N. S. Leskov, "The Enchanted Wanderer": a summary of the chapters, analysis and reviews

Leskov’s rich work, although not without its contradictions, is distinguished by its artistic and aesthetic value. His works combine realism and a romantic dream. They are distinguished by a mass of concrete, sometimes documentary details, naturalistic sketches and a deep generalization of recreated paintings. A vivid example of this is Leskov’s story “The Enchanted Wanderer,” a summary of which is presented in this article.

Writer's work

In his works, Leskov represented unknown areas of life, forcing the reader to look at the whole Russian world. He narrated both about the “departing self-witted Russia” and about contemporary reality. Having served literature for more than thirty-five years, he always remained a democratic artist and humanist. Leskov defended the dignity of man and advocated freedom of conscience, perceiving the man as a person who is unacceptable to sacrifice opinions and ideas. After reviewing in detail the brief content of Leskov’s “Enchanted Wanderer”, one can notice that in the artistic research the author searched for the truth and revealed a lot of beautiful and previously unknown to readers. Therefore, it is impossible to not appreciate his writing feat.

The writer's childhood passed in the village, and ancient legends and legends, peasant beliefs, which he heard from courtyards and nannies, were forever sunk into his memory. He always felt an interest in folk art, to appreciate the spirituality of the people without which it is impossible. Comprehension of the native country and communication with the people were born directly in communication. He knew Russian man and Russian history. He emphasized the heroic character of antiquity and the greatness of people's feats. Like no other Leskov could convey the inner world of a simple person. These include the wonderful works “At World's End”, “Soborians”, “Peacock”, “The Sealed Angel”, “The Enchanted Wanderer” (a very brief summary of the story is in this article).

The image of Russia

Leskov has always sought to serve the fatherland “with a word of truth and truth,” and each of his works is an artistic melody that is born on the basis of real events, appeals to the past and leads to thoughts about the future. For example, “The Enchanted Wanderer”, the story that will be discussed in this article, was written in the 19th century, but the time that the writer talks about is somewhat similar to our reality. The main image in it is Russia. But its author describes, revealing the characters of Russian people, the central characters of the story: Ivan Flyagin, prince, gypsy Gruni and others. In a brief summary of “The Enchanted Wanderer” by Nicolay Semenovich Leskov there will be an opportunity to get to know these heroes closer.

With his inherent skill Leskov talks not only about people, but reveals traits of a Russian character. Sure, all people are different, but a nationwide trait is passivity. The author skillfully reveals the reason for this by the example of a simple Russian peasant Flyagin. The plot of the story is a description of the life of Ivan and the trials that fell to his lot. He was born into a peasant family and is intended to serve God. Ivan committed serious crimes, not wanting this, repenting with all his heart, reproaching himself for sins. The murder of a monk and a beloved woman was accidental, in fact, he committed them under the influence of evil rock and was not guilty. In the end, he becomes a monk and cleansed of sins. Flyagin found reassurance, found quiet happiness in the monastery.

In the "Enchanted Wanderer" by N. S. Leskov (a brief summary in this article) lies a deep meaning. On the example of his heroes, Leskov showed Russia. Suffering, unhappy, constantly fighting evil rock, like Ivan Flyagin. Loving and romantic, young and freedom-loving, like a gypsy Grunya. The rich prince loved her and wanted to make his wife against her will. Having made himself fall in love, the dishonest prince eventually abandoned her. Unhappy, loving and free Grunya. There is no more accurate description for the image of Russia. The fate of the girl is sad - Grunya died, but remained free. Often the writer's political views turned into a heavy drama - his works were misinterpreted and caused a storm of condemnation and criticism. But the writer, with his keen interest in Russian culture and a subtle sense of folk life, created an amazing and unique art world.

