What folklore images are left-handed in the tale. Leskov N. Levsha, Folklore traditions in the work of one of the Russian writers of the XIX century. (NS Leskov. "Lefty".). The closeness of the Lefty's image with folk heroes

The image of the Russian people in the tale "Lefty" by N. S. Leskov

In most of the works of Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov, a special folk type of hero is depicted - a person, a bearer of high moral qualities, a righteous man. Such are the characters in the works "The Enchanted Wanderer", "The Man on the Clock" and others. Levit - the main character of "The Tale of the Tula oblique left-hander and the steel flea" - is one of such images.

Outwardly, the left-hander is modest and unattractive. He is oblique, "there is a birthmark on his cheek, and the hairs on his temples were torn out during training." He is poorly dressed, "one leg is in a boot, the other is wobbling, and the little hole is old, the hooks are not fastened, they are lost, and the collar is torn." Platov is even ashamed to show the left-handed tsar. He is uneducated and inexperienced in dealing with noble people.

But this person turns out to be the only positive hero of the work. He does not see a big trouble in his own ignorance, but not because he is stupid. For the common man, there is something more important than his own person. “We haven’t got into the sciences, but only loyal to our fatherland,” - this is how the left-handed man replies to the surprised Englishmen who noticed his ignorance.

Lefty is a true patriot of his homeland. He does not speak loud words about love for the homeland. However, he does not agree to stay in England for nothing, although he is promised all sorts of benefits. "We<…>committed to their homeland, ”this is his answer.

Lefty, being a skilled craftsman, does not boast of his talent. Examining the factories and workshops of the British, he sincerely praised the guns, recognizing their superiority: “This<…>against ours is not and an example is the most excellent. " Once in Europe, the left-hander is not lost. He behaves confidently, with dignity, but without impudence. The innate culture of human idleness commands respect.

The life of a left-hander is full of difficulties. But he does not despair, does not complain about fate, but tries to live as he knows how, resignedly tolerates Plato's lawlessness when he takes him to Petersburg without a passport. This speaks of such folk traits as life wisdom and patience.

Leskov draws to readers one of the best representatives of the people, a simple Russian man with excellent moral qualities. But at the same time, the left-hander is subject to the main Russian vice - drunkenness. He could not refuse the many British invitations for a drink. Illness, drunkenness, a difficult return home by sea, the lack of medical assistance, the indifference of others - all this ruined the left-hander.

Leskov admires the left-handed man, admires his talent and spiritual beauty, sympathizes with his difficult fate. The image drawn by the writer is a symbol of the Russian people, strong, talented, but unnecessary for their own government.

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We place the report of a student of the 10th humanitarian class at the Topaler readings in 2015.

Zhirnova Sasha... Features of the story by N.S. Leskov "Lefty" and its adaptation

(before the start of the report, a cartoon is displayed on the screen from the beginning to 00:25 sec)

Introduction

Probably, many of us are familiar with this old Soviet cartoon based on the story "Lefty" from childhood. However, even those who carefully read Leskov's story hardly think about how accurately this seemingly uncomplicated film adaptation conveys the main features not only of Leskov's work, but of the entire so-called “folk epic”.

Features of the genre

To identify the characteristic features of the story "Lefty", first of all, one should turn to the genre of the tale in which the story is written. A tale is a genre with an attitude towards the spoken word (that is, recreation or imitation of speech), or a genre in which the narrator and author do not coincide. Most likely, “Lefty” refers to the second type of tale, which explains the need to publish a preface to the story: “Of course, the preface was an obvious literary device designed to justify the introduction of a personified storyteller, a carrier of a special speech system, that is, to motivate the narrative narrative form of the story” (E .L. Beznosov, "" The Tale of the Tula Lefty ... "as a folk epic" :).

In the cartoon, unlike the story, the separation of the author and the narrator is not so obvious, because, although they speak in different languages, compositionally the author's speech is in no way separated from the narrator's speech and begins almost immediately after it.

