The image of Lefty in the tale. The fate of a talented person in Russia. The tragic fate of a talented person in the tale "Lefty" How the left-hander was awarded for his amazing skill

The music of songs on a school theme sounds

Of the writers of the second half of the 19th century, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and by the very end of the century, Chekhov made the greatest contribution to the knowledge of Russia. But next to them rises another figure, a huge, angular, not fully studied figure of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov.

His work is vast. Among the writer's books are novels, satirical stories, chronicles. He created everyday and travel essays, a series of brilliant short stories, and classic stories.

But Leskov also created a gallery of positive images, and sharply original ones at that.

Historical stories are imbued with this originality, turning their content into the past, which was called the “deaf time”.

At the center of most of Leskov's historical stories is a "righteous man" - a man of noble ideas, great talent, living in an "unrighteous" social world. The nation brings forward "righteous" from all walks of life, but most of all from among the common people.

So in the story "Lefty" the author draws the fate of a man without a name, a gunsmith Lefty, the fate of a Russian genius. Genius creates ... a trifle. The poor man “in shawls and a dilapidated azyamchik”, who studied “according to the Psalter and the Half-Dream Book”, who did not know “any arithmetic”, managed to work something “beyond the concept” - he shod a London flea with the smallest Tula horseshoes and also engraved on them the names of Russian workers.

This is a paradox, but, according to Leskov, a person in Russia is completely in the grip of a paradox, for Russian life is a tragic farce.

Patriotism and Lefty's talent were used to satisfy the vanity of "sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich." The left-hander is helpless and unnecessary when he wants to accomplish a civic feat. It is necessary not for the tsar, but for Russia.

“Tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks: even if they don’t clean ours, otherwise, God forbid, they are not good for shooting,” says the dying Lefty. But Count Chernyshov, to whom the doctor conveys the last words of the master, shouts to the sluggish Aesculapius: “Do not interfere in your own business! In Russia, there are generals for this!”. Lefty's words die with him, and in the Crimean company this turns into a disaster for Russia.

The drama of Lefty is the historical drama of the motherland, where the dominance of “parade generals”, the silence, the lack of rights of the people are all over.

Here is the scene where Platov accepts work from the Tula masters. How much humor and sarcasm is here at the same time! Drawing the worthlessness of the ruling elite, the author writes: “Platov wanted to take the key, but his fingers were bony: he caught it - he couldn’t grab either the flea or the key to its abdominal plant.” And now the anger from impotence is transferred to Lefty:

“... he stretched out his hand, grabbed the oblique Left-hander by the collar with his short fingers, so that all the hooks from the Cossack flew off, and threw him into the carriage at his feet.” And Lefty went to report to the king instead of a “pubel” / poodle /. There are a great many such words, turns of speech that require “translation” in the story. The language in this "tale" is unusual.

All foreign words are turned in the most ingenious way: barometers - “buremeters”, microscope - “fine-scope”, feuilleton - “slander”. It seems that after Gogol there was no writer in Russia who could capture the living flutter of the word so well. That is why the art of prose tale, begun in literature by Rudy Panko, was raised by Leskov to the height of a national artistic phenomenon.

Unusual language, unusual situations. So the king looked at the names of the masters on the horseshoe of the English flea, but the name of Lefty is not there. And why? But because the master "worked smaller than these horseshoes." He forged carnations, with which the horseshoes were clogged. And then no “melkoskop” will take it. How simply and casually an illiterate Russian peasant explained all this to the Tsar. And what great art lies behind his words! The master behaves with dignity in this situation. He did an ordinary job, he thinks. What's wrong here? Only in vain did Platov rip him by the hair!

One recalls the words of the peasants Saltykov-Shchedrin: “We are decent people, we can all do it!” And indeed, Lefty, accustomed to beatings and shaking, calmly says to Platov’s apologies: “God will forgive! This is not the first time such snow on our heads!” The scenes of Lefty's stay abroad are interesting. No matter how the British cajoled him, no matter how they begged him to stay forever. Lefty answered: “I have parents at home.” One word - parents. How many other words are there? This is the homeland, and the clan, and the native side, which is not bribed and not sold.

Lefty behaves very worthily in England, he did not drop the honor of Russia, but how did she meet him after returning? It is impossible to read these lines without pain: "... they have just searched him, they took off his colorful dress and his watch with a trepetir, and took his money ...".

Lefty lay on the "cold parapet", and he died in the common people's Obukhvinsk hospital, thinking about Russia before his death: "That's not how we clean our guns!"

With his work, Leskov had the greatest influence on Chekhov, where we see “abnormal phenomena” in normal stories. We see the new righteous in Gorky's stories "The Tsar's clerks" and the provincial life of Kuprin.

“ As an artist of the word, Leskov N.S. it is quite worthy to stand next to such creators of literature as L. Tolstoy, Gogol, Turgenev, Goncharov.

Leskov's talent, in strength and beauty, is not much inferior to the named authors, and in the breadth of coverage of the phenomena of life, his subtle knowledge of the language, he rarely exceeds the named predecessors,” said M. Gorky.

