| Title | : | Леди Макбет Мценского уезда |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 5389029348 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9785389029347 |
| Language | : | Russian |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 |
| Publication | : | First published August 27, 2015 |
The story of a passionate young woman who escapes her stifling marriage through adultery and murder, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is now the basis for an acclaimed new film starring Florence Pugh.
Nikolai Leskov is one of the most unique voices of nineteenth-century Russia, with a fascination for idiosyncratic characters, lurid crimes, comic absurdity, spirituality and the joy of pure story. This volume contains five of his greatest short tales, including the matchless masterpiece Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
Translated with an introduction by David McDuff
Леди Макбет Мценского уезда Reviews
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”It was a tedious life that Katerina Lvovna had lived in her rich father-in-law’s house, for the five long years of her marriage to a husband who showed her little affection. But, as is so often the case, no one paid the slightest attention to the boredom that was wearing her down.”
Katerina Lvovna married Zinovy Borisych Izmailov, not because she loved him, but because he offered a proposal. She was not especially pretty, but I would say that she was striking and benefited from the rosy hue of youth. ”She was approaching twenty-four; she was short, but slender, her neck looked as though it had been sculpted from marble, her shoulders were full and round, her bust firm, her nose straight and delicate, and her eyes black and lively; she had a white, high forehead, and so black was her hair that it possessed an almost bluish tint.” She came from a poor family and could not afford to dream of fairy tales.
Zinovy must have married her to produce an heir because servants were used for the housework and fieldwork, but here we are five years into the marriage and her stomach had not blossomed. In the movie version titled ”Lady Macbeth” (2016), the director William Oldroyd had a very interesting interpretation of why Katerina was not getting pregnant. Very little was expected of her, but a bit of housework might have been welcome to relieve the tediousness of her days. Her husband and father-in-law were gone much of the time on business. Unfortunately, Katerina was not much of a reader, but even if she had been, there was only one book in the whole house: Kiev Lives of the Holy Fathers.
A house without books is a house without a soul. I shudder to think of myself trapped between those walls, without even a book to help me escape to somewhere else. There is a special kind of desperation that grows with only a ticking clock to relieve the oppressive boredom of being alone with idle hands in your lap and an undernourished mind in need of stimulation.
That stimulation came in the form of a peasant lad named Sergei.
He was bold and pretty to look at. He was in trouble at the last place he worked for, being too bold with the owner’s wife. He was a Lothario, a rake in all the insinuations of the word. It helped that he was handsome, but frankly any man showing any interested in Katerina could have breached her knickers. And sex with Sergei was way more interesting than anything she may have experienced under the clumsy hands of Zinovy.
The lovers were bold and careless, and so it was no great surprise that they were caught by Boris Timofeich Izmailov, the grumpy father-in-law. He threw Sergei in a storeroom and locked the door. Boris ate a mushroom stew that evening, had a great pain in his stomach, and was dead by morning.
*Raised eyebrow* How convenient?
The affair was one of the worst kept secrets, and even the other merchants and peasants began to refer to her as Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Sex and ambition were a potent mix for creating disastrous circumstances.
Needless to say, bodies continued to pile up at the Izmailov household.
Not without a cost.
Katrina started experiencing the..”Is this a dagger which I see before me?”...type hallucinations. ”Katerina Lvovna looked, and then began to scream at the top of her voice. Once again the cat was lying in between her and Sergei, but this time it had the head of Boris Timofeich, bloated and swollen as it had been on his corpse, and instead of eyes it had two fiery circles that kept spinning and spinning in opposite directions.”
The unravelling of a guilty mind.
The movie version is a wonderful interpretation of this novella. Oldroyd does make changes to the original story, but they are very interesting alterations. Usually, I read the book before I watch the movie, but in this case I elected to reverse that order, and I’m glad that I did. Both the movie and the novella are a wonderful part of the Macbeth canon of literature. If you are a fan of the play, like I am, you will definitely want to experience both the movie and the book.
The other novellas are also very good. Nikolai Leskov struggled with his relationship with religion his whole life, and those endeavors are reflected in these novellas. In Pamphalon the Entertainer, he has a character who forsakes his noble heritage, gives away all his possessions, and lives in the desert, becoming something less than a normal man. ”The former nobleman, who had stood for thirty years exposed to the wind and the fiery sun, had practically ceased to possess a human appearance. His eyes had grown completely colourless, his sun-scorched flesh had gone black and withered, and clung to his bones, his arms and legs had dried up, and his overgrown fingernails had turned inwards and were growing into the palms of his hands.” For all of this suffering, he came no closer to finding the peace he sought.
