Stewart
08-Oct-2008, 17:43
Nikolai Leskov (16 February 1831 - 5 March 1895) was a Russianjournalist, novelist and short story writer, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitskiy. By many Russians he is considered "the most Russian of all Russian writers".
His literary career began in 1861 when he began working for a journal in Saint Petersburg. He published his first prose work, Pogassee Delo, the next year, and his first novel, Nekuda, in 1864. His main works include The Enchanted Wanderer (1873), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1865) (which was later made into an opera), The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea (1881), and the novel Cathedral Folk (1872).
As a writer and journalist in the turbulent 1860s, he quickly established a reputation for being anti-nihilist. At the same time he was not clearly a conservative, and this apparent refusal to take sides caused him economic difficulty, since he could find few journals willing to publish his works. When liberal magazines closed their doors, he started to publish writings in conservative papers, but his criticism of civil servants and Orthodox clerics and laymen also caused anger in conservative circles. Leskov served on the Scholarly Committee of the Ministry of Education from 1874. He was dismissed in 1883 due to his too liberal views. After a religious crisis in the mid-1870s he published several stories which questioned Orthodox Christianity. In the summer of 1872 he travelled in Karelia and visited the Valamo monastery in Lake Ladoga.
By the late 1880s Leskov's growing criticism of the doctrines of the church started to arouse the attention of censors. Under the influence of Lev Tolstoy he wrote several stories dealing with ancient church legends. During his last years Leskov suffered from breast cancer, and thoughts of death occupied his mind. Leskov died on March 5, 1895. He is buried at Literatorskiye Mostki necropolis of the Volkovo Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.
RELATED LINKS
Nikolai Leskov on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Leskov)
Biography of Nikolai Leskov (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/leskov.htm)
His literary career began in 1861 when he began working for a journal in Saint Petersburg. He published his first prose work, Pogassee Delo, the next year, and his first novel, Nekuda, in 1864. His main works include The Enchanted Wanderer (1873), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1865) (which was later made into an opera), The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea (1881), and the novel Cathedral Folk (1872).
As a writer and journalist in the turbulent 1860s, he quickly established a reputation for being anti-nihilist. At the same time he was not clearly a conservative, and this apparent refusal to take sides caused him economic difficulty, since he could find few journals willing to publish his works. When liberal magazines closed their doors, he started to publish writings in conservative papers, but his criticism of civil servants and Orthodox clerics and laymen also caused anger in conservative circles. Leskov served on the Scholarly Committee of the Ministry of Education from 1874. He was dismissed in 1883 due to his too liberal views. After a religious crisis in the mid-1870s he published several stories which questioned Orthodox Christianity. In the summer of 1872 he travelled in Karelia and visited the Valamo monastery in Lake Ladoga.
By the late 1880s Leskov's growing criticism of the doctrines of the church started to arouse the attention of censors. Under the influence of Lev Tolstoy he wrote several stories dealing with ancient church legends. During his last years Leskov suffered from breast cancer, and thoughts of death occupied his mind. Leskov died on March 5, 1895. He is buried at Literatorskiye Mostki necropolis of the Volkovo Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.
RELATED LINKS
Nikolai Leskov on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Leskov)
Biography of Nikolai Leskov (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/leskov.htm)