These words forever confirm the place of Nikolai Leskov in the history of Russian literature.

The true arbiters of events aimed at exalting the glory of Russia are Lefty and his comrades in the tale - those Tula masters, whose art is entrusted with the English curiosity. It is they who show by their behavior true dignity, calm firmness of spirit, full consciousness of national responsibility. Thinking over the current situation, they judge it, not allowing any overlap in assessments in one direction or another: “... the English nation is also not stupid, but rather cunning, and art in it has great meaning. against her,

They say - you need to take it thinking and with God's blessing.

Such behavior, free from empty vanity, contrasts especially vividly with the pettiness of the motives of the Russian tsars.

In this turn of the plot, the writer's favorite thought about “little great people” who, standing aside from historical events, decide the historical destinies of the country, finds expression. “These direct and reliable people,” Leskov would speak of them with respect and warmth in his later story “The Man on the Clock”, approaching L. Tolstoy in his assessment of the democratic masses.

However, this extremely respectful attitude of the writer towards the Tula masters does not at all exclude mild irony towards them in the tale. Leskov is far from idealizing people's possibilities here, he soberly assesses them. The writer took into account the role of socio-historical circumstances that limit the creative forces of the people, imposing on many Russian inventions the seal of clownish eccentricity or practical inconsistency.

From this point of view, for understanding the general meaning of the tale, it is fundamentally important that the very result of the “breathless”, selfless and inspired work of the Tula masters is fraught with an “insidious” duality of impression: they really manage to create a miracle - to shoe a “nymphosoria”. However, their dominance is not absolute. An eye-savvy flea can no longer “dance dance”. The "improved" English curiosity is at the same time hopelessly broken.

In the development of the plot, this moment, regrettable for the prestige of Russian invention, receives its definite explanation, which is important for understanding the general idea of ​​the tale. As the British rightly judge, the Russian masters, who showed amazing audacity of imagination, obviously did not know the “calculation of strength”, and Lefty has to agree with this: “There is no doubt about this, that we did not go into the sciences ...”

Thus, in depicting the amazing work of the Tula masters, which at the same time elevates them above their overseas rivals and reveals their well-known weakness, Leskov’s bitter, disturbing thought about Russian ignorance, which cruelly oppresses and fetters great forces, expresses itself, alien to any conciliatory and apologetic tendencies. and the possibilities of the people, dooming them to a series of defeats and failures.

The question of what a Russian person can do immediately entails other equally important questions in Leskov’s tale: how does this person live, does he, like the English masters, have “absolute circumstances” for the development of his talent, what attitude he has towards himself? is confronted by those in power, how his fate develops.

True, neither the narrator nor Lefty himself, who have become accustomed to a certain order of things that has long been established in Russia (contrasting with the one that Platov and Lefty saw in England), do not ask themselves these questions, but the writer takes special measures to ensure that they inevitably inevitability rose in the minds of his readers.

Telling, for example, with what “ceremony” Platov traveled, fulfilling the sovereign’s order, Leskov paints the figures of “whistling” Cossacks, who sit on both sides of the driver’s irradiation and throughout the entire journey constantly douse their driver with blows of whips. fortunately, the horses could not be held anywhere at any station, and always a hundred jumps jumped past the stopping place.

The narrator himself does not emphasize such details, he talks about them in passing, casually, as if by the way. However, all these “trifles” of Russian life included in his narrative - the cunning cutting of coachmen, Platov’s rude abuse of Tula masters, the almost arrest of Levsha, who was being taken to St. order, accumulating in themselves the general spirit of Russian life of the Nikolaev times with its unbridled autocracy of some and the lack of rights of others, a spirit that inspires the author with the most bitter feeling.

Saturated with sorrowful details of the death of Lefty, the last chapters of the story even more insistently focus the reader's attention on the situation of the individual in Russia, where "it's scary for a person." A talented master, an artist of his craft, deeply devoted to his homeland, dies forgotten by everyone in the corridor of the Obukhov hospital for the poor, without having time to serve his country with the last advice. Such a completion of the plot, containing a bitter paradox, enhances the sound of the humanistic theme of the tale - the tragic fate of a talented person in Russia, doomed to kill a lot of opportunities in himself without worthy use.

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N.S. Leskov. "Lefty".

3 o'clock Theme: "The fate of the left-hander"

I . Checking homework.

II . Working with text and analysis.

- As shown by Platov and NikolaiI in chapters 11 and 12?

(The narrator’s sympathies are more and more inclined towards the tsar: “Nikolai Pavlovich was terribly wonderful and memorable - he didn’t forget anything.” Platov replies in disbelief: “I know that mine can’t deceive me.” Platov, on the other hand, “got scared”, “ even though he was not afraid of any enemy in the world "that he would have to answer to the sovereign for the unfulfilled work of the Tula masters. Platov, without understanding, vents the evil on the left-hander:" he caught the left-hander by the hair and began to pull back and forth so that shreds flew. nevertheless, the narrator's respect for Platov is preserved: "the courtiers ... everyone turns away from him, they think: Platov has been caught and now they will drive him out of the palace - that's why they could not stand him for his courage.")

