On Knives”, and journalism and letters are presented in a very limited volume (volumes 10-11).

During the years of stagnation, attempts were made to publish short collected works and separate volumes with Leskov’s works, which did not cover the areas of the writer’s work associated with religious and anti-nihilistic themes (the chronicle “Soborians”, the novel “Nowhere”), and which were supplied with extensive tendentious comments.

In 1989, the first collected works of Leskov - also in 12 volumes - were republished in the Ogonyok Library.

For the first time, a truly complete (30-volume) collected works of the writer began to be published by the Terra publishing house in 1996. In addition to well-known works, this publication plans to include all found, previously unpublished articles, stories and novellas of the writer.

Nikolay Leskov - life and legacy

Personal life of Nikolai Leskov:

In 1853, Leskov married the daughter of a Kyiv merchant, Olga Vasilyevna Smirnova. This marriage produced a son, Dmitry (died in infancy) and a daughter, Vera.

Leskov’s family life was unsuccessful: his wife Olga Vasilievna suffered mental illness and in 1878 she was placed in the St. Nicholas Hospital in St. Petersburg, on the Pryazhka River. Its chief physician was the once famous psychiatrist O. A. Chechott, and its trustee was the famous S. P. Botkin.

In 1865, Leskov entered into a civil marriage with the widow Ekaterina Bubnova (née Savitskaya), and in 1866 their son Andrei was born.

His son, Yuri Andreevich (1892-1942) became a diplomat, and together with his wife, née Baroness Medem, settled in France after the revolution. Their daughter, the only great-granddaughter of the writer, Tatyana Leskova (born 1922) is a ballerina and teacher who made a significant contribution to the formation and development of Brazilian ballet.

In 2001 and 2003, visiting the Leskov house-museum in Orel, she donated family heirlooms to its collection - the Lyceum badge and Lyceum rings of her father.

He was a supporter of vegetarianism.

Vegetarianism influenced the life and work of the writer, especially from the moment he met Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in April 1887 in Moscow.

In 1889, the newspaper “Novoye Vremya” published a note by Leskov entitled “About vegetarians, or compassionate people and meat-eaters,” in which the writer described those vegetarians who do not eat meat for “hygienic reasons” and contrasted them with “compassionate people” - those , who follows vegetarianism out of “their feeling of pity.” People respect only “compassionate people,” wrote Leskov, “who do not eat meat, not because they consider it unhealthy, but out of pity for the animals being killed.

The history of a vegetarian cookbook in Russia begins with N. S. Leskov’s call to create such a book in Russian. This writer’s call was published in June 1892 in the newspaper “New Time” under the title “On the need to publish in Russian a well-written, detailed cookbook for vegetarians.” Leskov argued the need to publish such a book by the “significant” and “ever-increasing” number of vegetarians in Russia, who, unfortunately, still do not have books with vegetarian recipes in their native language.

Leskov’s call evoked numerous mocking remarks in the Russian press, and critic V.P. Burenin in one of his feuilletons created a parody of Leskov, calling him “benevolent Avva.” Responding to this kind of slander and attacks, Leskov writes that the “absurdity” of not eating animal flesh was “invented” long before Vl. Solovyov and L.N. Tolstoy, and refers not only to “ huge amount» unknown vegetarians, but also to names known to everyone, such as Zoroaster, Sakiya-Muni, Xenocrates, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Socrates, Epicurus, Plato, Seneca, Ovid, Juvenal, John Chrysostom, Byron, Lamartine and many others.

A year after Leskov’s call, the first vegetarian cookbook in Russian was published in Russia.

Harassment and ridicule from the press did not intimidate Leskov: he continued to publish notes on vegetarianism and repeatedly addressed this phenomenon cultural life Russia in his works.

