home Botany book Analysis of the work "Lefty" (N. S. Leskov). Left-hander - a folk hero The problem of attitude to home left-hander

Analysis of the work "Lefty" (N. S. Leskov). Left-hander - a folk hero The problem of attitude to home left-hander

The main of my essay “Lefty - folk hero”(as well as the idea of N.S. Leskov’s tale itself) is an unquenchable faith in the Russian person, his decency, loyalty to the fatherland and incomparable skill. The personification of the collective image of the folk hero in the story of Nikolai Semenovich is the simple Tula master Levsha.

The proximity of the image of Lefty with folklore heroes

The image of Lefty in the work of Leskov echoes the heroes of the Russian folk art, where the generalized image personified characteristics, identity and aspirations of the Russian people. About Levsha's proximity to folk heroes says his namelessness. After all, we do not know either his name or any biographical data. The namelessness of the hero emphasizes the fact that in Russia there were many people of the same kind devoted to the state - unsurpassed masters and real sons of their land.

Individual features in the image of the Tula master

The hero has only two traits. The main feature is the unusual talent of the master. Together with Tula craftsmen, Lefty managed to create a truly wonderful invention by shoeing a miniature English flea. In addition, in this very difficult job, Lefty got the most difficult part of it - forging microscopic carnations for horseshoes.

The second individual trait of the hero is his natural feature - he is left-handed, which became the common name of the character. This fact, which simply shocked the British, only emphasizes his uniqueness - to be able to create such a complex invention without any special devices, and even being left-handed.

The problem of power and people in the story

The people and power in the tale "Lefty" is one of the problems that the author raises. N.S. Leskov contrasts two tsars - Alexander and Nicholas, in the era of whose reign the events of the work take place, in their attitude towards the Russian people. Emperor Alexander Pavlovich loved everything foreign and spent little time in his native country, because he believed that the Russian people were not capable of something great. His brother Nicholas, who followed him to the throne, had a completely opposite point of view, he believed in the true skill and dedication of his people.

The attitude of Nikolai Pavlovich to a simple Russian person is perfectly illustrated by the case of Lefty. When Platov could not understand what the invention of the Tula craftsmen consisted of, deciding that they had deceived him, he regretfully informed the tsar about this. However, the emperor did not believe and ordered to send for Lefty, expecting something incredible: “I know that mine cannot deceive me. Something beyond the concept has been done here. ”

And the Russian people in the image of Lefty did not disappoint the sovereign.

Simplicity and modesty, indifference to wealth and fame, namelessness of the character and great love for the motherland allow us to consider Lefty as a collective image of the Russian people in the work. The folk hero Levsha is the personification of the true soul of a simple Russian person, for whom the work of serving the fatherland, although it cost his life, managed to justify the trust placed in him and prove the power of skill.

Artwork test

In our time, when "Americanization" national culture is in full swing, when Hollywood consumer goods are ousting Russian films from the screens, and instead of “Pushkin and Gogol”, “Playboy” and “Bush legs” are brought from the market, it is especially useful to turn to Leskov’s satirical work.

The Tula Lieutenant, despite all the promises of the British, remains faithful to his ungrateful but dear homeland. The full title of the work sounds like this: “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea”.

The theme of the author's concern about the damage of bowing to foreigners prevails. In this narrative, Platov is contrasted with the comic image of the sovereign himself: “... And Platov immediately dropped right hand into his big trousers and drags out a rifle screwdriver. The English say: “It doesn’t open”, and he, not paying attention, well, pick the lock. Turned once, turned twice - the lock and pulled out. Platov shows the sovereign a dog, and there, on the very bend, a Russian inscription is made: "Ivan Moskvin in the city of de Tula." The British are surprised and push each other: oh-de, we gave a blunder! And the emperor sadly says to Platov: “Why did you embarrass them very much, I feel very sorry for them now. Let's go." They sat down again in the same double-height carriage and drove off, and the sovereign was at the ball that day, and Platov blew out an even larger glass of sour sour and slept sound Cossack sleep.

The left-hander has not yet appeared in the story, but the accents have already been placed, the comedic beginning has already been announced, the confrontation has been revealed. However, this is also done in the first paragraph, with the magnificent skill of a refined stylist: “He traveled all over the countries and everywhere, through his affectionateness, he always had the most internecine conversations with all sorts of people, and everyone surprised him with something and wanted to bow to their side, but He was the Don Cossack Platov, who did not like this inclination and, missing his household, kept beckoning the sovereign home. And as soon as Platov notices that the sovereign is very interested in something foreign, then all the escorts are silent, and Platov will now say: “So and so, and we have our own at home just as well,” and he will take something away.

The literary critic V. V. Protopopov, who visited Leskov, wrote down after him: “I love literature as a means that gives me the opportunity to express everything that I consider to be true and good; if I can’t do this, I no longer appreciate literature: to look at it as art is not my point of view ... ”At the same time, Leskov was ready to admit that even the lack of artistry is redeemed by the “nobility of the direction”. “Of course,” he added, “a harmoniously holistic combination of both is the highest level of creativity, but its achievement falls to the lot of only true masters, exacted by great talents.”

but, stretched, with household, road details. One paragraph sparkling with humor is enough for Leskov: “They drove in silence, only Platov will come out at each station and, out of vexation, drink a glass of leavened vodka, eat a salted lamb, light his root pipe, which immediately included a whole pound of Zhukov’s tobacco, and then sit down and sits next to the king in the carriage silently. The sovereign looks in one direction, and Platov sticks out the chibouk through the other window and smokes into the wind. So they reached St. Petersburg, and the emperor Platov did not take him at all to the priest Fedot. “You,” he says, “are intemperate in spiritual conversation and smoke so much that I have soot in my head from your smoke.” Platov was left with an insult and lay down at home on an annoying couch, and so he lay and smoked all the time.

In some ways, “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty” is similar to the stories of Zoshchenko. The same kind of folk, but somewhere parodic speech, the same outplaying outwardly not comical, but in the interpretation of the authors of very funny details.

For example, the transfer of a flea to the empress took one line in Leskov's presentation, where the empress turned out to be a funny poseur:

* “Empress Elisaveta Alekseevna looked at the flea beliefs and grinned, but did not engage in it.
* “Mine,” he says, “now it’s a widow’s business, and no fun is seductive to me.”
* The new sovereign, Nikolai, is clearly sympathetic to the author, in contrast to Alexander Pavlovich, who bowed to foreigners. And the story about him, without losing its humorous sound, acquires reverence:
* “The Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich did not forget anything, and as soon as Platov had finished talking about internecine conversations, he immediately asked him:
* - And what, how did my Tula masters justify themselves against the English nymphosoria?
* Platov answered in the way that seemed to him.
* - Nymphosoria, - says, - Your Majesty, everything is in the same space, and I brought it back, but the Tula masters could not do anything more amazing.
* The emperor replied:
* - You are a courageous old man, and this, what you report to me, cannot be.
* Platov began to assure him and told him how the whole thing had happened, and how he went so far as to say that the Tula people asked him to show the sovereign a flea, Nikolai Pavlovich clapped him on the shoulder and said:
* - Give it here. I know that mine cannot deceive me. Something beyond the concept has been done here.”

Well, then the action develops according to a well-known scenario. The left-hander, who “worked smaller than these horseshoes: he forged carnations with which the horseshoes were stuffed,” was sent abroad, where he calmly refuses offers to stay permanently, naively explaining his love for his homeland with habits and remaining relatives. When inspecting weapons factories, he draws Special attention on the care of the British for weapons - there the muzzle channels are not cleaned, as in Russia, with brick chips. This is important military information, and Lefty tends to go home. Then a drunkenness with a sailor (“They started betting back in the Tverdi-Earth Sea, and they drank until the Riga Dinaminde, but they all walked on an equal footing and did not concede to each other and were so neatly equal that when one, looking at the sea, saw how the devil climbs out of the water, so now the same thing has appeared to another.

so neatly equalized that when one, looking into the sea, saw how the devil was climbing out of the water, now the same thing was revealed to the other. Only the sub-skipper sees the feature of the redhead, and Lefty says that he is dark as a murine”), the hospital ...