(here you need to show the cartoon from 40:50 min to the end)

However, one should not forget that skaz is not the only genre to which the story "Lefty" belongs. Leskov does not at all fit into the "mainstream" of Russian literature of his time - there are no so-called "big ideas" in his works, he is interested in anecdote, which he writes about in his "Literary Explanation", published after readers, after reading the preface, in which said that the author had heard the story of Lefty from an old Tula master, they began to reproach Leskov for the fact that his role in the narration was purely stenographic. “As for the most Tula-savvy English flea, this is not a legend at all, but a short joke or a joke, like a“ German monkey ”that“ a German invented, but she could not sit down (she jumped everything), but the Moscow furrier took her tail sewn- she sat down. " In this monkey and in the flea, there is even the same idea and the same tone, in which boasting, perhaps, is much less than mild irony over his ability to improve any overseas cunning, ”he writes.

So what is anecdote? First of all, this is an intricate story that does not pretend to be plausible, which is clearly reflected in the story, where there is a lot of implausible: from anachronisms (Platov's arrival in St. Petersburg, mentioned in the story, could not have happened before 1826, while Platov died already in 1818, which Leskov undoubtedly knew) to the fabulous elements, which will be discussed below.

Lubok tradition

Speaking about the anecdote in the Russian literary tradition, it is impossible not to recall the popular prints, or prints, which were very popular among the third estate in the period from the 18th to the 19th century. A distinctive feature of such pictures was the simplicity of the technique of drawing and composition, as well as, depending on the genre, the instructive or intricate nature of the plot depicted.

(here you need to show several examples of popular prints, for example: "Mice bury a cat", "Battle of Kulikovo" :).

The creators of the cartoon very accurately captured the spirit of the story, as if it had descended from one of these popular prints, and filmed Lefty in exactly this style.

(here you can include a cartoon in one place and compare the image with popular prints)

Epos

But, in my opinion, the most important thing in the cartoon is not even the reproduction of the popular print tradition, but the preservation and correct presentation will take on the folk-epic genre, which are noticeable here almost more than in the original story.

This applies, for example, to the character and image of the heroes, about which A.A. Gorelov: “The overturning of the entire Russian historical world into the folklore sphere has given the characters of Leskov's tale those features that allow us to see in each owner of a real-historical name not a true figure in history, but a kind of oral-folk version of his activities, to mean behind each name a certain deserved bearer in history, among the people a reputation, a concept accepted and spread by universal rumor ”. First of all, one should recall the image of Ataman Platov, who “as he heard that there was such anxiety in the palace, now he got up from the uchette and appeared to the sovereign in all orders”.

(here you need to show an episode from the cartoon where Platov arrives in St. Petersburg, 13:10)

In the same article, E.L. Beznosov writes: “About the same kind of [supernatural] abilities, he speaks for an incredibly long time from the point of view of the ordinary, the continuing lying of Platov on the“ annoying bite ”and equally endless pipe smoking. This testifies to the fact that the narrator of the story about the left-handed person dresses it precisely in folklore forms, as if he thinks in clichéd folklore images ”. These folklore images include the extraordinary image of Platov's riding, which is also reflected in the cartoon.

(episode with a trip to Tula, 14:30)

No less important is the image of a jewel stored in several containers, which can be found in many folk tales and epics (for example, we all remember the tale of Koschey the immortal).

(flea buying episode, 9:57)

Outcome

All these and many other features of the story, which are reflected in the film adaptation, serve one purpose, and this goal is not to humiliate the Russian people, as some thought, and not to flatter them, as others thought, but to investigate (precisely explore) the amazing Russian character depicted not even in the nameless left-handed master, but in the epic character of the narrative, which is created in the cartoon with the help of detail, general style and adherence to Russian traditions.

Leskov N. S.

An essay based on the work on the topic: Folklore traditions in the work of one of the Russian writers of the XIX century. (N. S. Leskov. "Lefty".)