Novels by Nikolai Leskov:

Nowhere (1864)
Bypassed (1865)
Islanders (1866)
On Knives (1870)
Cathedralians (1872)
A seedy family (1874)
Devil's Dolls (1890)

Stories by Nikolai Leskov:

The Life of a Woman (1863)
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1864)
Warrioress (1866)
Old years in the village of Plodomasovo (1869)
Laughter and Sorrow (1871)
The Mysterious Man (1872)
The Sealed Angel (1872)
The Enchanted Wanderer (1873)
At the End of the World (1875)
Unbaptized Pop (1877)
Lefty (1881)
Jewish Somersault College (1882)
Pechersk Antiques (1882)
Interesting Men (1885)
Mountain (1888)
The Insulted Neteta (1890)
Midnighters (1891)

Stories by Nikolai Leskov:

Muskox (1862)
Peacock (1874)
Iron Will (1876)
Shameless (1877)
One-Head (1879)
Sheramur (1879)
Chertogon (1879)
Non-lethal Golovan (1880)
White Eagle (1880)
The Ghost in the Engineer's Castle (1882)
Darner (1882)
Travels with the Nihilist (1882)
Beast. Yule story (1883)
Little Mistake (1883)
The Toupee Painter (1883)
Select Grain (1884)
Part-timers (1884)
Notes of an Unknown (1884)
Old Genius (1884)
Scarecrow (1885)
Vintage Psychopaths (1885)
Man on the Clock (1887)
Robbery (1887)
Buffoon Pamphalon (1887) (the original title “God-loving Buffoon” was not passed by the censors)
Idle Dancers (1892)
Administrative Grace (1893)
Hare's Heald (1894)

Plays by Nikolai Leskov:

Nikolay Semyonovich Leskov
Date of birth:
Place of birth:	Village of Gorokhovo, Oryol Governorate, Russian Empire
Date of death:
Place of death:	Saint Petersburg
	Russian Empire
Type of activity:	Novelist, journalist, playwright
	Novels, stories, stories, essays, tales
Language of works:

Biography

Literary career

Pseudonyms of N. S. Leskov

Article about fires

"Nowhere"

First stories

"At Knives"

"Soborians"

1872-1874

"The Righteous"

Attitude to the church

Later works

Last years of life

Publication of works

Reviews from critics and contemporary writers

Personal and family life

Vegetarianism

Addresses in St. Petersburg

Geographical names

Some works

Stories

Bibliography

Nikolay Semyonovich Leskov(February 4 (16), 1831, village of Gorokhovo, Oryol district, Oryol province, now Sverdlovsk district, Oryol region - February 21 (March 5), 1895, St. Petersburg) - Russian writer.

He was called the most national of Russian writers: “Russian people recognize Leskov as the most Russian of Russian writers and who knew the Russian people more deeply and widely as they are” (D. P. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, 1926). In his spiritual formation Ukrainian culture played a significant role, which became close to him during the eight years of his life in Kyiv early years, and English, which he mastered thanks to many years of close communication with an older relative on his wife’s side, A. Scott.

The son of Nikolai Leskov - Andrey Leskov, throughout many years worked on a biography of the writer, finishing it even before the Great Patriotic War. This work was published in 1954. In the city of Orel, School No. 27 bears his name.

Biography

Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born on February 4, 1831 in the village of Gorokhovo, Oryol district. Leskov’s father, Semyon Dmitrievich Leskov (1789-1848), who came from a spiritual background, according to Nikolai Semyonovich, was “... a great, wonderful smart guy and a dense seminarian.” Having broken with the spiritual environment, he entered the service of the Oryol Criminal Chamber, where he rose to ranks that gave the right to hereditary nobility, and, according to contemporaries, acquired a reputation as an astute investigator capable of unraveling complex cases. Mother Maria Petrovna Leskova (nee Alfereva) was the daughter of an impoverished Moscow nobleman. One of her sisters was married to a wealthy Oryol landowner, the other to an Englishman who managed several estates in different provinces.

Childhood

N. S. Leskov spent his early childhood in Orel. After 1839, when his father left the service (due to a quarrel with his superiors, which, according to Leskov, incurred the wrath of the governor), his family - spouses, three sons and two daughters - moved to the village of Panino (Panin Khutor) not far from the city of Kromy. Here, as the future writer recalled, his acquaintance with the folk language took place.

In August 1841, at the age of ten, N. S. Leskov entered the first grade of the Oryol provincial gymnasium, where he studied poorly: five years later he received a certificate of completion of only two classes. Drawing an analogy with N.A. Nekrasov, B. Bukhshtab suggests: “In both cases, obviously, they acted - on the one hand, neglect, on the other - aversion to cramming, to the routine and carrion of the then government educational institutions with a greedy interest in life and a bright temperament.”