There is also Musk-Ox in the story of the same name. He is a young man who had forelocks that reminded people of the beast of burden. He, too, was continually searching for enlightenment and went to considerable lengths to try and discover the truth of living a righteous life. It proved to be a burden too great to bear.
The stories thematically go so well together. These are considered Leskov’s five greatest short stories, and each story left me with plenty to ponder. Highly recommended to those who have enjoyed Russian novels in the past and also for those Shakespeare fans who will enjoy another interpretation of that great tale of ambition and the consequences that come from “winning.”
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Of the five stories that make up this collection, I enjoyed two (Lady macbeth of Mtsensk (1864) & The Sealed Angel (1873)), two challenged my will to read (Pamphalon the Entertainer (1887) & A winter's Day (1894)), and one (Musk Ox (1863)) left me indifferent.
Having read a couple of
sparkling
reviews of
The Steel Flea, I was more than half expecting to be impressed by Leskov, but after these five stories I am nonplussed, I feel perhaps a worry, or a concern, or maybe I just have the thought that you can read these Leskov stories as sociology - here are tales arising from the lower rungs of late nineteenth century Russia society - in terms of the kinds of people we meet in these stories they remind me of Maxim Gorky's autobiography - merchants, craftsmen, peasants, rather than the aristocrats and gentry of Tolstoy, Turgenev and Dostoyevsky. Much of the story telling in these stories seems fairly flat or naive, maybe it reminds me of those icons featuring a saint in the central panel surrounded by boxes showing scenes from his life in boxes, and maybe that is not accidental, Leskov is very interested in traditional Russian Art, perhaps this flat effect of slightly cartoonish episodes that cumulatively give a powerful sense of character was what he aimed to achieve, when it works well I felt it was a kind of Russian picaresque, but in the stories which drained me of energy and I had to wear crampons to climb through them, the effect was tiring and unrewarding like a nightmarish version of
The Arabian Nights.
It bothered me that Musk Ox opened the collection, the parts which drew on Leskov's autobiography - visiting monasteries with his grandmother and going fishing with novice monks were lovely, but the centre of the story is a portrait of the title character, and only through a heroic effort can I contextualise this possibly as a whither Russia story.
The title story, is a jolly murder ballad, it is moderately musical. It is unusual in that the physical strength of this Lady Macbeth has a role to play in the story, it is also dramatic, its a fun piece of fiction. Despite the title it is not very Macbeth like - it is a very free interpretation of the idea.
The Sealed Angel is a picaresque heist story centred on icons and Old Believers, though there is a lot of discussion about icons, I found it relatively fun, particularly imagining it being made into a film - a team of builders desperate to steal their icon back from a Bishop, which in the way of heist stories requires them to walk a good way round Russia in order to organise their heist, but what force on heaven or earth can keep a team of builders separate from their beloved icon?
On the plus side Pamphalon the Entertainer, reminded me of one the stories at the end of
The Glass Bead Game - a man has fled the world to sit on top of a pillar outside a village and pray for his salvation, one day God (or somebody in that kind of line of business) speaks unto him and tells him to seek out Pamphalon in the city of Damascus - at this stage I began to think that all these stories were quests of one kind or another - to be better ensure his own salvation. All of which is fine and well and good, but this story really goes on - the sensation of infinity was very frightening; reading a page up to the last letter then tumbling over and starting all over again - perhaps reading this story was a foretaste of one of the not nice afterlifes awaiting literate sinners, unending stories that seem to get progressively less interesting. At the stage of his life when Leskov wrote this he was under the influence of Tolstoy - late Tolstoy as religious teacher. Which perhaps made this story frighteningly worthy like a lunch of ungarnished celery stalks.
But if I thought Pamphalon the Entertainer was an arid hike through a mountain valley shunned even by glaciers that was only because I was innocent and had not started to read A Winter's day. If I could hack away about ninety percent of this story it would be quite fun, thee would be a sharp movement from scene to scene, a story of rapid comings and goings as we are very approximately move from the top of a household - a grand lady receiving a visitor down to the bottom - a maid and the cook, as in a puzzle, one character leaves the stage and then another enters, there is a slightly farcical transmission of a sum on money from one character to another at one stage which is fun. Unfortunately as it is on top of those bare bones are thick fatty slabs of backbiting dialogue which I found very tedious.
Leskov - a mixed bag. Or maybe you have to be in the right frame for each story. -
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Ah, this is what happens when one runs a sharp wedge insistently into a sensitive spot . And, let’s be honest, this was not something quite minor what was happening right before her eyes . So, in a sense, of course I was not surprised with the end, it was expected that that will put her in a towering passion, and touched off her most immediate feelings…But, on the other hand, I was amazed at the rarity of their emotional involvement, which was offset by the unwarranted and excessive vehemence they showed later on .
I confess I have been hooked tightly with this embittered short story, even embarrassed by a shattering explosion of feeling, as the startling incidents that the storyteller tells so inflamed my mind :)
At first glance it might seem quite understandable that this Russian Emma Bovary, an unremarkable, insipid woman, had exchanged her portly, parochial consort for a young Lovelace, who felt nothing for her , though there is such a dramatic gap between the original Lovelace in Clarissa of Samuel Richardson, and this strange Russian peasant, with whom Katerina ventures her happiness. This was indeed the probability, of such an energetic step taken by a woman, who, after years of a disappointing, tedious marriage, would be ‘emotionally’ ready for it.
Of course I was not myself ready for how they were easily led astray, especially the demonic element in one’s nature, and how these two took pleasure in feeling themselves stronger and purer in their ‘morals’ and thinking. I mean, let’s be honest , for my part I find it more honest in a woman to follow her instincts with freedom and passion than to practise the betrayal of her husband, either in their time together physically or even just thinking of another. By the by, this does not mean that I want to defend any behaviour, just that I don’t understand why to complicate life too much, when it is already complicated even without this added on…
On the other side, it can happen that any woman can innocently be swept up in a sudden adventure and that she might commit actions she would have considered impossible an hour beforehand . But there is no way to excuse or understand or forgive, but only to condemn, such a giddy, reckless and irrational behaviour and her actions that are hasty, foolish, eventually fully base and mean, cruel to the highest degree, that crowned the destiny of this poor, unfortunate woman.
In a nutshell, I have enjoyed how the author told his tale with all the captivating charm of a lively, creative nature. The truth is that I was shaken by it, and, as I’ve been reading, I felt couple of times appalled, but also engrossed and thrilled. Yet, curious thing to say, the storyteller told it in such an eager, unaffected way that it seemed more like an account of the symptoms of a fever or some other illness than anything objectionable. One thing is certain though, one learns a lot about the reality of life :)
NB: of course I'll plunge into the next 5 stories. Happy reading to me! :) -
În aceste povestiri am fost scutită de imaginile grotești din Pelerinul vrăjit, în care animalele erau chinuite; totuși Leskov reușește să arate de câte lucruri sunt capabili oamenii. De dragul cuiva, pentru a demonstra ori obține ceva sau pentru că, pur și simplu, ei cred că procedează corect. Chiar dacă ultima parte a antologiei nu a fost pe placul meu, limbajul acesta învechit mă încântă de fiecare dată.
Leskov nu e printre autorii ruși pe care îi prefer eu și nici măcar nu pot explica exact de ce. Poate pentru că se folosește atât de des de religie pentru a crea tipologii de personaje, iar psihologia umană este mult mai complexă și extinsă. Nu știu ce o fi cu poporul rus de se pricepe atât de bine la oameni, dar tare îmi place să citesc ceva care se poate raporta atât de ușor la realitate. În privința asta, Leskov e tocmai bun, așa că recomand această antologie cel puțin pentru primele trei povestiri. Recenzia aici:
https://bit.ly/3bM9VYv.