Writing history

Researchers of Leskov’s work claim that the “Enchanted Wanderer” was conceived by the author after a trip to Lake Ladoga in 1872. He completed work on it in 1873. Initially, the work was called “Black Earth Telemac,” and the author himself said that this was not a story, but a story. A summary of the Enchanted Wanderer is below, and now you are reading the story of the creation of the work, which the author sent to the Russian Bulletin, where he was refused. Having made corrections to the text and changing the name to “The Enchanted Wanderer”, the author sent the manuscript to the “Russian World”, and she was published in 1873. The first publication was dedicated to Sergey Egorovich Kuleshov. But subsequently it was removed. A separate edition of The Enchanted Wanderer came out in 1874. The prototype of the owner of Ivan, Count K., is the cruel and wasteful Count S. M. Kamensky, the number of courtyards he reached up to 400 people.

New passenger

We begin the summary of the “Enchanted Wanderer” with an acquaintance with the passengers of the ship going along Lake Ladoga to Valaam. The ship is mooring at the pier in Korel. Many passengers went ashore and went out of curiosity to the old Russian village, after visiting which, of course, we were talking about it. Inclined to philosophical judgments, the passenger noticed that for some reason it was customary for people who were objectionable in St. Petersburg to send off to the treasury somewhere, although there was Korela near the capital.

Soon a new passenger of a strong physique joined the conversation. And, apparently, the simple-hearted and kind stranger was preparing to become a monk. At first glance it was clear that in his lifetime this man had seen a lot. He introduced himself as Ivan Severyanich Flyagin, and shared with his interlocutors that he traveled a lot and got into such troubles that he “died and could not die” several times. They persuaded him to talk about it.

The prediction of the old monk

We continue the summary of the “Enchanted Wanderer” from the story of Flyagin about himself. He was born and raised in the Oryol province in a serf family. Father was a coachman, and from childhood, Ivan knew everything about horses that he could know. When he grew up, he began to carry the count, just like his father. Once, the cart, in which the old monk dozed off, did not give way to him. Ivan, bypassing him, pulled a whip on the back of the monk. That awake fell off the cart under the cart wheels and died. The case was hushed up, but the monk appeared in a dream and predicted that Ivan would die, but not die, and then he would go to the monks.

The prediction immediately began to come true. He drove the gentlemen along a steep road, and the brake burst at the crew in the most dangerous place. The front horses had already fallen into the abyss, and they managed to hold back the rear ones, rushing to the drawbar. Gentlemen Ivan saved, but he flew into the abyss. Only a miracle saved Ivan - he fell on a clay block and rolled to it to the very bottom of the abyss like a slide.

Ivan Escape

Soon, Ivan brought in a stable of pigeons. But the cat got into the habit of carrying pigeons, he caught it and chopped off its tail. The maid came running, the cat was the master, began to scold Ivan and hit him on the cheek. He drove her away. Ivan was flogged and sent pebbles for paths in the garden to hammer with a hammer. The summary of the “Enchanted Wanderer” cannot convey how difficult and tedious the work is. But Ivan was tired of crawling on his knees all day, completely became unbearable, and he decided to hang himself. I went to the forest and jumped from a tree with a rope around my neck. Gypsies cut her, who appeared from nowhere. He invited Flyagin to escape from the masters and engage in horse-stealing. Ivan did not want to steal, but it was also impossible to return.

That very night they took the best horses out of the stables and rode off to Karachev. The horses were sold, for which Ivan received only the ruble. Ivan quarreled with the gypsy, on this they parted. Ivan made a leave of absence for himself and went to work with the master, from whom his wife escaped, leaving her little daughter. So they assigned Ivan a nanny to her. Ivan drove the girl along the seashore and watered goat's milk. But once a monk appeared to him in a dream and said that Ivan still had to endure a lot, and showed a vision of the steppe and galloping horsemen. To the girl, the mother began secretly from the master to walk and persuade Ivan to give her a daughter for good money. But he did not want to deceive the master.

At auction

We continue the summary of the “Enchanted Wanderer” from the scene on the seashore. The new husband of the lady came to Ivan and started a fight. Ivan regretted his mother, and gave her a girl. I had to run with them. I got to Penza, where they gave Ivan two hundred rubles, and he went off to look for a new place. Across the river was a brisk bargaining of horses. On the last day of the auction, they drove for sale a white mare of extraordinary beauty and agility. A dispute arose between two noble Tatars over her - none of them wanted to concede. They sat opposite each other and began to whip one another - whoever first surrendered, he lost. The winner got the mare, and Ivan got angry - he wanted to participate in such a contest.