In June 1847, Leskov entered service in the same chamber of the criminal court where his father worked, to the position of clerical servant of the 2nd category. After the death of his father from cholera (in 1848), Nikolai Semenovich received another promotion, becoming an assistant to the head of the Oryol Chamber of the Criminal Court, and in December 1849, at his own request, he was transferred to the staff of the Kyiv Treasury Chamber. He moved to Kyiv, where he lived with his uncle S.P. Alferyev.

In Kyiv (1850-1857) Leskov attended lectures at the university as a volunteer, studied the Polish language, became interested in icon painting, took part in a religious and philosophical student circle, communicated with pilgrims, Old Believers, and sectarians. It was noted that the economist D. P. Zhuravsky, a champion of the abolition of serfdom, had a significant influence on the worldview of the future writer.

In 1857, Leskov left the service and began working in the company of his aunt’s husband A. Ya. Shcott (Scott) “Schcott and Wilkens”. In the enterprise, which (in his words) tried to “exploit everything for which the region offered any convenience,” Leskov acquired vast practical experience and knowledge in numerous areas of industry and agriculture. At the same time, on company business, Leskov constantly went on “wanderings around Russia,” which also contributed to his acquaintance with the language and life of different regions of the country. “...These are the most best years my life, when I saw a lot and lived easily,” N. S. Leskov later recalled.

During this period (until 1860) he lived with his family in the village of Raisky, Gorodishchensky district, Penza province.

Some time later, however, the trading house ceased to exist and Leskov returned to Kyiv in the summer of 1860, where he engaged in journalistic and literary activities. Six months later he moved to St. Petersburg, staying with I.V. Vernadsky.

Literary career

Leskov began publishing relatively late, in the twenty-ninth year of his life, having published several notes in the newspaper “St. Petersburg Vedomosti” (1859-1860), several articles in the Kyiv publications “Modern Medicine”, which was published by A.P. Walter (article “About working class", several notes about doctors) and "Economic Index". Leskov’s articles, which exposed the corruption of police doctors, led to a conflict with his colleagues: as a result of the provocation they organized, Leskov, who conducted the internal investigation, was accused of bribery and was forced to leave the service.

At the beginning of his literary career, N. S. Leskov collaborated with many St. Petersburg newspapers and magazines, most of all publishing in “Otechestvennye zapiski” (where he was patronized by his familiar Oryol publicist S. S. Gromeko), in “Russian speech” and “Northern Bee” . “Otechestvennye zapiski” published “Essays on the Distilling Industry,” which Leskov himself called his first work, considered his first major publication. In the summer of that year, he briefly moved to Moscow, returning to St. Petersburg in December.

Pseudonyms of N. S. Leskov

IN beginning Leskov wrote his creative activity under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. The pseudonymous signature “Stebnitsky” first appeared on March 25, 1862, under the first fictional work, “The Extinguished Case” (later “Drought”). It lasted until August 14, 1869. At times the signatures “M. C", "C", and finally in 1872. "L. S", "P. Leskov-Stebnitsky" and "M. Leskov-Stebnitsky." Among other conventional signatures and pseudonyms used by Leskov, the following are known: “Freishitz”, “V. Peresvetov”, “Nikolai Ponukalov”, “Nikolai Gorokhov”, “Someone”, “Dm. M-ev”, “N.”, “Member of Society”, “Psalmist”, “Priest. P. Kastorsky", "Divyanka", "M. P.", "B. Protozanov", "Nikolai-ov", "N. L.", "N. L.--v”, “Lover of Antiquities”, “Traveler”, “Watch Lover”, “N. L.", "L."

Article about fires

In an article about the fires in the magazine “Northern Bee” dated May 30, 1862, which were rumored to be arson carried out by revolutionary students and Poles, the writer mentioned these rumors and demanded that the authorities confirm or refute them, which was perceived by the democratic by the public as a denunciation. In addition, criticism of the actions of the administrative authorities, expressed by the wish “that the teams sent to fires would be for real help, and not for standing,” aroused the anger of the tsar himself. After reading these lines, Alexander II wrote: “It should not have been missed, especially since it is a lie.”

