The tale of “Lefty” Leskov, the analysis of which is given in this article is one of the most famous and popular works of the author. Its full name is "The Tale of the Tula Oblique Left-Handed and the Steel Flea". The story was written in 1881, was included by the author himself in the collection "The Righteous."
Story plot
To give a full analysis of Leskov's “Left-Handed”, we need to recall the brief content of 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. Various curiosities demonstrate to him, almost the most striking of his imagination is a miniature flea made of steel, which can even dance. He buys it and brings it to St. 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 he notes that among the Russian masters there are those who will do no worse.
Nikolai Pavlovich, confident in the superiority of domestic masters, instructs Platov to go to the Don, stopping by the way to one of the Tula plants. There, the chieftain will have to find among the local craftsmen those who could challenge the English.
Arriving in Tula, Platov calls out three of the most famous gunsmiths, among whom is the artisan, whose name is Left-Handed. He shows them a flea and asks them to figure out how to surpass the English. On the way back, Platov takes Lefty with him, and he still continues to work on the order. It turns out that the Tula gunsmiths were able to shoe a flea with tiny horseshoes.
Reward for Left-Handed
Petersburg court admired the resourcefulness of Russian craftsmen. The lefthander is presented with a reward, and the emperor sends a savvy flea to England. Master Lefty himself is going to Britain. Abroad, he visits factories, learns about the organization of labor. He is even offered to stay with them, but he refuses.
On the way back to Russia, the Lefthander makes a bet with a polisher who will drink whom. In St. Petersburg, half a captain is promptly delivered to the hospital for the rich, where they provide timely assistance, and Lefty, after drinking too much, dies in the hospital for the poor.
Before his death, he gives the doctor the secret of cleaning the trunks with the English, which he learned during the trip. The left-handed person asks to hand over to the authorities so that they do not clean the guns with a brick, otherwise they will not be suitable for shooting at all.
But the doctor failed to fulfill this order, the Minister of War did not want to listen to the physician, advising him to go about his business. Leskov concludes his work with the disappointing conclusion that it was precisely because of the improper cleaning of guns that the Crimean War was so unsuccessful. Listen to all Lefty, the outcome could be completely different.
Story analysis
In the analysis of "Lefty" Leskov, it should be noted that this work is dedicated to the most ordinary ordinary people. It was first published in the journal Rus. Leskov himself, in the preface, called it a tale and a “weapons legend”, but then removed these notations, as critics and readers took them too literally.
At the same time, the author deliberately stylizes his story under the tale. Leskov himself called Lefty a folk legend, probably because he tried to draw the reader's attention to the development of the storyline, making the hero look like the characters of ancient Russian epics. Most likely, the fact that Leskov strove 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 work
When compiling an analysis of Leskov’s "Lefty", you need to determine its genre. Most literary scholars are inclined to believe that this is a clear critical realism, even in the story you can find fabulous motives.
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 a highly autocratic, like Lefthander, autocracy, the confrontation of the patriarchal world, in which the Russian Tsar rules, of Western civilization, which by that time had stepped far forward. When analyzing Leskov’s novel “Left-Handed”, the main distinguishing features of the work should be noted, and this is the interweaving of the tragic and comic, reality and fairy tales.
Manner of writing
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 find elegant expressions with which Pushkin or Turgenev saturate their language. Leskov intentionally emphasizes simplicity so that the story is closer to the people. In the language of his characters, one can immediately distinguish a worker from a sovereign; he emphasizes with this distinction the problem of social inequality, stratification between the lower and upper classes of society. This is the essence of this work.
Composition
In analyzing Leskov’s short story “Left-Handed”, it should be noted that the key compositional technique is contrasting. For example, a prose writer makes it clear how different Russian and English life was, what difference in our country existed between ordinary people and the top authorities.
The portrait of the sovereign Leskov reveals gradually, making it possible to feel the attitude that the emperor has to his subordinates.
Characteristics of Heroes
In analyzing Leskov's “Left-Handed”, the main characters need to be given special attention. Left-handed personifies the main thing that is in the Russian person - this is talent and hard work. The author portrays his key character as a national hero and righteous man who is ready to sacrifice his life even 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 advantageous job offers that the British are doing; he does not cease to think about the homeland. But when he returns to his native land, he immediately falls seriously ill and dies, being completely useless to anyone.
It is noticeable that the author sympathizes with his hero, he bitterly describes the last days of his life, sadly recalls his merits, which were immediately forgotten by everyone as soon as the Lefty died.
Giving a brief analysis of “Lefty” Leskov, it must be emphasized that not only the main character was given increased attention. In addition to the problem of the misfortune of a gifted person, which Leskov raises in this story, he writes about the opposition of the ordinary worker to the sovereign. Evidence for 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 does a great favor to the worker, condescending to a conversation with him. After this, the scene of the meeting of the main character with the English masters, who belong to a simple Russian without a shadow of arrogance, is indicative. In this antithesis, Leskov demonstrates the conflict of social strata, which had long been outlined in Russia.
The problems of the story
Raises Nikolai Leskov and other problems in his work. This is the indifference of power 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 at the end of the 19th century, when the work was released. Leskov believes that it is precisely the inattention of senior officials to the problems of ordinary people that lies the main problem, because of 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 difficult in content, but it provides answers to most of the most pressing questions.