They brought a Karak stallion to the market, a hundred times better than that mare, and Ivan went with the Tatar to fight. In the end, his opponent fell dead. The Tatars had no complaints - there was an honest dispute, but the Russian police came to arrest him. Ivan had to flee with the Tatars to Ryn-sands.

Life in the steppe

Starting with the sixth chapter, a brief summary of the “Enchanted Wanderer” tells about the life of Ivan in the steppe. Tatars took him for a doctor. Everything would be fine, but his longing for Russia began to torment him. I tried to run away, but they caught him and “bristled” - they cut the skin on the foot and stuffed a horse’s chopped mane there. Horse hair pricked his leg like a needle, and had to move, only twisting his leg. They did not offend him anymore, they even gave two wives. Five years later, they sent him to the neighboring horde to "heal", and they took him with them a "skilled doctor" and gave him the other two wives. Of all the wives, Ivan had children whom he did not consider his own, since they were unbaptized.

Longing for the homeland tormented me more and more. Ivan chewed on hard horse meat and recalled his native village: on God's holiday, kill ducks and geese, and the priest walks home, gathers refreshments and drinks a glass of wine. Ivan had to live unmarried with the Tatars, you look, and he will die not in full. He crawled out for yurts and prayed in a Christian way.

Fire from the sky

Once Ivan heard that Christian preachers came to the Tatars. The ninth chapter of The Enchanted Wanderer tells of this. The summary cannot convey the joy of Ivan - a spark of hope lit up in his heart. He found preachers, fell at his feet, so that they would take him from the Tatars. But they did not have money to redeem Ivan, and they are not allowed to frighten the infidel king. Ivan then found one of the preachers killed, and a cross was carved on his forehead. The Tatars did the same with a person who spreads the Jewish faith.

Soon two strange people came with drawers and began to frighten the Tatars with the “god Talafa”, who cast fire from heaven. And that very night a colorful fire began to pour from the sky. Ivan immediately realized that it was a firework and, picking up these tubes, he began to start the lights himself. The Tatars, who had never seen fireworks, fell to their knees. Ivan made Nekhristei to be baptized, and then noticed that the “caustic earth” of fireworks burns the skin. He began to put it at his feet, until the horse stubble came out.

He fled from the Tatars, for the sake of wit, "giving them" a new firework. Tatars did not dare to pursue him. Ivan passed the entire steppe, reached Astrakhan. Ivan washed down on his native land. He got into the police, and they took him to the estate of his count. Pop Ilya excommunicated Flyagin from the church for three years - for polygamy in the steppe. The count did not dare to endure the innocent beside himself, ordered him to be carved and put into quitrent.

Gypsy Grunya

We continue the summary of the "Enchanted Wanderer" Leskov. Chapter ten tells of the inventiveness of Ivan. He went to the fair and began to help there with advice to peasants deceived in equestrian trade. Ivan gained great fame and was taken by one noble prince to his assistants. For three years he lived with the prince, earning good money. The owner entrusted Flyagin and his savings, because he often played cards. And Ivan stopped giving him money. Ivan suffered only from temporary binges. And before drinking, he, in turn, gave the prince money.

Once pulled Ivan to "drink", and the prince at that time was not in the city. There was no one to give money. By evening, he had accumulated so much that he barely remembered himself. Ivan was all afraid that the drinking companion would rob him and felt for the package in his bosom. When they left the tavern, he brought Ivan to a house and disappeared.

On the further adventures of Ivan tells the thirteenth chapter of the "Enchanted Wanderer" Leskov. We continue the summary with the story of the meeting of Ivan with the gypsy Grusha. Ivan entered the house where the gypsies sang. A lot of people gathered here, and between them walked the extraordinary beauty of the gypsy Grusha. She treated the guests with champagne, and they put it on a tray of banknotes. The girl went to Ivan, and the rich began to turn their noses, saying, why did the man need champagne. Flagin, having drunk a glass, threw most of the money onto the tray. Then the gypsies put him in the front row. The gypsy choir sang and danced. A pear went with a tray, and Ivan one after another threw her a hundred rubles. Then he grabbed the remaining money in an armful and threw it on a tray.