As a result, Leskov was sent by the editors of the Northern Bee on a long business trip. He traveled around the western provinces of the empire, visited Dinaburg, Vilna, Grodno, Pinsk, Lvov, Prague, Krakow, and at the end of the trip - Paris. In 1863, he returned to Russia and published a series of journalistic essays and letters, in particular, “From a Travel Diary”, “Russian Society in Paris”.

"Nowhere"

From the beginning of 1862, N. S. Leskov became a permanent contributor to the newspaper “Northern Bee”, where he began to write both editorials and essays, often on everyday, ethnographic topics, but also critical articles directed, in particular, against “vulgar materialism" and nihilism. His activities were highly appreciated on the pages of the then Sovremennik.

N. S. Leskov’s writing career began in 1863, his first stories “The Life of a Woman” and “Musk Ox” (1863-1864) were published. At the same time, the magazine “Library for Reading” began publishing the novel “Nowhere” (1864). “This novel bears all the signs of my haste and ineptitude,” the writer himself later admitted.

“Nowhere,” which satirically depicted the life of a nihilistic commune, which was contrasted with the hard work of the Russian people and Christian family values, aroused the displeasure of the radicals. It was noted that most of the “nihilists” depicted by Leskov had recognizable prototypes (the writer V. A. Sleptsov was seen in the image of the head of the Beloyartsev commune).

It was this first, politically radical debut that for many years predetermined Leskov’s special place in the literary community, which, for the most part, was inclined to attribute to him “reactionary”, anti-democratic views. The left-wing press actively spread rumors according to which the novel was written “commissioned” by the Third Section. This “vile slander,” according to the writer, ruined his entire creative life, depriving him of the opportunity to publish in popular magazines for many years. This predetermined his rapprochement with M. N. Katkov, publisher of the Russian Messenger.

First stories

In 1863, the magazine “Library for Reading” published the story “The Life of a Woman” (1863). During the writer’s lifetime, the work was not republished and was then published only in 1924 in a modified form under the title “Cupid in Shoes. A Peasant Novel" (Vremya Publishing House, edited by P. V. Bykov). The latter claimed that Leskov himself gave him new version his own work - in gratitude for the bibliography of his works compiled in 1889. There were doubts about this version: it is known that N. S. Leskov already in the preface to the first volume of the collection “Tales, Essays and Stories of M. Stebnitsky” promised to publish in the second volume “the experience of a peasant novel” - “Cupid in Shoes”, but then the promised publication did not materialize.

In the same years, Leskov’s works were published, “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” (1864), “Warrior” (1866) - stories with a mainly tragic sound, in which the author brought out vivid female images of different classes. Almost ignored by modern criticism, they subsequently received the highest ratings from specialists. It was in the first stories that Leskov’s individual humor manifested itself, for the first time his unique style began to take shape, a type of “skaz”, the founder of which - along with Gogol - he later began to be considered. Elements of the literary style that made Leskov famous are also found in the story “Kotin Doilets and Platonida” (1867) .

Around this time, N. S. Leskov made his debut as a playwright. In 1867, the Alexandrinsky Theater staged his play “The Spendthrift,” a drama from the life of a merchant, after which Leskov was once again accused by critics of “pessimism and antisocial tendencies.” Of Leskov’s other major works of the 1860s, critics noted the story “Outlooked” (1865), which polemicized with N. G. Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?”, and “The Islanders” (1866), a morally descriptive story about the Germans living on Vasilyevsky Island .

"At Knives"

In 1870, N. S. Leskov published the novel “On Knives,” in which he continued to angrily ridicule the nihilists, representatives of the revolutionary movement that was emerging in Russia in those years, which in the writer’s mind merged with criminality. Leskov himself was dissatisfied with the novel, subsequently calling it his worst work. In addition, constant disputes with M.N. Katkov, who time after time demanded to redo and edit the finished version, left an unpleasant aftertaste for the writer. “In this publication, purely literary interests were belittled, destroyed and adapted to serve interests that had nothing in common with any literature,” wrote N. S. Leskov.

