Experience and mistakes - an enchanted wanderer. Experiences and mistakes using the example of the novel “War and Peace” and the story “The Enchanted Wanderer. Leskov's analysis: “The Enchanted Wanderer”
Many are familiar with Nikolai Leskov’s work “The Enchanted Wanderer”. Indeed, this story is one of the most famous in Leskov’s work. Let us now make a brief analysis of the story “The Enchanted Wanderer”, look at the history of the work, discuss the main characters and draw conclusions.
So, Leskov wrote the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” in the period from 1872 to 1973. The fact is that the idea appeared during the author’s journey through the waters of Karelia, when he went in 1872 to the island of Valaam, a famous refuge for monks. At the end of that year, the story was almost finished and was even being prepared for publication under the title “Black Earth Telemachus.” But the publishing house refused to publish the work, considering it raw and unfinished. Leskov did not back down, turning for help to the editors of the New World magazine, where the story was accepted and published. Before we directly analyze the story “The Enchanted Wanderer,” we will briefly consider the essence of the plot.
Analysis of "The Enchanted Wanderer", the main character
The events of the story take place on Lake Ladoga, where travelers met, whose goal was Valaam. Let's get acquainted with one of them - horseman Ivan Severyanich, who is dressed in a cassock; he told the others that since his youth he has had a wonderful gift, thanks to which he can tame any horse. The interlocutors are interested in listening to the life story of Ivan Severyanych.
The hero of "The Enchanted Wanderer" Ivan Severyanych Flyagin begins the story by saying that his homeland is the Oryol province, he comes from the family of Count K. As a child, he fell terribly in love with horses. Once, for fun, he beat one monk so much that he died, which shows the protagonist’s attitude towards human life, which is important in “The Enchanted Wanderer,” which we are now analyzing. Next, the main character talks about other events in his life - amazing and strange.
It is very interesting to note in general the consistent organization of the story. Why can you define it as a tale? Because Leskov constructed the narrative as oral speech, which imitates an improvisational story. At the same time, not only the manner of the main character-narrator Ivan Flyagin is reproduced, but also the peculiarity of the speech of other characters is reflected.
In total, “The Enchanted Wanderer” has 20 chapters, the first chapter is a kind of exposition or prologue, and other chapters directly tell the story of the life of the main character, and each of them is a complete story. If we talk about the logic of the tale, it is clear that the key role here is played not by the chronological sequence of events, but by the memories and associations of the narrator. The story resembles the canon of life, as some literary scholars say: that is, first we learn about the hero’s childhood years, then his life is consistently described, and we can also see how he struggles with temptations and temptations.
conclusions
The main character in the analysis of "The Enchanted Wanderer" typically represents the people, and his strength, as well as abilities, reflect the qualities inherent in the Russian person. You can see how the hero develops spiritually - initially he is just a dashing, careless and hot guy, but at the end of the story he is an experienced monk who has matured for years. However, his self-improvement became possible only thanks to the trials that were his lot, because without these difficulties and troubles he would not have learned to sacrifice himself and try to atone for his own sins.
In general, thanks to this, albeit brief, analysis of the story “The Enchanted Wanderer,” it becomes clear what the development of Russian society was like. And Leskov managed to show this in the fate of just one of his main characters.
Note for yourself that the Russian person, according to Leskov, is capable of sacrifice, and not only the strength of a hero is inherent in him, but also the spirit of generosity. In this article we have made a brief analysis of The Enchanted Wanderer, we hope you find it useful.
Do you need to analyze your mistakes? In order to reveal the topic at hand, it is necessary to determine the definitions of basic concepts. What is experience? And what are errors? Experience is the knowledge and skills that a person has gained in each life situation. Errors are incorrectness in actions, deeds, statements, thoughts. These two concepts that cannot exist without each other, they are tightly connected. The more experience, the fewer mistakes you make - this is a common truth. But you can’t gain experience without making mistakes – this is a harsh reality. Every person stumbles in his life, makes mistakes, does stupid things. We cannot do without this; it is the ups and downs that teach us how to live. Only by making mistakes and learning lessons from problematic life situations can we develop. That is, it is possible and even necessary to make mistakes and go astray, but the main thing is to analyze mistakes and correct them.