And already before his death, the artisan asks: “Tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks: let them not clean ours either, otherwise, God forbid, they are not good for shooting.” They didn't say they didn't think it was necessary. “And if they brought Levsha’s words to the sovereign in due time, in the Crimea, in a war with the enemy, it would have been a completely different turn.”

In the 12th chapter, the author, as it were, summarizes what has been said. And it’s worth giving his “resume” at least partially, because you can’t say better: “Such masters as the fabulous Lefty, now, of course, are no longer in Tula: machines have evened out the inequality of talents and talents, and genius is not torn in the struggle against diligence and accuracy.

Favoring the rise of earnings, the machines do not favor artistic prowess, which sometimes exceeded the measure, inspiring popular fantasy to compose such fabulous legends as the present one. Workers, of course, know how to appreciate the benefits brought to them by the practical devices of mechanical science, but they remember the former antiquity with pride and love. This is their epic, and, moreover, with a very “human soul”.

Time has shown that the artist himself rose to this highest level of creativity, since it not only did not devalue the value of Leskov's bright and wise books, but, on the contrary, highlighted their depths. At a distance of a century, one sees more clearly the “harmoniously holistic combination” of art and thought, the very one that Leskov was denied for so long. And the creative heritage of the classic is becoming more and more necessary for us, contemporaries of the new century.

The left-hander - an unsightly little man, with his hair torn out "during his studies", dressed like a beggar - is not afraid to go to the sovereign, as he is sure that he is right, as his work. Once in England, he seeks to understand the military tricks of the British and serve the Fatherland. Lefty, who goes to England without documents, hastily dressed, hungry, to demonstrate Russian ingenuity and skill, is for the writer the embodiment of the idea of self-denial in the name of the glory of the Fatherland. It is no coincidence that the narrator conveys his conversations with the British, who are stubbornly trying to persuade Lefty to stay in England. The inflexibility of the hero commands the respect of the British.

Drawing a parallel with modern life I want to note that this problem remains relevant in our time. Our problems were indirectly described by Leskov in his contemporary form. From time to time, there are still “English” virtues who try to use our talents for the good of their homeland, but this, of course, is only a sign of the unscrupulous attitude of the authorities towards their people, for which the state should be very ashamed.
Excessive love for everything foreign, respect and hospitality shown to foreigners, often divert the eyes of our politicians from their own people, which often has a detrimental effect on people.

strong influence on people. This can be traced very accurately in the eighteenth chapter of the tale, where "the Englishman ... was brought to the embassy's house, ... they immediately called a doctor and a pharmacist to him ...", while a simple Russian left-hander "until morning ... was dragged along all the remote crooks and transplanted , so he was all beaten ... ".

Despite the tragic fate of the protagonist, the work also describes quite a few situations of a comic nature. The originality of the work is given by the unusual style and manner of the author's narration: simplicity, brevity, swiftness of action. Here immediately comes to mind the dispute between Lefty and the sub-skipper about who will drink more, when, walking on an equal footing, both at the same time saw multi-colored devils crawling out of the water. Very interesting descriptions. appearance Tula masters (“three people, ... one oblique left-hander, a birthmark on the cheek, and hair on the temples was torn out during teaching ...”), Left-handers (“... in op-rochki, one trouser leg in a boot, the other dangles, and an old ozyamchik, hooks they do not fasten, they are lost, and the collar is torn; but nothing, it will not be embarrassing").

With humor, Leskov describes the "spiral" formed from the "breathless work" "of the masters in their close mansion", from which " unaccustomed person with a fresh fad, and once it was impossible to breathe.

Also, the comicality of the story is given by the invention and wit of the author, which consists in the use of new words - foreign words, converted into Russian manners or mixed with native Russian expressions. Examples of such neologisms are the words: “tugoment” (“document”), “nymphosoria” (“ciliate”), “dolbitsa” (“table”), etc.

In his work, N. S. Leskov successfully synthesized many tragic and comic features, vividly and accurately expressing in them grief and joy, disadvantages and advantages, character traits and originality of the Russian people

Creating a wonderful image of the fabulous Lefty, Leskov relies on poetic traditions folk art, in which many samples of folk wisdom, inventive genius are sung. The author defined his tale about Lefty as “the epic of workers. This is a special legend expressing the pride of Russian gunsmiths.”