Few of the writers of the nineteenth century used folklore and folk traditions so widely in their work. Deeply believing in the spiritual strength of the people, he is nevertheless far from idealizing it, from creating idols, from “idol liturgy for the peasant,” using Gorky's expression. The writer explained his position by the fact that he “studied the people not by talking with Petersburg cabbies”, but “grew up among the people” and that “it was not proper for him to either raise the people on stilts or put them under his feet”.
Confirmation of the writer's objectivity can be the "Tale of the Tula scythe Lefty and the steel flea", assessed at one time by critics as "a set of clownish expressions in the style of ugly foolishness" (A. Volynsky). Unlike other fairy-tale works of Leskov, the narrator from the folk environment does not have specific features. This anonym acts on behalf of an indefinite multitude, as his kind of mouthpiece. The people always have a variety of rumors, passed from mouth to mouth and overgrown in the process of such transmission with all kinds of speculations, assumptions, new details. The legend is created by the people, and so freely created, embodying the “voice of the people”, it appears in “Lefty”.
Interestingly, in the first printed editions Leskov prefaced the story with the following preface: “I wrote down this legend in Sestroretsk based on a tale there from an old gunsmith, a native of Tula, who moved to the Sister River during the reign of Emperor Alexander the First. The narrator was still in good spirits and fresh memory two years ago; he eagerly recalled the old days, greatly honored Tsar Nikolai Pavlovich, lived "according to the old faith," read divine books and raised canaries. " The abundance of "reliable" details left no room for doubt, but everything turned out to be. a literary hoax, which was soon exposed by the author himself: “I composed this whole story in the month of May last year, and Lefty is a face I have invented.” Leskov will return to the question of the inventedness of Levsha more than once, and in his lifetime collected works he will completely remove the “preface”. This hoax itself was necessary for Leskov to create the illusion that the author was not involved in the content of the tale.
However, with all the outward simplicity of the narrative, this story by Leskov also has a "double bottom". Embodying popular ideas about Russian autocrats, military leaders, about people of another nation, about themselves, the simple-minded storyteller knows nothing of what the author who created it thinks about the same. But Leskov's "secret writing" makes it possible to clearly hear the author's voice. And this voice will tell that the rulers are alienated from the people, neglecting their duty to them, that these rulers are accustomed to power, which should not be justified by the presence of their own merits, that not the supreme power is concerned about the honor and fate of the nation, but simple Tula peasants. It is they who cherish the honor and glory of Russia and constitute her hope.
However, the author will not hide the fact that the Tula masters who managed to shoe an English flea, in fact, spoiled the mechanical toy, because “they didn’t go into the sciences”, that they, “deprived of the opportunity to make history, made jokes”.
England and Russia (Orlovshchina, Tula, Petersburg, Penza), Revel and Merrekul, the Ukrainian village of Peregudy - this is the “geography” of Leskov's stories and novellas in just one book. People of different nations enter into the most unexpected connections and relationships here. "A truly Russian person" either puts the foreigners to shame, sometimes turns out to be dependent on their "system". Finding what is common to all mankind in the life of different peoples and striving to match the present and future of Russia in connection with the course of historical processes in Europe, Leskov, at the same time, was clearly aware of the originality of his country. At the same time, he did not fall into the extremes of Westernism and Slavophilism, but held on to the position of objective artistic research. How did a “thoroughly Russian” writer and a man who passionately loved Russia and his people manage to find a measure of such objectivity? The answer lies in Leskov's work itself.
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The main part of my essay "Lefty - a national hero" (as well as the idea of ​​NS Leskov's tale itself) is an unquenchable faith in a Russian person, his decency, loyalty to the motherland and incomparable skill. The personification of the collective image of the national hero in the story of Nikolai Semenovich is the simple Tula master Lefty.

The closeness of the Lefty's image with folk heroes

The image of Lefty in Leskov's work echoes the heroes of Russian folk art, where the generalized image personified the characteristic features, originality and aspirations of the Russian people. Lefty's closeness to folk heroes is also evidenced by 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 loyal to the state - unsurpassed masters and real sons of their land.

Individual traits in the image of the Tula master

The hero is distinguished by only two features. The main feature is the extraordinary talent of the master. Together with the Tula craftsmen, Levsha 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 its 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 "Levsha" is one of the problems that the author raises. N.S. Leskov contrasts the two tsars - Alexander and Nicholas, in the era of whose rule the events of the work take place, in their relation to the Russian people. Emperor Alexander Pavlovich loved everything foreign and spent little time in his native country, as he believed that the Russian people were not capable of something great. His brother Nikolai, who ascended to the throne after him, adhered to a completely opposite point of view, he believed in the true skill and dedication of his people.

Nikolai Pavlovich's attitude to the common Russian person is perfectly illustrated by the case of Lefty. When Platov could not understand what the invention of the Tula craftsmen was, deciding that they had deceived him, he sadly reported this to the tsar. However, the emperor did not believe and ordered to send for Lefty, expecting something incredible: “I know that mine cannot deceive me. Something over and above the concept has been done. "

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

Simplicity and modesty, indifference to wealth and fame, the nameless character 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 motherland, although it cost his life, but he managed to justify the trust placed in him and prove the power of skill.

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