Very often in world fiction, writers touch on the topic of mistakes and experience. So, for example, in the epic novel “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, one of the main characters, Pierre Bezukhov, spent all his time in the company of Kuragin and Dolokhov, leading an idle lifestyle, not burdened by worries, sorrows and thoughts. But, gradually realizing that panache and social promenade are empty and pointless pursuits, he understands that this is not for him. But he was too young and ignorant: to draw such conclusions, one must rely on experience. The hero cannot immediately understand the people around him, and very often makes mistakes in them. This is clearly manifested in the relationship with Helen Kuragina. Later he realizes that their marriage was a mistake, he was deceived by “marble shoulders”. Some time after the divorce, he joins the Masonic lodge and, apparently, finds himself. Bezukhov is engaged in social activities, meets interesting people, in a word, his personality acquires integrity. A loving and devoted wife, healthy children, close friends, interesting work are the components of a happy and full life. Pierre Bezukhov is exactly the person who, through trial and error, finds his meaning of existence.
Another example can be found in the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” by N.S. Leskova. The main character, Ivan Severyanych Flyagin, had to drink the bitter cup of trial and error. It all started with an accident in his youth: the mischief of a young postilion cost the life of an old monk. Ivan was born the “promised son” and from his very birth was destined to serve God. His life leads from one misfortune to another, from trial to trial, until his soul is cleansed and brings the hero to the monastery. He will die for a long time and will not die. He had to pay for many things for his mistakes: love, freedom (he was a prisoner in the Kyrgyz-Kaisak steppes), health (he was recruited). But this bitter experience taught him better than any persuasion and demands that one cannot escape fate. The hero’s calling from the very beginning was religion, but the young man with ambitions, hopes and passions could not consciously accept the rank, which is required by the specifics of the church service. Faith in a priest must be unshakable, otherwise how will he help parishioners find it? It was a thorough analysis of his own mistakes that could lead him to the path of true service to God.
Essay on the fourth direction from FIPI.
“Experience is the best teacher, but tuition is too high”
T. Carlyle
Living life is not a field to cross
A man is walking along a road or along a forest path, in a hurry - he stumbles and falls, gets a bump, gets a graze, a bruise. Out of the blue. Because I was in a hurry. It only hurts him.
A person walks through life, according to fate, in a hurry, does not look around, and stumbles. Out of the blue. Because I was in a hurry, I didn’t think about anything or anyone. Is he in pain? Sometimes yes, more often no. But it hurts those who are close to him, with whom his life’s path crossed. Do we work on ourselves, analyzing mistakes and turning them into bitter experience so that tuition fees are not too high? We all make mistakes, but the main thing in our lives is the understanding that experience, even if sometimes bitter, is truly the best teacher in our lives.
To drink such a bitter cup of mistakes as befell the literary hero N.M. Leskov “The Enchanted Wanderer” by Ivan Severyanych Flyagin, and to come to a righteous life is one of the illustrative examples of how in one person the incompatible is combined, and only time and the intense work of the hero’s thoughts put everything in its place. To him - what is his, to Caesar - to Caesar, to each - his own.
“Ovoye” began with an accident in his youth, poor, joyless, serf: the mischief of a young postilion cost the life of an old monk. It is from this moment, in my opinion, that the life of Flyagin, at that time Golovan, promised to God from birth, will lead him from one misfortune to another, from trial to trial, until his soul is cleansed and brings the hero to the monastery. He will die for a long time and will not die. Ivan got into all sorts of troubles, wherever he served. But he survived! It couldn’t be otherwise, because there is a phrase in the novel that suits the main character perfectly: “You’re a Russian person, aren’t you? The Russian man can handle everything.” Although this was said regarding the hero’s next work, I am inclined to see in these words the fate of people like Flyagin. He had to pay for many of his mistakes: with love, captivity in the Kyrgyz-Kaisak steppes, recruitment - almost his entire life, so that the hero’s soul could be cleansed. We, the readers, see Flyagin at the moment when he is ready, having exchanged his cassock for ammunition, to give his life for the Russian people.