The image of Lefty himself is given by Leskov in a collective generalizing sense. That by Lefty the author meant the Russian people, he himself admitted this. In the explanation “On the Russian Lefty”, Leskov confirmed the idea expressed in the criticism that the Russian people should be seen in the image of the Lefty. “I will not dispute that such a generalizing thought is really not alien to my fiction.” one

Leskovsky Lefty is an ardent patriot, for whom the interests of the fatherland are above all. Even when dying, Lefty is most concerned with the thought of the Motherland and how to convey the secret to the tsar so that guns are not cleaned with bricks, otherwise, “God forbid, they are not good for shooting” (IV, 140). These national-patriotic motifs of Lefty echo similar motifs of The Enchanted Wanderer and other works of the writer. But Leskov, due to his ideological limitations, exalted Lefty’s backwardness, passing it off as national identity: “Our science is simple: according to the psalter and half-dream book, but we don’t know arithmetic at all” (IV, 131).

Despite the presence of some elements of reactionary tendentiousness, the tale of Lefty is undoubtedly one of the the best works Leskov. Images of eccentric heroes, artistic natures, talented masters of their craft, who turned their profession into high art, are also found in other works by Leskov.

Distinguishing properties prose by N.S. Leskov - fairy tale motifs, the interweaving of the comic and the tragic, the ambiguity of the author's assessments of the characters - fully appeared in one of the most famous works writer "Lefty". The title character, who does not stand out in any way outwardly ("a birthmark on the cheek, and hair on the temples torn out during training"), is at the same time, according to the author himself, the most skilled among the Tula gunsmiths. However, Leskov does not idealize the hero, showing that, despite his excellent skill, he is not strong in the sciences "and instead of the four rules of addition from arithmetic, he takes everything according to the Psalter and the Half Dream Book."

Lefty is a skilled artisan, one of those who participated in shoeing a flea, personifies the talent of the Russian people. But the savvy flea stops dancing: Russian craftsmen do not have the elementary technical knowledge that any English master has. Leskov does not give a name to his hero, thereby emphasizing the collective meaning and significance of his character (“Where “Levsha” stands, one must read the Russian people,” said Leskov). The left-hander, being in England, rejects the lucrative offers of the British and returns to Russia. He is disinterested and incorruptible, but he is "downtrodden", feels his own insignificance next to officials and nobles. Lefty is used to constant threats and beatings.

One of the main themes in the story is the theme of the creative talent of a Russian person, which has already been depicted more than once in the work of Leskov (the stories "Dumb Artist", "The Sealed Angel"). Talent, according to Leskov, cannot exist independently, it must necessarily be based on the moral, spiritual strength of a person. The left-hander, an unsightly little man, is not afraid to go to the sovereign, as he is confident in his rightness, in the quality of his work.

The image of the Lefty stands among other images of the righteous created by Leskov. He sacrifices himself for the sake of the Fatherland, in the name of the Cause. He travels to England without documents, hungry (on the road, “at each station, the belts were still tightened by one badge so that the intestines and lungs would not get mixed up”) to show Russian ingenuity and skill to foreigners, and earns the respect of the British with his unwillingness to stay in their country . The left-hander has a number of qualities inherent in the gallery of the righteous Leskov: he true patriot, a patriot at heart, gifted from birth, he is characterized by high morality and religiosity. He went through many trials, but even at the hour of his death, he remembers that he must tell the military secret of the British, ignorance of which negatively affects the combat capability of the Russian army.

In the inattention of the authorities to the fate of national talents, in the denseness and lack of education of the Russian people themselves, they constitute, according to Leskov, the reason for Russia's backwardness. It is interesting to compare Nikolai's conversation with Lefty, to whom the emperor condescends, and the meeting of the hero with the English, who respect the master in him, speak on equal terms. When Lefty returns to his homeland, he falls ill and dies, useless to anyone. Thrown on the floor in a "common" hospital, he personifies inhumanity, shortsightedness and ingratitude royal power- the reason for the disorder of Russia, according to the author.

From the whole story it becomes obvious that Leskov sympathizes with Lefty, pities him; the author's comments are filled with bitterness. The image of Lefty reflected Leskov's search for a positive hero, and, I think, this image is closest to this goal.

The specifics of Leskov's "Russian short story". Types of the righteous (“Man on the clock”, etc.)

In the stories The Man on the Watch (1887), A Simple Remedy (published 1917), Administrative Grace (published 1934) and many others, Leskov reveals the arbitrariness of the state apparatus of the autocracy, the unity of the reactionary forces in the fight against dissidents. Leskov's righteous people are not sympathizers, but fighters who give themselves to people; they are from the very thick of the people. M. Gorky wrote about this: "After the evil novel" On Knives " literary creativity Leskov immediately becomes a vivid painting or, rather, icon painting - he begins to create an iconostasis of her saints and righteous for Russia. He, as it were, set himself the goal of encouraging, inspiring Russia, exhausted by slavery ... In the soul of this man, confidence and doubt, idealism and skepticism were strangely combined "All these" righteous ", small simple heroes, do good deeds - from helping an individual to the legendary feat non-lethal Golovan. All of them are guided by their inherent sense of humanity. The heroes of other stories that are not included in this series are also close to the "righteous". Such is the officer who resigned because of his unwillingness to take revenge on the drunken Cossack who offended him (“Figure”, 1889); the porter Peacock, who goes to a fictitious death in order to free his wife, who has fallen in love with another, and continues to take care of her when the “new happiness” has passed (“Peacock”, 1874), etc.

The “righteous” lovingly portrayed by Leskov responded to the author’s thoughts about the role and significance of the inner moral principle, about the power of moral example as a means of combating social evil. The writer's gaze was constantly directed to inner world his heroes, whom he constantly divided into good and bad, depending on their moral qualities. “A good nature,” Leskov said, “will always remain good, in every connection and with every teaching” (XXV, 46).

The depiction of the “righteous” reflects Leskov’s erroneous tendency, according to which social evil can be overcome only through good deeds, the moral victory of small modest people, and not a radical reorganization of the socio-political system. But Leskov's "righteous people", asserting moral beauty, disinterested selfless service to people, in a peculiar form rejected the egoistic morality of bourgeois society, which Leskov passionately and sharply hated.

The writer often gave his "righteous" the features of a certain originality, eccentricity, isolation. About one of my early heroes Leskov said: “Dorimedont Vasilyevich Rogozhin, who received the nickname Donquixote, was an eccentric, of which there were few in the world even at that time, and in our stereotypical age, not a single one can be found” (XVII, 79).

In our time, when the “Americanization” of national culture is in full swing, when Hollywood consumer goods are crowding out Russian films from the screens, and instead of “Pushkin and Gogol”, “Playboy” and “Bush’s legs” are brought from the market, it is especially useful to turn to Leskov’s satirical work .

The theme of the author's concern about the damage of bowing to foreigners prevails. In this narrative, Platov is contrasted with the comic image of the sovereign himself: “... And Platov, at these words, immediately lowered his right hand into his big trousers and dragged a rifle screwdriver from there. The English say: “It doesn’t open”, and he, not paying attention, well, pick the lock. Turned once, turned twice - the lock and pulled out. Platov shows the sovereign a dog, and there, on the very bend, a Russian inscription is made: "Ivan Moskvin in the city of de Tula." The British are surprised and push each other: oh-de, we gave a blunder! And the emperor sadly says to Platov: “Why did you embarrass them very much, I feel very sorry for them now. Let's go." They sat down again in the same double-height carriage and drove off, and the sovereign was at the ball that day, and Platov blew out an even larger glass of sour sour and slept sound Cossack sleep.