The marriage of a prince

Ivan did not remember how he got home. The prince, returning in the morning, losing to the nines, began to ask Flyagin for money. He told him how he spent five thousand on a gypsy. Ivan admitted that he had been hospitalized with delirium tremens, and then went to the prince to repent. But he told him that when he saw Pear, he gave fifty thousand for her so that she would be released from the camp. The pear lived with the prince. She sang a sad song, and the prince sat and sobbed.

Soon Pear bored the prince. He began to travel often to the city, and Pear was worried, could the prince find anyone to himself? With the prince's former love, the fifteenth chapter of the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” introduces. We begin the summary with the story of Evgeny Semenovna. She had a daughter from the prince, and he bought them a tenement house so that they would not be in poverty. Once Ivan stopped by Evgeny Semenovna, and then the prince arrived. The hostess hid Ivan in the dressing room, and he heard all their conversation.

The prince persuaded her to mortgage the house and give him money - to buy a factory. But Evgenia Semenovna quickly realized that he did not want to buy a factory, but to marry the daughter of the manufacturer. She agreed, but asked, where will he go to Pear? The prince said that he would marry Ivan with Pear and build him a house. But the pear disappeared somewhere. They were preparing the wedding of the prince, and Ivan yearned for Pear. Once he was walking along the shore, suddenly a Pear appeared and hung on his neck.

Dangling, dirty, in the last month of pregnancy, Pear frantically repeated that she would kill the prince's bride. The gypsy told that once the prince invited her to ride in a carriage, but he deceived her - he took her to some house under the supervision of three girls. But Pear managed to escape from them. And here she is. The pear begged Ivan to kill her, otherwise she would destroy the prince's bride. Ivan Grushu pushed away, and she fell into the river and drowned.

To the monastery

Ivan ran wherever his eyes looked, and it seemed to him that Grushin’s soul followed him. Met on the way the old man with the old woman. I learned from them that they were taking their son to recruits, and asked for him instead. For fifteen years, Ivan fought in the Caucasus. The summary of the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” will not be able to tell about all the heroes of Ivan. But in one of the battles he volunteered to cross the river under the fire of the mountaineers in order to build a bridge. For this, Ivan was presented for a reward and given an officer rank. But this did not bring him prosperity. Ivan resigned, pushed himself to an office, and then went to the monastery, where he was identified as a coachman.

So ended Ivanovo ordeals. True, in the monastery, demons were at first bothered by demons, but he resisted them with prayers and fasts. He read "spiritual books" and prophesied of an imminent war. Hegumen sent him to Solovki as a pilgrim. On this trip, he met with his listeners. And he told them about his life with all sincerity. So the last, twentieth chapter of “The Enchanted Wanderer” and the summary are downloaded. Details about the hero, his misadventures, feelings and thoughts can only be found in the original.

Analysis of the work

Here, the skill of the narrator Leskov culminated. And since the narration is conducted in the first person, the author gave vent to verbal inventiveness. Events develop with breathtaking speed, the author talks about them at a fast pace, saturating with expressive and picturesque details. As one could see, having familiarized himself with the summary, Leskov’s “Enchanted Wanderer” is the life of an adventurer unwittingly full of unusual events. Whether he wants it or not, he, as bewitched, falls from one misfortune to another.

The hero of the story is a serf peasant who grew up on a lordly stable. The indefatigable life energy of this "natural man" pushes him at the very beginning of his life to reckless actions. The natural force, which, through his veins, “poured lively,” makes the young Flyagin related to the heroes of Russian epics, the resemblance to which the author mentioned from the first lines. Thus, Leskov noted that the character's character has roots in the life and history of the Russian people. But the heroic power has been dormant for a long time in Ivan Severyanych, and for the time being he lives outside of good and evil, his actions show heedlessness, which ultimately leads to the most dramatic consequences. Apparently, he is not particularly burdened by them, but the monk killed by him appears to him in dreams and predicts difficult trials.