I gave an example when the hero’s life path, which began with mistakes and trials, his bitter experience allowed him to realize his true purpose on earth - to protect the Russian people. But this, unfortunately, does not always happen. If Flyagin’s road is the road upward, to purification, then the life of another hero of remarkable abilities from the novel “The Gloomy River” by V.Ya. Shishkova is the road to hell. And how beautifully it all started! On a grand scale, with the confidence that he, Pyotr Gromov, can handle everything, even the obstinate Siberian river with the untold wealth of its region should lie at his feet. Fortune smiled on the seventeen-year-old boy: to survive in the taiga, thrown there by his father, even with his faithful servant Ibrahim nearby, is not this a miracle?! How similar are some of the circumstances of the two heroes I am talking about: the first was saved by the prayer of his mother, who died during his birth, the second was saved by the shaman-witch Sinilga, she who will not let a single traveler out alive from her dead embrace, and Peter Gromov I regretted it.
How good this seventeen-year-old youth was in his good intentions to develop the taiga riches of Siberia, build factories, launch steamships, and take care of the common people. But the one who says that the little eagle will feather and release its claws will be right; if anyone gets caught in them, it will be in trouble: his grip is iron, dead - he cannot escape. And the one who says: “Having betrayed once will betray more than once.” These two remarks no longer apply to a young man with pure thoughts, but to a rich gold miner who eats sterlet and has fun in the capital, and between these activities he drives his father into a psychiatric hospital, kills his devoted Ibrahim, his beloved woman Anfisa, workers, a wolf... and his soul. The soul cannot cope with such a shock, because a thought is deeply hidden in its powerful body, like a small embryo trying to reach the conscience, but it remains there and dies. The writer tells us about the lack of soul of the merchant with the help of one comparison: sometimes he cries, only his tears are mercury that rolls off the glass. The price for all the atrocities of this predator is high - madness.
These are just isolated examples that confirm the main idea of my argument: a person must learn to analyze his mistakes, at the same time gain experience and be aware of what has been done and how, so that the spring of his own destiny is not eventually stretched to such an extent that he is ready to retaliate man for all his wrong steps.
Who among us did not study at school the work of such a writer as Nikolai Semenovich Leskov? “The Enchanted Wanderer” (a summary, analysis and history of creation will be discussed in this article) is the writer’s most famous work. This is what we will talk about next.
History of creation
The story was written in 1872 - 1873.
In the summer of 1872, Leskov traveled along Lake Ladoga through Karelia to the Valaam Islands, where monks lived. On the way, he got the idea to write a story about a wanderer. By the end of the year, the work was completed and proposed for publication. It was called “Black Earth Telemacus”. However, Leskov was refused publication because the work seemed damp to the publishers.
Then the writer took his creation to the Russkim Mir magazine, where it was published under the title “The Enchanted Wanderer, His Life, Experience, Opinions and Adventures.”
Before presenting Leskov’s analysis (“The Enchanted Wanderer”), let us turn to a brief summary of the work.
Summary. Meet the main character
The location is Lake Ladoga. Here travelers meet on their way to the islands of Valaam. It is from this moment that it will be possible to begin the analysis of Leskov’s story “The Enchanted Wanderer,” since here the writer gets acquainted with the main character of the work.
So, one of the travelers, horseman Ivan Severyanych, a novice dressed in a cassock, talks about how, from childhood, God endowed him with the wonderful gift of taming horses. The companions ask the hero to tell Ivan Severyanych about his life.
It is this story that is the beginning of the main narrative, because in its structure Leskov’s work is a story within a story.
The main character was born into the family of a servant of Count K. Since childhood, he became addicted to horses, but one day, for the sake of laughter, he beat a monk to death. Ivan Severyanych begins to dream about the murdered man and says that he was promised to God, and that he will die many times and will never die until real death comes and the hero goes to the Chernetsy.
Soon Ivan Severyanych had a fight with his owners and decided to leave, taking a horse and a rope. On the way, the thought of suicide came to him, but the rope with which he decided to hang himself was cut by a gypsy. The hero's wanderings continue, leading him to those places where the Tatars drive their horses.
Tatar captivity
An analysis of the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” by Leskov briefly gives us an idea of what the hero is like. Already from the episode with the monk it is clear that he does not value human life highly. But it soon becomes clear that the horse is much more valuable to him than any person.
