5 must-read books by Russian writer Nikolai Leskov

1. ‘The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea’ (1881)

The plot revolves around Emperor Alexander I bringing an incredible curiosity from England to Russia, a wind-up dancing flea made of steel. In Tula, local skilled gunsmiths are challenged to come up with a way to outdo the English masters. A cross-eyed left-handed craftsman nicknamed ‘Lefty’ manages to shoe the microscopic flea.

All Russian schoolchildren begin their acquaintance with Leskov with this tale, which in genre resembles a folk narrative and is peppered with numerous popular expressions. In this way, Leskov essentially created a legend that was long considered a folk tale in Tula. The expression “to shoe a flea” (“подковать блоху”; “podkovat blokhu’) since then has become an idiom meaning the successful completion of a very complex, virtuosic work.

2. ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ (1865)

Katerina Izmailova, a young merchant's wife, lives in Mtsensk District, Oryol Province. Her husband is constantly away on business and she languishes in boredom in their wealthy home. Katerina then falls in love with a handsome clerk named Sergei, but her father-in-law accidentally discovers their passionate affair… To save her lover, Katerina resorts to murder and not just one…

Leskov masterfully depicts merchant life and provincial “darkness”, where money and profit are the main interests. The truly Shakespearean passions of the story delighted Leskov's contemporary critics.

3. ‘The Enchanted Wanderer’ (1873)

Ivan Flyagin is a man with an extraordinary and tragic fate. He wanders all his life, enduring many trials: He is taken captive, serves as a soldier and even undergoes obedience in a monastery. His entire life is shaped by the fact that he is enchanted, both by nature, women, life itself and faith in God.

The story's original title was ‘The Black Soil Telemachus’ and it, indeed, recalls ‘The Odyssey’. At the same time, the story is also close in style to the lives of Orthodox saints, describing childhood, struggle with sins, repentance and discovering faith. Each chapter is devoted to a separate episode from the hero's life.

You can read the book for free in our Content hub section.

4. ‘The Cathedral Folk’, a.k.a. ‘The Cathedral Clergy’ (1872)

At the center of the narrative are three clergymen: Archpriest Savely, the rector of the cathedral, as well as Priest Zakharia and Deacon Achilles. The action takes place in the fictional provincial town of Starograd. Archpriest Savely is a true righteous man who even confronts church authorities for the ideals of Orthodoxy and faith.

This is a ‘romantic chronicle’, as Leskov himself defined the genre. For the first time in Russian literature, the everyday life of provincial clergy was described in such detail. And, for the first time, priests were shown as ordinary people, with flaws, doubts… and sins.

5. ‘The Sealed Angel’ (1873)

In an Old Believer community, there is a special icon depicting an angel. But officials, in their struggle against residents, seize the icon and seal it away. However, the icon catches the favor of a bishop, who orders it to be placed in a church. The Old Believers, risking their lives, then decide to replace their relic with a copy… In the end, representatives of the old and new faiths miraculously reconcile right before Christmas.

This is another tale where Leskov addresses the theme of religious schism, which greatly interested him. The story was highly praised by Emperor Alexander II, which saved it from censorship.