Self awareness

"Enchanted hero" with his inherent artistry goes to a higher level of living. His characteristic sense of beauty is gradually outgrown only by inner experience, and is enriched by hot attachments to everything that makes him admire. The episode where he meets the gypsy Grunya perfectly represents the development of these feelings. A connoisseur of horses and a connoisseur of their beauty, he discovers a completely new "beauty" - the beauty of talent and women. The charm of this girl fully revealed the soul of Ivan. And he began to understand another person, feel someone else's suffering, learned to show brotherly love and devotion. He survived the death of Pear so hard that he became a “different person”.

In this, one might say, a new period of life, self-determination has replaced self-determination, raising it to a new moral purity. Now Ivan is only thinking about how to atone for his sins. Instead of a rookie, he goes to the Caucasus and serves valiantly. But he is still unhappy with himself. On the contrary, the voice of conscience sounds louder in him, and he feels himself a "great sinner." He calmly and simply tells random fellow travelers that he wants to "die for the people." The image of the “charmed hero” created by the author allows us to comprehend the future and present of the people. According to Leskov, a people is a baby who has an inexhaustible supply of strength, but hardly enters the historical scene. The concept of "artistry", which the author used to his hero, is associated not only with his natural talent, but also with a strength of character, and the awakening of the soul. In Leskov’s understanding, a true artist is a person who has overcome the primitive "I" in himself, in a word, who has overcome the "beast" in himself.

Genre-compositional features

"The Enchanted Wanderer" is a novel of complex genre character. This is a work in which motifs of a folk epos and ancient Russian biographies are used. This is a biography story made up of several separate episodes. The lives of the saints were built in a similar way; the same principle is also characteristic of adventure novels. By the way, the name of the story itself in the original version was stylized as philosophical novels. Ivan, like their characters, goes from sin to atonement and repentance. And as the hero of life, Flyagin goes to the monastery. But the departure from everyday ups and downs takes on far from predetermined meaning, but almost everyday life: Ivan remained “homeless and without food”, “there was nowhere to go,” and “went to the monastery”. Monasticism is not dictated by the choice of a hero, but by everyday necessity. Actually, the lives of the saints are aware of unexpected cases of God's providence.

Also, with the lives of the story bring together the visions of the hero. In one of them was the Solovetsky monastery, where the hero was heading. This is not mentioned in the summary of The Enchanted Wanderer. The prophetic dreams of Flagin and the “annoying demons” are reflected in detail in the original story. Another key point of the story goes back to the Old Testament story - the birth of Ivan through parental prayers, referring the reader to the birth of the long-awaited son of Sarah and Abraham.

The genre-forming signs of the adventure novel are Flagin's misadventures - he is at every step in wait for the vicissitudes of fate. He cannot stop in any one role - he is both a coachman and a slave, a horse-rider and a nanny, a soldier and a serf, which is characteristic of the heroes of adventurous novels. He, like them, does not have his own home, and he wanders around the world in search of a better life. The author of his hero draws closer to the epic heroes - here is not only the heroic appearance of the hero, but also the love of horses, and the duel with the Basurman, and the karak stallion, which rides as if "riding through the air." The parallels leading to the “Enchanted Wanderer” by Leskov (an analysis of the summary of the story is a vivid example of this) are examples of the “epic”. Leskov managed to deeply realize the contradictions of Russian life, to penetrate the peculiarities of the Russian character and vividly capture the spiritual beauty of the Russian people, opening up new perspectives in Russian literature.

Reader Reviews

Almost two hundred years have passed since the first publication of the story. During this time, she was criticized many times by writers - contemporaries of the author. Now, on the contrary, it is a classic recognized by everyone - both specialists and readers. The work is rich in turns of speech: from the vernacular of the "lower" class to Church Slavism. It’s very difficult to tear yourself away from the book, because you worry about the main character, who set off to “wander” under the circumstances, and the shadow of the old monk’s prophecy always follows him.

The speech in the book is colorful, “folk”, the content is also very “burning”, with incredible twists. A lot of interesting country and historical information. Ivan's unbridled, “wild” temper “calmed down” under the inevitable troubles that fell upon him, and his nature is revealed from a completely different perspective — in selfless actions for the sake of others, in kindness and selfless deeds. Humanity and perseverance, sharpness and simplicity, love of the motherland and endurance - these are wonderful features of the Leskov wanderer.