So, the hero ends up with the Tatars, who have a custom of fighting for horses: two people sit opposite each other and beat each other with whips; whoever holds out longer wins. Ivan Severyanych sees a wonderful horse, enters the battle and beats the enemy to death. The Tatars catch him and “bristle” him so that he does not escape. The hero serves them, moving at a crawl.
Two people come to the Tatars and use fireworks to intimidate them with their “fire god.” The main character finds the visitors' belongings, scares them away with Tatar fireworks and heals his legs with a potion.
Position of coneser
Ivan Severyanych finds himself alone in the steppe. The analysis of Leskov (“The Enchanted Wanderer”) shows the strength of character of the protagonist. Alone, Ivan Severyanich manages to get to Astrakhan. From there he is sent to his hometown, where he gets a job with his former owner to look after the horses. He spreads rumors about him as a wizard, since the hero unmistakably identifies good horses.
The prince finds out about this, and takes Ivan Severyanich to join him as a coneser. Now the hero chooses horses for a new owner. But one day he gets very drunk and in one of the taverns he meets the gypsy Grushenka. It turns out that she is the prince’s mistress.
Grushenka
Leskov’s analysis (“The Enchanted Wanderer”) cannot be imagined without the episode of Grushenka’s death. It turns out that the prince planned to get married, and sent his unwanted mistress to a bee in the forest. However, the girl escaped from the guards and came to Ivan Severyanich. Grushenka asks him, to whom she sincerely became attached and fell in love, to drown her, because she has no other choice. The hero fulfills the girl’s request, wanting to save her from torment. He is left alone with a heavy heart and begins to think about death. Soon a way out is found, Ivan Severyanych decides to go to war in order to hasten his death.
This episode showed not so much the hero’s cruelty as his penchant for strange mercy. After all, he saved Grushenka from suffering, tripling his torment.
However, in war he does not find death. On the contrary, he is promoted to officer, awarded the Order of St. George and given his resignation.
Returning from the war, Ivan Severyanych finds work in the address desk as a clerk. But the service does not go well, and then the hero becomes an artist. However, our hero could not find a place for himself here either. And without performing a single performance, he leaves the theater, deciding to go to the monastery.
Denouement
The decision to go to the monastery turns out to be correct, which is confirmed by the analysis. Leskov’s “The Enchanted Wanderer” (briefly summarized here) is a work with a pronounced religious theme. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is in the monastery that Ivan Severyanych finds peace, leaving his spiritual burdens behind. Although sometimes he sees “demons,” he manages to drive them away with prayers. Although not always. Once, in a fit, he killed a cow, which he mistook for the devil’s weapon. For this he was put in a cellar by the monks, where the gift of prophecy was revealed to him.
Now Ivan Severyanych goes to Slovakia on a pilgrimage to the elders Savvaty and Zosima. Having finished his story, the hero falls into calm concentration and feels a mysterious spirit that is open only to babies.
Leskov's analysis: “The Enchanted Wanderer”
The value of the main character of the work is that he is a typical representative of the people. And in his strength and abilities the essence of the entire Russian nation is revealed.
Interesting, in this regard, is the evolution of the hero, his spiritual development. If at the beginning we see a reckless and carefree dashing guy, then at the end of the story we see a wise monk. But this huge path of self-improvement would have been impossible without the trials that befell the hero. It was they who prompted Ivan to self-sacrifice and the desire to atone for his sins.
This is the hero of the story that Leskov wrote. “The Enchanted Wanderer” (analysis of the work also indicates this) is the story of the spiritual development of the entire Russian people using the example of one character. Leskov, as it were, confirmed with his work the idea that great heroes will always be born on Russian soil, who are capable not only of exploits, but also of self-sacrifice.
In the story “The Enchanted Wanderer,” the author attempted a religious interpretation of Russian reality. In the image of Ivan Flyagin, Leskov portrayed a truly Russian character, revealing the basis of the mentality of our people, closely connected with Orthodoxy. He dressed the parable of the prodigal son in modern realities and thereby again raised eternal questions that humanity has been asking for centuries.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov created his story in one breath. The entire work took less than a year. In the summer of 1872, the writer traveled to Lake Ladoga, the very place where the action in The Enchanted Wanderer takes place. It is no coincidence that the author chose these protected areas, because the islands of Valaam and Korelu, the ancient dwellings of monks, are located there. It was on this trip that the idea for the work was born.