Some contemporaries (in particular, Dostoevsky) noted the complexity of the adventurous plot of the novel, the tension and implausibility of the events described in it. After this, N. S. Leskov never returned to the genre of the novel in its pure form.

"Soborians"

The novel “On Knives” was a turning point in the writer’s work. As M. Gorky noted, “...after the evil novel “On Knives” literary creativity Leskova immediately becomes a bright painting or, rather, iconography - he begins to create for Russia an iconostasis of its saints and righteous people.” The main characters of Leskov’s works were representatives of the Russian clergy, and partly of the local nobility. Scattered excerpts and essays gradually began to form into a large novel, which eventually received the name “Soboryan” and published in 1872 in the “Russian Messenger”. As noted literary critic V. Korovin, goodies- Archpriest Saveliy Tuberozov, deacon Achille Desnitsyn and priest Zakhary Benefaktov, whose narrative is in the tradition of the heroic epic, “are surrounded on all sides by figures of the new time - nihilists, swindlers, civil and church officials of a new type.” The work, the theme of which was the opposition of “true” Christianity to the official one, subsequently led the writer into conflict with church and secular authorities. It was also the first to have significant public resonance.

Simultaneously with the novel, two “chronicles” were written, consonant in theme and mood with the main work: “Old Years in the Village of Plodomasovo” (1869) and “A Seedy Family” (full title: “A Seedy Family. Family chronicle of the Protazanov princes. From the notes of Princess V. D.P.", 1873). According to one critic, the heroines of both chronicles are “examples of persistent virtue, calm dignity, high courage, and reasonable philanthropy.” Both of these works left a feeling of incompleteness. Subsequently, it turned out that the second part of the chronicle, in which (according to V. Korovin) “sarcastically depicted the mysticism and hypocrisy of the end of Alexander’s reign and affirmed the social disembodiment of Christianity in Russian life,” aroused M. Katkov’s dissatisfaction. Leskov, having disagreed with the publisher, simply did not finish writing what could develop into a novel. “Katkov... during the printing of “A Seedy Family” said (to an employee of the “Russian Messenger”) Voskoboynikov: We are mistaken: this man is not ours!” - the writer later asserted.

"Lefty"

One of the most striking images in the gallery of Leskov’s “righteous people” was Lefty (“The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea”, 1881). Subsequently, critics noted here, on the one hand, the virtuosity of the embodiment of Leskov’s “tale”, full of wordplay and original neologisms (often with a mocking, satirical overtone), on the other hand, the multi-layered nature of the narrative, the presence of two points of view: open (belonging to the simple-minded character) and hidden , author's, often the opposite. N. S. Leskov himself wrote about this “cunning” of his own style:

As biographer B. Ya. Bukhshtab noted, such “cunning” was manifested primarily in the description of the actions of Ataman Platov, from the point of view of the hero - almost heroic, but hiddenly ridiculed by the author. "Southpaw" was subjected to devastating criticism from both sides. Liberals and “leftists” accused Leskov of nationalism, while “rightists” considered the depiction of the life of the Russian people to be overly gloomy. N. S. Leskov replied that “to belittle the Russian people or to flatter them” was in no way his intention.

When published in Rus, as well as in separate publication The story was accompanied by a preface:

I cannot say where exactly the first breeding of the fable about the steel flea was born, that is, whether it started in Tula, Izhma or Sestroretsk, but, obviously, it came from one of these places. In any case, the tale of the steel flea is a specifically gunsmith legend, and it expresses the pride of Russian gunsmiths. It depicts the struggle of our masters with the English masters, from which ours emerged victorious and the English were completely shamed and humiliated. Here, some secret reason for military failures in Crimea is revealed. I wrote down this legend in Sestroretsk according to a local tale from an old gunsmith, a Tula native, who moved to the Sister River during the reign of Emperor Alexander the First.