We read chapter 13 on roles.

- How is the left-hander depicted? How does he deal with the king and his entourage?

(The left-hander, as Platov says, was “in a very evil form”: “in shawls, one trouser leg is in a boot, the other is dangled, and the ozyamchik is old, the hooks are not fastened, they are lost, and the collar is torn.” Let us pay attention to the diminutive suffixes that reinforce the impression of a pitiful left-handed appearance. However, he behaves quite confidently, "does not embarrass himself", speaks to the king boldly, "simply", and not like courtiers - "with flattery or cunning". The king is opposed to nobles in the spirit of popular ideas about the "good king" , so he carefully listens to the left-hander, talks with him almost on an equal footing, and realizing what the masters did, he “hugged ... and kissed” the unwashed, uncleaned left-hander.)

We read chapter 14 on roles.

- How was the left-hander rewarded for his amazing skill?

(“Platov gave him a hundred rubles and said: “Forgive me, brother, that I tore your hair off.” Let us recall that Tsar Alexander I gave the British a million rubles for a flea. there are craftsmen in Tula." Let us note that relations with Platov are improving for the left-hander - he even sent his "sour drink" for the road.)

- Tell us about the adventures of the left-hander in England.

(Retelling of chapters 15 and 16 - 2-3 people.)

Why do the British try to get left-handed people drunk? How did he surprise foreigners? What struck him with the English masters?

(The British want to find out the secret of the Tula masters. They can’t believe that the left-hander doesn’t even know arithmetic. They offer the left-hander to stay: “we will give you more education.” The left-hander agrees to stay, they take him to the factories and show everything. turned, ... like the old (guns) in what form. "The British cannot understand what is so surprising to the left-hander.)

- Why did the left-hander get bored in England and hurried home?

(The left-hander examines the old guns and solves the mystery of the English weapon. We find out what’s the matter only at the end of the tale. Already before his death, the left-hander orders to tell the sovereign that “the British don’t clean their guns with bricks: even if they don’t clean ours, otherwise ... they are not good for shooting.")

- What qualities of a left-hander are shown in these episodes?

(Patriotism, devotion to one’s work, one’s homeland, ardent love for it, diligence, ingenuity, self-esteem, amazing talent and, at the same time, amazing ignorance.)

- Why did the English “half-skipper” bet with a lefty?

(He wanted to find out what secret the left-handed person was bringing to Russia, and therefore decided to get him drunk. So, until St. Petersburg, no one could drink anyone else.)

- What was the fate of the participants in the bet after arriving in St. Petersburg?

(The Englishman was brought to the embassy’s house, a doctor and a pharmacist were called to see him, they treated him and looked after him. The left-hander, who did not have a “tugament”, was taken to the police station, “in the quarter”, “tumbled to the floor”, searched , took away watches and money, dragged them to hospitals and finally brought them to "the common people's Obukhvinsk hospital, where everyone is accepted to die of an unknown class".)

- Why weren't the last words of the left-hander conveyed to the sovereign?

(The Minister of War, Count Chernyshev, is shown as a self-confident and distant person. According to the narrator, he did not listen to the left-hander's dying order, and because of this, Russia was defeated in the Crimean campaign.)

- Who is to blame for the terrible fate of the left-hander?

(Irresponsible people are to blame, representing power, arrogant and ungrateful, but able to appreciate talent. The brilliant master was essentially killed. He was not seduced by the proposals of the British, but strove for his beloved homeland, where death awaited him.)

What impression did Leskov's story make on you?

(Despite the fact that the tale ends tragically - the left-hander dies in a hospital for the poor, his general pathos is optimistic, expresses pride in the talents that the Russian land is rich in, for the patriotism of the people. This idea is also in the last chapter of the story.)

- How is the last chapter 20 different from the rest? What is the main idea of ​​this chapter?

(This is an epilogue. It differs from the tale in style: this is the author’s speech, his remark about the theme of the tale. The author regrets those glorious times when such masters as the left-hander worked. He expresses the conviction that machines only ruin the “artistic prowess” , and appreciates the fact that today's workers remember the old days "with pride and love",)

III . Description of illustrations and oral drawing

Consider the drawings of N. Kuzmin and Kukryniksy, depicting a left-hander.

- How did the artists see the left-hander? What is your idea of ​​a lefty?

(In Kuzmin’s drawing, a left-hander is depicted when he examines the “English flea” and wonders how the British can be surpassed. The drawing conveys the sharpness of the left-hander, his tenacious mind. Obukhvinskaya hospital "looks completely helpless - he is dragged like a bag of bones by a mighty policeman. These drawings, rather, have accusatory pathos.)

We listen to options for the image of a left-hander - 3-4 people.

So, the drawings convey the main thoughts of the author: on the one hand, pride in the talent and patriotism of the Russian people, on the other hand, a bitter feeling from his humiliation and lack of rights, irresponsible and criminal attitude towards him on the part of the authorities.