,,De-atunci s-a scurs aproape un sfert de veac și s-au schimbat multe: unii nu mai sunt, alții sunt acum prea departe, iar pentru noi, pe care întâmplarea ne aduse la un loc după o lungă despărțire, nu era lipsit de interes să ne supunem reciproc unui examen: să vedem ce anume și cum s-a evaporat din noi, ce a rămas și ce formă și ce nuanță a luat.'' -
Безусловно, это сильная вещь, но что-то в ней не дотягивает, не состыковывается идеально, не складывается в органичную картину. Катерина Львовна - сильная русская женщина, из тех, что добьется своего, чего бы ей это ни стоило, даже без подпитки сильными чувствами или страстями; а уж полюбив, она получает силу, сравнимую с ядерным реактором. Как могла она, с такой страстной душой, которая требует такой же по силе накал страсти со стороны партнёра и которая не будет довольствоваться имитацией чувств, как могла она с ее крепким купеческим практическим чутьем, умом и смёткой не заприметить в Сергее человека, не испытывающего к ��ей любви, корыстного, мелкого и подлого? Да и полюбить его как могла? Хорошо, даже если взять расхожую истину про злую любовь, приводящую к козлам, все равно, когда он сбросил маску на этапе в Сибирь, прямо хлестнул, что никогда не любил, почему она, такая трезвомыслящая, такая цельная, не способная довольствоваться малым, продолжала любить это ничтожество, недостойное ее мизинца? Эта нестыковка разрушает то мощное впечатление, которое оставляет эта повесть. Если называть вещи своими именами, Катерина Львовна - чудовище, способная убить людей, с которыми прожила много лет, убить даже невинного ребенка. Душила она, не Сергей. Душила, будучи беременной, будущей матерью. Потом мы увидим, что ее собственный ребенок ничего для нее не значил. Но что это за человек? В ее иерархии ценностей человеческая жизнь - ничто, на первом месте даже не любовь, сложно назвать ее чувства любовью, это нездоровая страсть, даже похоть, которая сильнее даже материнского инстинкта, сильнее женской гордости, сильнее здравого смысла. Сергей - тоже чудовище, но с другой иерархией ценностей. Если Катерина Львовна - персонаж самобытный, встречающийся один на сотню, то Сергей - очень и очень распространенный даже и сейчас тип героев-любовников, когда приятное с полезным нужно непременно объединить, если "любить", то обязательно с выгодой. В раскрытии характера этой низкой душонки, такой распространенной, Николай Семёнович был необыкновенно проницателен.
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This is a wonderful collection of four stories about the little people of Russia (serfs, manual labourers, monks, etc.) in the middle of the nineteenth century. The characters are at least two levels down in the social hierarchy from the Great Nobles portrayed by Tolstoy and at least one level down from the lower nobility and bourgeois who appear in Dostoyevsky's works. Thus it affords a great way for the reader to round out the picture of nineteenth century society by Russia's two most famous writers of the period.
The most brilliant story in the collection is Lady McBeth au Village that provided the story line for Dmitri Chostakovitch's great opera Lady Macbeth du district de Mtsensk. Lady McBeth is a story of savage love that justifies the cost of buying the book on its own. For history buffs, I would also recommend l'Ange Scellé which describes the 'old-believer' movement. You may also want to read the other two stories if the first two have really hooked you. -
3.5
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Un autor pe care mă bucur că l-am descoperit.
Scurt și la obiect, povestitor autentic. -
Сильная и страстная женская натура, восприимчивая к голосу не разума, а своей женской сути. Загадочная и сильная внутренне и внешне.
Катерина, конечно, персонаж морально уродливый, но привлекательный своей силой страсти и женской похоти. Страшно такую встретить, но и пропустить и не увидель столь сильную личность было бы непростительно.
Я думаю, что Лесков заслуживает нелестные отзывы, описывающие его как писателя - пан-славяниста, но его чуткость в восприятии женской страсти, природы, красоты естества пейзажа завораживает. За его недосказанностью скрывается страсть столь бурная, что порой становится страшно, как человеческое тело способно такую страсть в себе сдерживать.
Katerina is truly a Russian character, not because she is so extremely morally perverted, but because she could be understood only by those who are either Russians , or are familiar with the Russian culture. The author does a wonderful job portraying her as a powerful, passionate and impulsive character. She is totally deaf to the voice of her mind, but very susceptible to the voice of her feminine biological self. She is mysterious (not enigmatic, though - Katerina emanates too much clout to call her enigmatic) and extremely strong inside and outside. She is surely a morally ugly character, but she has the gravitational pull of her passion and feminine bitch-like lust.
The author's ear is finely-tuned to perceive and verbalize the passionate nature of a woman, the beauty and physicality of landscape.
Leskov is not verbose, but, on the contrary, extremely concise; his brevity and concision hide the impulsive passion. And you can hardly believe that a human body can harbor and contain the passion of this magnitude.
An engrossing read.
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A collection of five short stories from 19th century Russian writer Nikolai Leskov. Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is the most well known of them, and the source for Shostakovich's opera of the same name. As a story it stands above the others, surprising in the brutally and wanton sexuality of the main characters. The other stories are a bit of a mixed bag, one being almost a conversation between two middle class ladies on the merits, or otherwise, of Tolstoy. It is one of those books that leaves you with the conundrum of whether the original works are rather staccato and workaday, or whether the translator has let the author down a bit. When the introduction pleads that "Leskov is difficult to translate" you suspect it is a bit of both.
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men ain't shit
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Жестячок в лучших традициях русской классики. Тут вам и любовь, и измены, и убийства в особо крупных количества, и месть. И все это одна молодая дамочка, заскучавшая в селе. Скука вещь страшная...
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Великолепнейший язык! Насколько захватывает! Но до чего же чернуха 😅
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Я даже не знаю что сказать. Книга о женщине, Львовна) у нее было очень скучный жизни, ничего не делать пока муж (которого не любила) работает, встретиться с молодым человеком, и у нее такой любовь будет, что она готова дать все что может...
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Я взялся за этот сборник ради "Леди Макбет", потому что хотел прочесть повесть до знакомства с недавней экранизацией, но настоящей его жемчужиной оказался совсем другой рассказ - "Очарованный странник". Душераздирающая повесть об Иване Головане пронизывает насквозь (особенно в самой, на мой взгляд, важной своей части - трагической истории невыразимой красоты, адских качелей любви и ненависти и смертельной ревности) так, что к горлу подкатывает ком, а на глазах наворачиваются слезы. Автор очень внимательно пишет и о религии, составляющей основу сущности его героев, в этом смысле особенно примечателен "Несмертельный Голован".
Но и дру��ие рассказы заслуживают не меньшего внимания. Лесков невероятно живо передает дух эпохи; его стоит почитать хотя бы для того, чтобы лучше понимать исторический контекст. Мир "Братьев Карамазовых" я теперь чувствую и представляю себе куда ярче, чем раньше. -
The problem with this book is that I found the title story so engrossing that the other stories paled by comparison. While I did finish book, I found the other stories not as engrossing. Some of them seemed to long But considering how powerful and engrossing I found the first story, my view is slightly colored by that.
In the title story, Leskov details how a woman becomes a version of Lady Macbeth, and yet he gives her sympathy. It is really great. -
this is difficult to judge because it is a collection of stories and i'm obviously not going to enjoy every single one. i really liked lady macbeth and pamphalon the entertainer. the others not so much.
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"Nesses sons infernais, que dilaceram a alma e completam o horror do quadro, ecoam os conselhos da mulher do Jó bíblico: 'Amaldiçoa o dia do teu nascimento e morre'.
Aquele que não quer dar ouvidos a semelhantes palavras, que não acalenta a ideia da morte nem mesmo nessa situação deplorável, mas a teme, esse precisa tentar abafar suas vozes ululantes com algo ainda mais horrendo que elas. Isso o homem simples compreende perfeitamente: então ele dá asas a toda sua simplicidade animal, começa a fazer bobagens, a zombar de si mesmo, das pessoas, dos sentimentos. Já sem ser especialmente delicado, torna-se excepcionalmente mau." -
Este greu de apreciat cartea pentru că este o colecție de povești și evident că nu m-am bucurat de fiecare. Mi-au plăcut povestirile Lady Macbeth din Mțensk și O voință de fier, pe care le-am notat cu 4, iar celelalte cu 2 🌟
Prima povestire descrie viața plictisitoare a unei soții de negustor și cum se dezlănțuie când face pasiune mistuitoare pentru un argat chipeș, iar șirul de crime comise te șochează.
A doua povestire descrie soarta unui german stabilit în Rusia accentul fiind pus pe voința de fier nemțească, care urma principiul “să-ți fii stăpân ție însuți și atunci devii stăpân pentru ceilalți”. Dar în simplitatea rusească voința de fier era motiv de glumă și de haz. Această ciocnire de civilizații va avea un sfârșit tragicomic.
Problema cu această carte este că am găsit povestea din titlu atât de captivantă, încât celelalte povești au pălit prin comparație.
O mare parte din conținutul acestor povești pare destul de plat sau naiv.
Povești care decurg din unele trepte ale societății ruse de la sfârșitul secolului al XIX-lea - în ceea ce privește tipurile de oameni pe care îi întâlnim: negustori, meșteri, țărani și anume cu apetitul personajelor de cădere și înălțare, a dorințelor întunecate și a ambițiilor niciodată împlinite. Povești fără nimic demn de remarcat sau memorabil despre ele.
Posibil ar fi o operă cum consideră unii, dar pentru mine relatarea poveștilor cumva este superficială, parcă scrisă la repezeală, uneori contextul nu se potrivește perfect, nu formează o imagine cuprinzătoare.
Unica ce mi-a plăcut că subiectele sunt relatate cu umor și ironie, deși o mare parte din situațiile hazlii este în detrimentul victimelor.
“Una e iubirea pentru tată, iar pentru soț e alta. Un soț care dorește să fie fericit este dator să aibă grijă să își poată respecta soția, iar pentru asta trebuie să îi ocrotească dragostea și respectul pentru părinți.” -
very inspiring
жалко только, что она не всех убила :( -
Me gustan mucho los autores rusos. De Nikolai S. Leskov no había leído nada hasta que me encontré con este libro en una librería de segunda mano de Madrid por un euro. En realidad se trata de dos noveletas o cuentos largos. El primero es el de Lady Macbeth de Mtsensk y el segundo, El pensador solitario. La primera es la que más me gustó, sin duda. El tema es la infidelidad - tema recurrente en los grandes escritores de la época - y la pérdida de los valores morales. La protagonista es una mujer burguesa y apasionada que pierde todo sentido de la moral al grado de arrastrarla a asesinar a su marido, su suegro y hasta su sobrino para poder estar con su amante, uno de sus empleados. Destaca la habilidad de Leskov como uno de los grandes narradores rusos del siglo XIX para describir la apatía de Catalina Lvovna por casi cualquier cosa que no fuera el sexo, su paulatino deterioro de la moralidad y las consecuencias trágicas de sus crímenes. La preocupación por la moralidad y las cuestiones religiosas, características que permearon su obra, son más que claras en los dos relatos. Su estilo es sobrio y sazonado con tintes satíricos hacia la clase alta de la época. En la primera novela también encontramos una inclinación hacia lo sobrenatural en los sueños de Catalina y en las sombras que los amantes asesinos ven antes de ser descubiertos, lo que premoniza su castigo posterior. Me gustó también esas disquisiciones sobre las costumbres rusas porque para los lectores extranjeros aportan elementos para situarnos en contexto, aunque son una distracción no muy deseable. Me quedo con las ganas de leer más sobre este autor, por ejemplo, La pulga de acero, quizá su mejor obra corta.
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Five sides to 19th-century life and fantasy in Russia by its best novella writer: Leskov's political views changed over his lifetime, but not his social insights and abilities. ''Musk-Ox'' (1863) tells of a man so strange that no one can understand him. ''Lady Macbeth'' (1866-72), well, obviously, and a ghastly Russian tale he makes of it. ''The Sealed Angel'' (1873) encompasses the building of a bridge, and how the construction feat brings something of a bridge between the Orthodox and their despised Old Believers, partly through a battle over an icon, but the main point is how and why the "agel" (demon) of life can be turned, if you're lucky, into an "angel". ''Pamphalon'' (1887) takes us to the exotic Middle East, but again looks at religious differences in the Russia of the day. ''A Winter's Tale'' (1894) jumps back to a modest Russian drawing room and Leskov's sad impression that Russian moral sense hasn't advanced in the previous 50 years. All I can say to those who give this book low points is that if they want a plain old bedtime story, these won't help. They amount almost to a university course in the state of a nation's social and religious beliefs 150 years ago.
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It is not easy to compete with the likes of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Leskov is a bit forgotten or overlooked next to these giants, but he is well worth the time to read. His style is clear and precise, yet, manages to be somewhat mystifying all the same. A wonderful author whose short stories genuinely feel like they contain the contents of a full novel.