1872-1874

In 1872, N. S. Leskov’s story “The Sealed Angel” was written and a year later published, which told about the miracle that led the schismatic community to unity with Orthodoxy. In the work, which contains echoes of ancient Russian “walkings” and legends about miraculous icons and was subsequently recognized as one of the writer’s best works, Leskov’s “tale” received the most powerful and expressive embodiment. “The Imprinted Angel” turned out to be practically the only work of the writer that was not subject to editorial editing by the Russian Messenger, because, as the writer noted, “it passed through their lack of leisure in the shadows.” The story, which contained criticism of the authorities, nevertheless caused a resonance in official spheres and even at court.

In the same year, the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” was published, a work of free forms that did not have a complete plot, built on the interweaving of disparate plot lines. Leskov believed that such a genre should replace what was considered to be the traditional modern novel. Subsequently, it was noted that the image of the hero Ivan Flyagin resembles the epic Ilya of Muromets and symbolizes “the physical and moral fortitude of the Russian people amid the suffering that befalls them.”

If until then Leskov’s works had been edited, this was simply rejected, and the writer had to publish it in different issues of the newspaper. Not only Katkov, but also “leftist” critics reacted with hostility to the story. In particular, the critic N.K. Mikhailovsky pointed out the “absence of any center,” so that, in his words, there is “... a whole series fabulas strung like beads on a thread, and each bead is on its own and can be very conveniently taken out and replaced with another, or you can string as many more beads as you like on the same thread.”

After the break with Katkov, the financial situation of the writer (who by this time had remarried) worsened. In January 1874, N. S. Leskov was appointed a member of the special department of the Academic Committee of the Ministry of Public Education for the review of books published for the people, with a very modest salary of 1000 rubles per year. Leskov’s duties included reviewing books to determine whether they could be sent to libraries and reading rooms. In 1875, he briefly went abroad without stopping his literary work.

"The Righteous"

Creating a gallery of bright ones positive characters was continued by the writer in a collection of stories published under the general title “The Righteous” (“Figure”, “The Man on the Clock”, “The Non-Lethal Golovan”, etc.) As critics later noted, Leskov’s righteous people are united by “straightforwardness, fearlessness, heightened conscientiousness, inability come to terms with evil." Responding in advance to critics’ accusations that his characters were somewhat idealized, Leskov argued that his stories about the “righteous” were mostly in the nature of memories (in particular, what his grandmother told him about Golovan, etc.), tried to give the story a background of historical authenticity , introducing descriptions of real people into the plot.

As the researchers noted, some eyewitness accounts referred to by the writer were genuine, others were his own fiction. Leskov often processed old manuscripts and memoirs. For example, in the story “The Non-Lethal Golovan”, “Cool Vertograd” is used - a medical book of the 17th century. In 1884, in a letter to the editor of the Warsaw Diary newspaper, he wrote:

Leskov (according to the memoirs of A. N. Leskov) believed that by creating cycles about “Russian antiquities,” he was fulfilling Gogol’s will from “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends”: “Exalt in solemn anthem an unnoticed worker." In the preface to the first of these stories (“Odnodum”, 1879), the writer explained their appearance as follows: “It’s terrible and unbearable... to see one “rubbish” in the Russian soul, which has become the main subject new literature, and... I went to look for the righteous, but wherever I turned, everyone answered me in the same way that they had never seen righteous people, because all people are sinners, and so, some good people both knew. I started writing it down.”

In the 1880s, Leskov also created a series of works about the righteous of early Christianity: the action of these works takes place in Egypt and the countries of the Middle East. The plots of these stories were, as a rule, borrowed by him from the “prologue” - a collection of the lives of saints and edifying stories compiled in Byzantium in X-XI centuries. Leskov was proud that his Egyptian sketches “Pamphalon” and “Azu” were translated into German, and the publishers gave him preference over Ebers, the author of “The Daughter of the Egyptian King.”

At the same time, the satirical and accusatory line intensified in the writer’s work (“The Stupid Artist”, “The Beast”, “Scarecrow”): along with officials and officers among him negative heroes Clergymen began to appear more and more often.

Attitude to the church

In the 1880s, N. S. Leskov’s attitude towards the church changed. In 1883, in a letter to L.I. Veselitskaya about “Soboryans” he wrote:

Leskov’s attitude towards the church was influenced by Leo Tolstoy, with whom he became close in the late 1880s. “I always agree with him and there is no one on earth who is dearer to me than him. I am never embarrassed by what I cannot share with him: I value his common, so to speak, dominant mood of his soul and the terrible penetration of his mind,” Leskov wrote about Tolstoy in one of his letters to V.G. Chertkov.