It seems that it was in "Lefty", where the author used a non-standard style, that a high "harmonious combination" of artistry and direction was achieved. Here the sovereign and the Cossack Platov are going home, offended by each other. There are many ways to describe this trip. Laconically, in the style of a newspaper essay, stretched, with household, travel details. One paragraph sparkling with humor is enough for Leskov: “They drove in silence, only Platov will come out at each station and, out of vexation, drink a glass of leavened vodka, eat a salted lamb, light his root pipe, which immediately included a whole pound of Zhukov’s tobacco, and then sit down and sits next to the king in the carriage silently. The sovereign looks in one direction, and Platov sticks out the chibouk through the other window and smokes into the wind. So they reached St. Petersburg, and the emperor Platov did not take him at all to the priest Fedot. “You,” he says, “are intemperate in spiritual conversation and smoke so much that I have soot in my head from your smoke.” Platov was left with an insult and lay down at home on an annoying couch, and so he lay and smoked all the time.

For example, the transfer of a flea to the empress took one line in Leskov's presentation, where the empress turned out to be a funny poseur:

Well, then the action develops according to a well-known scenario. The left-hander, who “worked smaller than these horseshoes: he forged carnations with which the horseshoes were stuffed,” was sent abroad, where he calmly refuses offers to stay permanently, naively explaining his love for his homeland with habits and remaining relatives. When inspecting weapons factories, he pays special attention to the care of the British for weapons - there the muzzle channels are not cleaned, as in Russia, with brick chips. This is important military information, and Lefty wants to go home. Then a drunkenness with a sailor (“They started betting back in the Tverdi-Earth Sea, and they drank until the Riga Dinaminde, but they all walked on an equal footing and did not concede to each other and were so neatly equal that when one, looking at the sea, saw how the devil is climbing out of the water, so now the same thing has been announced to another. Only the sub-skipper sees the red-haired trait, and Lefty says that he is dark as a murine"), hospital ...

The left-hander - an unsightly little man, with his hair torn out "during his studies", dressed like a beggar - is not afraid to go to the sovereign, as he is sure that he is right, as his work. Once in England, he seeks to understand the military tricks of the British and serve the Fatherland. Lefty, who travels to England without documents, hastily dressed, hungry, to demonstrate Russian ingenuity and skill, is for the writer the embodiment of the idea of self-denial in the name of the glory of the Fatherland.

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Which is given in this article - one of the most famous and popular works of the author. Its full title is "The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea". The story was written in 1881, was included by the author himself in the collection "The Righteous".

The plot of the story

To give a full-fledged analysis of "Lefty" Leskov, you need to remember summary this work, in which real events are mixed with fictional ones.

At the very beginning of the tale, the action takes place in 1815, when Emperor Alexander I is on an official visit to England. He is shown various curiosities, perhaps most of all, his imagination is struck by a miniature flea made of steel, which can even dance. He buys it and brings it to Petersburg.

Then, a few years after his death, under the new emperor Nicholas I, a flea is found among the personal belongings of the deceased sovereign. Cossack Platov explains to everyone that this is an example of the art of the British, who have mastered all the wisdom of mechanics, but immediately notices that among Russian masters there are those who will do no worse.

Nikolai Pavlovich, confident in the superiority of domestic craftsmen, instructs Platov to go to the Don, stopping by one of the Tula factories on the way. There, the ataman will have to find among the local craftsmen those who could challenge the British.

Arriving in Tula, Platov calls the three most famous gunsmiths, among whom is the artisan, whom everyone calls Levsha. He shows them a flea and asks them to figure out how to beat the British. On the way back, Platov takes Levsha with him, and he still continues to work on the order. It turns out that the Tula gunsmiths were able to use tiny horseshoes.

Lefty Award

The Petersburg court is delighted with the resourcefulness of Russian craftsmen. The left-hander is awarded an award, and the emperor sends him to England. Master Levsha himself is also going to Britain. Abroad, he visits factories, learns about the organization of labor. He even offers to stay with them, but he refuses.

On the way back to Russia, Lefty makes a bet with the half-skipper who will outdrink whom. In St. Petersburg, half the skipper is promptly taken to a hospital for the rich, where they provide timely assistance, and Lefty, having drunk too much, dies in a hospital for the poor.

Just before his death, he gives the doctor the secret of cleaning trunks by the British, which he learned during the trip. The left-hander asks to tell the authorities not to clean the guns with bricks, otherwise they will not be suitable for shooting at all.