This edition includes the stories ”Musk-ox”, ”Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, ”The sealed angel”, ”Pamphalon the entertainer”, and ”Winter’s day”
Musk-Ox
A thoughtful but rather melancholy tale of a true outcast to society. A learned man who, by appearances should fit right in, but who is just at eternal odds with the reality around him. A restless heart with no peace in sight.
”My good fellows! Troubled days are approaching, troubled days! The hour cannot be far off, for the false prophets come, and I hear their accursed and hateful voices. In the people’s name they will endeavor to lay snares for you and undo you. But do not fear their commmand and, if you feel not the strenght of oxen in your backs, accept not the yoke upon them. It is not a question of numbers. You won’t catch a flea with five fingers, but with one you will. I do not expect much of you. That isn’t your fault - the flesh is willing but the spirit is weak. I beh you, though, follow my one brotherly commandment: ”Do not tell lies!””
Lady Macbeth…
The title piece for a reason, a simple but rather haunting tale of passion, yearnings, callousness, greed, and desolation. The style is, as mentioned, simple but deceptively so. While not Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, Leskov has a very clear but distant authorial voice that invites the reader into such a dispassionate narration that it almost creates a sense of being there, of feeling a frustration and pain with the characters that their personal pain can never quite be told.
The sealed angel
I did really enjoy this one, however, the pain I felt with the Old Believers found the ending very jarring. At first I felt as though it was portraying compassion, then towards the end I felt cheated as suddenly I felt trapped in the didactic intention of refuting the Old Believers and having actually made something of a mockery of them throughout. As I am not one of them, I don’t know why I felt so wounded at this ”betrayal”, but days later I still feel a sting from it.
My favorite, though it had all the trappings of being my least favorite, was Pamphalon the entertainer
The journey for a well to-do man into extreme asceticism and isolation, to a aggrandized sense of self and accomplishment, to the spiritual and intellectual humbling through the journey of another… it was far more gripping that I imagined when I started. Sometimes it is worth taking the scenic route to a pretty evident but worthwhile morality tale.
”What did you say? You think nothing of ruining your soul for all eternity, merely in order to help someone during this brief life? Have you any idea what the furious frames of hell are like, the depths of the eternal night?”
The entertainer smiled and said, ”No. I know nothing about that.”
”That’s the way I’ve always adressed God in my mind: […] I shall simply be obedient to You and not attempt to discover what You are thinking - I shall simply take and fulfil that which Your finger has traced in my soul. And if I do evil, forgive me, because after all it was You who created me with a compassionate heart. It is by it that I live.”
”And in this fashion you hope to justify yourself?”
”Oh, I don’t hope for anything - I’m simply not afraid of anything.”
”I don’t know how I managed to do i: I just saw that you were in difficulty, and I wanted to help you as best I could. That’s the way I always did everything when I was on earth, and they’d the way Im going now to the other abode.”
Winter’s day
I barely know what to make of this. It made me think ”oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”. This is essentially a Winters day in a family home were secrets and ambitions abound, where ideologies clash, and where nothing is solved at the end. It is kind of like peaking in through a window and getting a glimpse of what the most salacious of neighbours get up to. I think it seems like a fair portrait of the times and the discussions in the air, and the behaviors not uncommon. The discussions with the single nurse-to-be Lydia felt quite modern. However, it did end with the (in modern terms) SA of a 13 year old boy and that made me feel… not great. I can’t even understand why it was included as it serves no point to the general plot. So yeah, before the last page or so, this was an interesting story, but the end ruined it for my modern sensibilities.
Oh, some interesting discussion on the contemporary reception on Tolstoy’s turn to moralizing as a writer and the divide between old and young readers in this regard.
Quote from Lydia in response to a hypothetical of being mistreated in work as a woman:
Lydia - ”I will feel sorry for a man who is treating me in such a cruel fashion just because I haven’t anymore fights than that, and for the simple reason that I haven’t been granted them.”
Tante - ”And you won’t feel you’ve been slighted?”
Lydia - ”Because of someone elses stupidity? Of course I won’t.”
Still a discussion to this day, lol
”Women who end up old maids always develop sour characters.”
”Only the ones who desperately wanted to be married and whom their temperament makes that way.”
”It has absolutely nothing to do with temperament; it’s rather that old maids are looked upon as rejects.”
”That’s how idiots view them; those with a bit of sense, however, look with a certain amount of respect on a mature woman who simply didn’t care to get married. I mean, even the Church approves of celibacy and spinsterhood. Or am I mistaken? Perhaps that isn’t so?”
I don’t know, feels like this ^^ is almost verbatim what you can see discussed on Youtube and podcasts even now! Fascinating!
A good collection, strongly recommended. -
أولا هذه أول تجربة لي مع الأدب الروسي
ولقد أحببته بالفعل فنيقولاي ليسكوف إستطاع أن يدخلني إلى روسيا بطقسها البارد والهدوء المخيم عليها أما بانسبة للرواية فلقد كنت أشفق على "كاترنا لفوفنا مسينك" لأنها لاتجد مؤنسا لها في منزل إسماعيليوف زوجها اللذي كان يغيب أياما بسب عمله في المطحنة وسررت عندما اصبحت تجمعها علاقة حميمية مع حارس المنزل الوسيم سيرغي رغم حزني على زوجها... ولكن حين قتلت حماها بالسم بعد أن كشف أمرها أصابني الذهول فكيف لإمرأة جميلة رقيقة كا كاترينا ان تقتل... هكذا بدم بارد ثم من بعد قتلها للسيد "بوريس" حماها... قتلت هي و سيرغي زوجها... ثم من بعد... كشف أمرها هي وسيرغي حين كانا يخنقان الطفل "ليامين" لكنها تلقت عقابا قاسيا في السجن بعد أن هجرها عشيقها سيرغي بشكل مروع وبدأت مشاكلها تكبر داخل السج وفي النهاية لم أكترث لإنتحارها وهي تحمل صديقة سيرغي الجديدة سونتيكا فوق كتفها لأنما يستحقان الموت في نظري
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Если персонажа Лескова поставить перед необходимостью убивать — он не станет задумываться. Его руки протянутся к мешающему объекту и без сожалений свернут тому голову. Прежде в меру мирные, они должны были понять, каким образом им добиваться желаемого. Мог Овцебык устроить кровавые разборки? Или баба из Жития переколоть вилами округу? Остановило Лескова понимание необходимости придерживаться правды. Овцебык и баба такого не совершали, а вот Леди Макбет из Мценского уезда хладнокровно убивала людей, ибо именно того требовало её умственное помешательство. Поэтому Лескову потребовалось проявить фантазию и отразить на страницах ход событий таким образом, чтобы сразу стало заметным нарушение в психическом здоровье главной героини.
(c) Trounin -
""The Musk-Ox" itself is certainly a unique story, but it doesn't really grab me.
"The Sealed Angel" is certainly fascinating, but more as a docudrama then as a story.
"Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" is probably the strongest story over-all, but I'm not sure how well the allusion holds.
"Pamphalon the Entertainer" would be the best story in the bunch were it not for the ridiculous ending.
"A Winter's Tale" is way too much wondering about a writer I don't particularly like.
On the whole I have to say that I understand why Leskov is somewhat forgotten. If this is a best of, it doesn't exactly demand that I read more." -
Leskov's stories are darkly humorous, with much of the humor at the expense of victims. There is a callousness here which made me uncomfortable. The anti-semitism was crude. The back cover refers to "... Leskov's strange, melancholy, but also worldly-wise yarns of an older, slower era." If being worldly-wise, makes one cynical, then I guess so. If an older, slower era meant more time for slander, intrigue and gossip, I guess so. The marching of prisoners on foot to Siberia, and those prisoners begging alms and having sex with each other along the way, was presented as the build up to the demise of the so-called Lady Macbeth.
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Интересное замечание:
"Сонетка имела вкус, блюла выбор и даже, может быть, очень строгий выбор; она хотела, чтобы страсть приносили ей не в виде сыроежки, а под пикантною, пряною приправою, с страданиями и с жертвами; а Фиона была русская простота, которой даже лень сказать кому-нибудь: «прочь поди» и которая знает только одно, что она баба. Такие женщины очень высоко ценятся в разбойничьих шайках, арестантских партиях и петербургских социально-демократических коммунах." - Лесков, Леди Макбет Мценс��ого Уезда -
This was an interesting read. In the introduction it was said that the translation was very difficult. I believe it! Particularly the last story was difficult to understand. I felt like I missed a lot of the context. I liked the Lady Macbeth story though - it was funny and very Russian, and I liked all the characters.
