#leskov

[libriaco]

I Russi

Questa strana gente nella quale di solito predominano due passioni: la pigrizia e l'amor proprio, ma in cui talvolta si trova una riserva di allegra spensieratezza e un'indifferenza verso se stessi tipicamente russa.

N. Leskov, [Овцебык - Ovcebyk, 1863], Il Pecorone, in Il viaggiatore incantato e altri racconti, Roma, La biblioteca di Repubblica, 2004 [Trad. D. Cavaion]

[nagyoncringe]

Szánj meg, kedvesem, lelki testvérem: döfd a késed a szívembe.

[singt0me]

bikolai lanstov doing the absolute Most and shooting his shot to convince malina to let him be their third 

[theconstantnymph]

Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, 1989

[derangedrhythms]

I feel what a thing love is and how it sucks at my heart like a black serpent.

Nikolai Leskov, The Enchanted Wanderer and Other Stories; from ‘The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’, tr. Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky

[sivavakkiyar]

Nikolai Leskov, trans. Robert Chandler

[rainbow-vals]

The Kings of Ravka ladies & gentlemen

[nicolenag2008]

Nikolai Leskov: The Forgotten Genius of Russian Literature

When we talk about Russian literature, names like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky dominate the conversation. But in the shadow of these literary giants lies another masterful storyteller—Nikolai Leskov. If you haven’t heard of him, don’t worry; many haven’t. Yet, his work offers a vibrant and often humorous perspective on Russian life that stands out from the philosophical and psychological intensity of…

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Rough sketch- Boris’ death, “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District”

[rknchan]

*wannabe lady macbeth but fails miserably*

[libriaco]

Che gente!

«Buona gente, buona gente russa!»

N. S. Leskòv, [Очарованный странник, Ocarovannyj strannik, 1873], Il viaggiatore incantato e altri racconti, Milano, La Repubblica, 2004 [Trad. D. Cavaion]

[andromerot]

In every case the storyteller is a man who has counsel for his readers. But if today “having counsel” is beginning to have an old-fashioned ring, this is because the communicability of experience is decreasing. In consequence we have no counsel either for ourselves or for others. After all, counsel is less an answer to a question than a proposal concerning the continuation of a story which is just unfolding. To seek this counsel one would first have to be able to tell the story. (Quite apart from the fact that a man is receptive to counsel only to the extent that he allows his situation to speak.) Counsel woven into the fabric of real life is wisdom. The art of storytelling is reaching its end because the epic side of truth, wisdom, is dying out. This, however, is a process that has been going on for a long time. And nothing would be more fatuous than to want to see in it merely a “symptom of decay,” let alone a “modern” symptom. It is, rather, only a concomitant symptom of the secular productive forces of history, a concomitant that has quite gradually removed narrative from the realm of living speech and at the same time is making it possible to see a new beauty in what is vanishing.

Walter Benjamin, The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov

[dk-thrive]

Just now you remarked that I seemed broody today, but you don't reflect that I may not be able to help it. It may be that my heart has drowned in its own blood.

Nikolai Leskov, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk: Selected Stories of Nikolai Leskov (trans. David McDuff) (NYRB Classics, October 13, 2020)

[abatelunare]

Tutta la sua vita fu limpida come cristallo e seducente come una leggenda e la sua morte piena di un delizioso e denso mistero (Nikolaj Semënovic Leskov, Una famiglia decaduta).

[theconstantnymph]

Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, 1989

[derangedrhythms]

He made her fall so in love with him that her devotion to him knew no measure. She was out of her mind with happiness; her blood boiled, and she could no longer listen to anything.

Nikolai Leskov, The Enchanted Wanderer and Other Stories; from ‘The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’, tr. Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky