“The sovereign became melancholy from military affairs and wanted to have a spiritual confession,” “the sovereign realized that the British had no equal in art” - both quotes describe the character of Alexander Pavlovich quite well. He was a changeable, sentimental, but at the same time calm person. The Emperor, apparently, was a believer. But Alexander Pavlovich had one drawback: the emperor was not distinguished by patriotism and for a long time could not appreciate the abilities of his compatriots. Having seen the miracles in England, the monarch immediately decided that only the inhabitants of Foggy Albion could handle metals so skillfully - Russian subjects were not capable of this. It must be said that the sovereign was quite affectionate and soft: when Platov embarrassed the British, Alexander Pavlovich was very upset for them. The emperor loved various kinds of entertainment (travel around Europe - why not have fun?), The monarch also liked man-made miracles. Moreover, it was quite easy to surprise the sovereign, and if he saw a curiosity for the first time, then “...everything seemed very good to him.”
Updated: 2014-03-16
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The topic of patriotism was often raised in works of Russian literature of the late 19th century. But only in the story “Lefty” is it connected with the idea of the need to take care of talents that ennoble the face of Russia in the eyes of other countries.
History of creation
The story “Lefty” first began to be published in the magazine “Rus” Nos. 49, 50 and 51 in October 1881 under the title “The Tale of the Tula Lefty and the Steel Flea (Workshop Legend).” The idea for Leskov’s creation of the work was the popular joke that the British made a flea, and the Russians “shod it and sent it back.” According to the testimony of the writer’s son, his father spent the summer of 1878 in Sestroretsk, visiting a gunsmith. There, in a conversation with Colonel N.E. Bolonin, one of the employees of the local arms factory, he found out the origin of the joke.
In the preface, the author wrote that he was only retelling a legend known among gunsmiths. This well-known technique, once used by Gogol and Pushkin to give special authenticity to the narrative, in this case did Leskov a disservice. Critics and the reading public literally took the writer’s words, and subsequently he had to specifically explain that he was, after all, the author, and not a reteller of the work.
Description of the work
Leskov's story would most accurately be called a story in terms of genre: it presents a large time layer of the narrative, there is a development of the plot, its beginning and conclusion. The writer called his work a story, apparently in order to emphasize the special “narrative” form of narration used in it.
(The Emperor examines the savvy flea with difficulty and interest)
The story begins in 1815 with the trip of Emperor Alexander I with General Platov to England. There, the Russian Tsar is presented with a gift from local craftsmen - a miniature steel flea that can “drive with its antennae” and “switch with its legs.” The gift was intended to show the superiority of English masters over Russians. After the death of Alexander I, his successor Nicholas I became interested in the gift and demanded to find craftsmen who would be “as good as anyone.” So in Tula, Platov called three masters, among them Lefty, who managed to shoe a flea and put the name of the master on each horseshoe. Lefty didn’t leave his name, because he forged nails, and “there’s no small scope there that can take it.”
(But the guns at court were cleaned the old fashioned way.)
Lefty was sent to England with a “savvy nymphosoria” so that they would understand that “this is not surprising to us.” The British were amazed by the jewelry work and invited the master to stay and showed him everything they had learned. Lefty could do everything himself. He was struck only by the condition of the gun barrels - they were not cleaned with crushed bricks, so the shooting accuracy from such guns was high. Lefty began to get ready to go home, he urgently needed to tell the Emperor about the guns, otherwise “God bless the war, they are not suitable for shooting.” Out of melancholy, Lefty drank all the way with his English friend “half-skipper”, fell ill and upon arrival in Russia found himself near death. But until the last minute of his life he tried to convey to the generals the secret of cleaning guns. And if Lefty’s words had been brought to the attention of the Emperor, then, as he writes,
Main characters
Among the heroes of the story there are fictional and real personalities who existed in history, among them: two Russian emperors, Alexander I and Nicholas I, ataman of the Don Army M.I. Platov, prince, Russian intelligence agent A.I. Chernyshev, Doctor of Medicine M.D. Solsky (in the story - Martyn-Solsky), Count K.V. Nesselrode (in the story - Kiselvrode).
(Left-handed "nameless" master at work)
The main character is a gunsmith, left-handed. He has no name, only a craftsman's peculiarity - he worked with his left hand. Leskov's Lefty had a prototype - Alexey Mikhailovich Surnin, who worked as a gunsmith, studied in England and, after returning, passed on the secrets of the business to Russian craftsmen. It is no coincidence that the author did not give the hero his own name, leaving the common noun - Lefty is one of the types of righteous people depicted in various works, with their self-denial and sacrifice. The hero's personality has clearly defined national traits, but the type is rendered universal and international.
It is not for nothing that the hero’s only friend, about whom the story is told, is a representative of a different nationality. This is a sailor from the English ship Polskipper, who did his “comrade” Lefty a disservice. To dispel the longing of his Russian friend for his homeland, Polskipper made a bet with him that he would outdrink Lefty. A large amount of vodka drunk became the cause of the illness and then the death of the yearning hero.
Lefty's patriotism is contrasted with the false commitment to the interests of the Fatherland of the other heroes of the story. Emperor Alexander I is embarrassed in front of the British when Platov points out to him that Russian craftsmen can do things just as well. Nicholas I's sense of patriotism is mixed with personal vanity. And the brightest “patriot” in Platov’s story is such only abroad, and upon arriving home, he becomes a cruel and rude serf owner. He does not trust Russian craftsmen and is afraid that they will spoil the English work and replace the diamond.
Analysis of the work
(Flea, savvy Lefty)
The work is distinguished by its genre and narrative originality. It resembles the genre of a Russian fairy tale, based on a legend. There is a lot of fantasy and fabulousness in it. There are also direct references to the plots of Russian fairy tales. So, the emperor first hides the gift in a nut, which he then puts in a golden snuff box, and the latter, in turn, hides in a travel box, almost the same way as the fabulous Kashchei hides a needle. In Russian fairy tales, tsars are traditionally described with irony, just as in Leskov's story both emperors are presented.
The idea of the story is the fate and place in the state of a talented master. The entire work is permeated with the idea that talent in Russia is defenseless and not in demand. It is in the interests of the state to support it, but it brutally destroys talent, as if it were a useless, ubiquitous weed.
Another ideological theme of the work was the contrast of the real patriotism of the national hero with the vanity of characters from the upper strata of society and the rulers of the country themselves. Lefty loves his fatherland selflessly and passionately. Representatives of the nobility are looking for a reason to be proud, but do not give themselves the trouble to make life in the country better. This consumer attitude leads to the fact that at the end of the work the state loses another talent, which was sacrificed to the vanity of first the general, then the emperor.
The story “Lefty” gave literature the image of another righteous man, now on the martyr’s path of serving the Russian state. The originality of the language of the work, its aphorism, brightness and accuracy of wording made it possible to parse the story into quotes that were widely circulated among the people.
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Characteristic:
Russian Emperor. He is a big fan of English culture and admires the technical inventions of this country. Arriving in England with Ataman Platov, A.P. admires various interesting things and innovations that the British proudly show him. He does not dare to show them the products and achievements of Russian masters. A.P. is a politician, he is afraid of ruining relations with the British, he lacks proper patriotism. He is opposed by his brother Nikolai Pavlovich and Ataman Platov, who are much greater patriots and painfully experience the humiliation of the Russian people.
W Quotes:
1) one oblique left-hander, there is a birthmark on his cheek, and the hair on his temples was torn out during training
2) Even though he has an Ovechkin fur coat, he has the soul of a man
3) - And is your name here? - asked the sovereign.
“No way,” the left-handed man replies, “I’m the only one who doesn’t exist.”
Why?
And because,” he says, “I worked smaller than these horseshoes: I forged the nails with which the horseshoes are hammered - no small scope can take them there anymore.”
4) - Forgive me, brother, for tearing your hair off.
Lefty answers:
God will forgive - this is not the first time such snow has fallen on our heads.
We are poor people and due to our poverty we do not have a small scope, but our eyes are so focused.
5) The courier said:
He is left-handed and does everything with his left hand.
The British began to be even more surprised - and began to pump wine into both the left-hander and the courier, and did so for three whole days, and then they said: “Now that’s enough.” After a symphony of water with erfix they took it and, completely refreshed, began to question the left-hander: where did he and what did he study and how long has he known arithmetic?
Lefty answers:
Our science is simple: but the Psalter and the Half-Dream Book, and we don’t know arithmetic at all.
The English looked at each other and said:
It is amazing.
And Lefty answers them:
This is the case everywhere here.
And what, they ask, is this book in Russia, “The Half-Dream Book”?
This, he says, is a book that relates to the fact that if in the Psalter King David vaguely revealed something about fortune-telling, then in the Half-Dream Book they guess the addition.
They say:
This is a pity, it would be better if you knew at least four rules of addition from arithmetic, then it would be much more useful for you than the entire Half-Dream Book. Then you could realize that in every machine there is a calculation of force; Otherwise, you are very skillful in your hands, but you didn’t realize that such a small machine, like the one in the nymphosoria, is designed for the most accurate precision and cannot carry its shoes. Because of this, the nymphosoria now does not jump and does not dance.
Lefty agreed.
There is no doubt about this, he says, that we are not too deep in the sciences, but only loyal to our fatherland.
And the British tell him:
Stay with us, we will impart great education to you, and you will become an amazing master.
But the left-hander did not agree to this.
“I have,” he says, “my parents at home.”
The British called themselves to send money to his parents, but the left-handed man did not take it.
“We,” he says, “are committed to our homeland, and my little brother is already an old man, and my mother is an old woman and is used to going to church in her parish, and it will be very boring for me here alone, because I am still single.
You, they say, will get used to it, accept our law, and we will marry you.
“This,” answered the left-hander, “can never happen.”
Why is that?
Because,” he answers, “our Russian faith is the most correct, and as our right-wingers believed, our descendants should believe just as surely.”
Alexander Pavlovich is a character from N. S. Leskov’s story “Lefty”, Russian emperor. His image with the real Tsar Alexander I is rather conventional. In the work, this cartoon character is a big fan of everything Western, in particular English culture and technology. Having visited England after the Vienna Council, he was amazed at the talent of local craftsmen. The British were happy to surprise the emperor in every possible way. On the trip he was accompanied by the Cossack ataman Platov, an ardent admirer of Russian craftsmanship and a patriot. As soon as the British showed some new product, he told Alexander Pavlovich that “ours” could do it better.
Most of all, the emperor was struck by a steel flea with a mechanism inside. Without hesitation, he gave a million for this “nymphosoria”. But Platov was not surprised by the dancing flea. He was confident that domestic craftsmen could create something more advanced. Alexander Pavlovich, being a politician, is afraid of ruining relations with England, so he does not dare to show the products of Russian craftsmen. His brother, Nikolai Pavlovich, in contrast to him, is a great patriot and is sensitive to any attempts to humiliate Russian skill. Therefore, having inherited a flea, he orders Platov to find masters capable of surpassing the British mechanism.