Perhaps Leskov’s most notable anti-church work was the story “Midnight Office”, completed in the fall of 1890 and published in two editions. latest issues 1891 of the magazine “Bulletin of Europe”. The author had to overcome considerable difficulties before his work saw the light of day. “I will keep my story on the table. It’s true that no one will print it at present,” N. S. Leskov wrote to L. N. Tolstoy on January 8, 1891.

A scandal was also caused by N. S. Leskov’s essay “Popov’s leapfrog and parish whim” (1883). The proposed cycle of essays and stories “Notes of an Unknown” (1884) was dedicated to ridiculing the vices of clergy, but work on it was stopped under pressure from censorship. Moreover, for these works N. S. Leskov was fired from the Ministry of Public Education. The writer again found himself in spiritual isolation: the “right” now saw him as a dangerous radical, and the “liberals” (as B. Ya. Bukhshtab noted), before “Leskov as a reactionary writer, now publish his works because of their political harshness.”

Financial situation Leskov was corrected by the publication in 1889-1890 of a ten-volume collection of his works (later the 11th volume and the 12th were added posthumously). The publication was quickly sold out and brought the writer a significant fee. But it was precisely with this success that his first heart attack was connected, which happened on the stairs of the printing house, when it became known that the sixth volume of the collection (containing works on church topics) was delayed by censorship (it was subsequently reorganized by the publishing house).

Later works

In the 1890s, Leskov became even more sharply journalistic in his work than before: his stories and novellas in the last years of his life were sharply satirical in nature. The writer himself said about his works of that time:

The publication of the novel “Devil's Dolls” in the magazine “Russian Thought”, the prototypes of which were Nicholas I and the artist K. Bryullov, was suspended by censorship. Leskov was also unable to publish the story “Hare Remiz” - neither in Russian Thought, nor in Vestnik Evropy: it was published only after 1917. Not a single major later work of the writer (including the novels “Falcon Flight” and “Invisible Trace”) was published in full: the chapters rejected by censorship were published after the revolution. N. S. Leskov said that the process of publishing his works, always difficult, at the end of his life became unbearable for him.

Last years of life

Nikolai Semenovich Leskov died on March 5 (old style - February 21), 1895 in St. Petersburg, from another attack of asthma, which tormented him for the last five years of his life. Nikolai Leskov was buried at the Volkov cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Publication of works

Shortly before his death, in 1889-1893, Leskov compiled and published A. S. Suvorin’s “Complete Works” in 12 volumes (republished in 1897 by A. F. Marx), which included most of his artistic works (moreover, in the first edition, volume 6 was not passed by the censor). In 1902-1903, the printing house of A. F. Marx (as a supplement to the Niva magazine) published a 36-volume collected works, in which the editors also tried to collect the writer’s journalistic heritage and which caused a wave of public interest in the writer’s work. After the revolution of 1917, Leskov was declared a “reactionary, bourgeois-minded writer,” and his works were consigned to oblivion for many years (with the exception of the inclusion of 2 of the writer’s stories in the 1927 collection). During the short Khrushchev thaw, Soviet readers finally got the opportunity to come into contact with Leskov’s work again - in 1956-1958, an 11-volume collection of the writer’s works was published, which, however, is not complete: for ideological reasons, the most harsh in tone was not included in it the anti-nihilistic novel “On Knives”, and journalism and letters are presented in a very limited volume (volumes 10-11). During the years of stagnation, attempts were made to publish short collected works and separate volumes with Leskov’s works, which did not cover the areas of the writer’s work associated with religious and anti-nihilistic themes (the chronicle “Soborians”, the novel “Nowhere”), and which were supplied with extensive tendentious comments. In 1989, the first collected works of Leskov - also in 12 volumes - were republished in the Ogonyok Library. For the first time, a truly complete (30-volume) collected works of the writer began to be published by the Terra publishing house in 1996 and continues to this day. In addition to well-known works, this publication plans to include all found, previously unpublished articles, stories and novellas of the writer.