But the doctor failed to fulfill this order, the Minister of War does not want to listen to the doctor, advising him to mind his own business. Leskov concludes his work with a disappointing conclusion that it was precisely because of the improper cleaning of guns that the Crimean War. Listen to all Lefty, the outcome could have been completely different.

Analysis of the story

In the analysis of "Lefty" by Leskov, it should be noted that this work is dedicated to the most ordinary ordinary people. It was first published in the magazine "Rus". Leskov himself in the preface called it a tale and a "gunsmith's legend", but then removed these designations, as critics and readers took them too literally.

At the same time, the author deliberately stylizes his story like a tale. Leskov himself called "Levsha" a folk legend, probably because he tried to draw the reader's attention to the development of the plotline, making the hero look like the characters of ancient Russian epics. Most likely, the fact that Leskov tried to create the appearance of his non-involvement in this story in order to make it more popular and believable also played a role. This must be taken into account when analyzing Leskov's "Lefty".

Genre of the work

When compiling an analysis of Leskov's work "Lefty", you need to decide on its genre. Most literary scholars are inclined to believe that this is a clear critical realism, although in the story one can find fairy tale motifs.

The fact that the author focuses on the problems of the national character of the Russian person speaks in favor of the realism of the work. He refers to them the difficulties of the life of an ordinary worker, even highly qualified, like Lefty, autocracy, the opposition of the patriarchal world, in which the Russian tsar rules, Western civilization, which by that time had stepped far ahead. When analyzing Leskov's story "Lefty", one should note the main distinguishing features of the work, and this is the interweaving of the tragic and the comic, reality and fairy tales.

writing style

In the analysis of the work of N. S. Leskov "Lefty" it is always noted that it is a real storehouse of Russian dialects. At the same time, in this story one cannot meet the elegant expressions with which Pushkin or Turgenev saturated their language. Leskov deliberately emphasizes simplicity so that the story is closer to the people. By the language of his characters, one can immediately distinguish a worker from a sovereign, he emphasizes with this difference the problem of social inequality, stratification between the lower and higher levels of society. That is the essence of this work.

Composition

In the analysis of Leskov's story "Lefty" it should be noted that the key is opposition. For example, a prose writer makes it clear how different Russian and English life was, what difference existed in our country between ordinary people and the pinnacle of power.

Leskov gradually reveals the portrait of the sovereign, giving a sense of the attitude that the emperor has towards his subordinates.

Characteristics of heroes

In the analysis of "Lefty" Leskov, the main characters need to be given special attention. The left-hander personifies the main thing that is in a Russian person - this is talent and hard work. The author portrays his key character as national hero and a righteous man who is ready to sacrifice even his own life for the good of the Fatherland.

The main features that distinguish this person are patriotism, high morality and religiosity. He is not interested in the lucrative job offers that the British make, he does not stop thinking about the Motherland. But when he returns to native land, immediately becomes seriously ill and dies, being completely useless to anyone.

Giving a brief analysis of Leskov's "Lefty", it must be emphasized that not only the main character has received increased attention. In addition to the problem of the unhappiness of a gifted person, which Leskov raises in this story, he writes about the opposition of an ordinary worker to a sovereign. Evidence of this can be found in many episodes.

For example, in the scene of Lefty's conversation with the emperor, the head of state deliberately demonstrates that he is doing a great favor to the worker, condescending to talk with him. After that, the scene of the meeting of the main character with the English masters, who are simple Russians without a hint of arrogance, is indicative. In this antithesis, Leskov demonstrates the conflict of social strata, which had long been outlined in Russia by that time.

Problems of the story

Raises Nikolai Leskov and other problems in his work. This is the indifference of the authorities to their subjects, the low level of education of the majority of representatives of the Russian people, the economic and cultural backwardness of Russia from Western countries. All these problems were very relevant in our country in late XIX century, when the work saw the light. Leskov believes that it is in inattention higher ranks to problems ordinary people lies the main problem due to which so many people in Russia live unhappily.

At the same time, many modern researchers note that most of the topics raised by Leskov remain relevant today, despite the fact that more than a hundred years have passed since the publication of this story. Leskov's story is very complex in content, but it provides answers to most of the most pressing questions.