By the end of the year, the work was completed and acquired the title “Black Earth Telemacus”. The author included in the title a reference to ancient Greek mythology and a reference to the location of the action. Telemachus is the son of King Odysseus of Ithaca and Penelope, heroes of Homer's poem. He is known for fearlessly setting out to find his missing parent. So Leskov’s character embarked on a long and dangerous journey in search of his destiny. However, the editor of the Russian Messenger M.N. Katkov refused to publish the story, citing the “dampness” of the material and pointing out the discrepancy between the title and content of the book. Flyagin is an apologist for Orthodoxy, and the writer compares him to a pagan. Therefore, the writer changes the title, but transfers the manuscript to another publication, the Russkiy Mir newspaper. There it was published in 1873.
Meaning of the name
If everything is clear with the first version of the name, then the question arises, what is the meaning of the title “Enchanted Wanderer”? Leskov put into it an equally interesting idea. Firstly, it points to the hero’s busy life, his wanderings, both on earth and within his inner world. Throughout his life's journey, he walked towards the realization of his mission on earth, this was his main search - the search for his place in life. Secondly, the adjective indicates Ivan’s ability to appreciate the beauty of the world around him and to be enchanted by it. Thirdly, the writer uses the meaning of “witchcraft”, because often the character acts unconsciously, as if not of his own free will. He is guided by mystical forces, visions and signs of fate, and not by reason.
The story is called so also because the author indicates the ending already in the title, as if fulfilling destiny. The mother predicted the future for her son, promising it to God even before birth. Since then, the spell of fate has dominated over him, aimed at fulfilling his destiny. The wanderer does not travel independently, but under the influence of predestination.
Composition
The structure of the book is nothing more than a modernized composition of skaz (a folklore work that implies an oral improvised story with certain genre features). Within the framework of a tale, there is always a prologue and exposition, which we also see in “The Enchanted Wanderer,” in the scene on the ship where the travelers get to know each other. This is followed by the narrator's memories, each of which has its own plot outline. Flyagin narrates the tale of his life in the style that is characteristic of people of his class; moreover, he even conveys the speech characteristics of other people who are the heroes of his stories.
There are a total of 20 chapters in the story, each of which follows without obeying the chronology of events. The narrator arranges them at his own discretion, based on the hero’s random associations. Thus, the author emphasizes that Flyagin lived his entire life as spontaneously as he talks about it. Everything that happened to him was a series of interconnected accidents, just like his narrative - a string of stories connected by vague memories.
It was not by chance that Leskov added the book to the cycle of legends about Russian righteous people, because his work was written according to the canons of the life - a religious genre based on the biography of a saint. The composition of “The Enchanted Wanderer” confirms this: first we learn about the hero’s special childhood, filled with signs of fate and signs from above. Then his life is described, filled with allegorical meaning. The culmination is the battle with temptation and demons. In the finale, God helps the righteous man to survive.
What is the story about?
Two travelers talk on deck about a suicidal sexton and meet a monk who is traveling to holy places to escape temptation. People become interested in the life of this “hero,” and he willingly shares his story with them. This biography is the essence of the story “The Enchanted Wanderer.” The hero comes from serf peasantry and served as a coachman. His mother could hardly bear the child and in her prayers promised God that the child would serve him if born. She herself died in childbirth. But the son did not want to go to the monastery, although he was haunted by visions calling on him to fulfill his promise. While Ivan was stubborn, many troubles happened to him. He became the culprit in the death of the monk, who he dreamed of and foreshadowed several “deaths” before Flyagin came to the monastery. But this forecast did not make the young man, who wanted to live for himself, think twice.
First, he almost died in an accident, then he lost his master’s favor and sinned by stealing the owner’s horses. For his sin, he really didn’t receive anything, so he made false documents and hired himself as a nanny for a Pole. But even there he did not stay long, again violating the master’s will. Then, in a fight for a horse, he accidentally killed a man, and to avoid prison he went to live with the Tatars. There he worked as a doctor. The Tatars did not want to let him go, so they forcibly captured him, although there he started a family and children. Later, the newcomers brought fireworks, with which the hero scared off the Tatars and ran away. By the grace of the gendarmes, he, like a runaway peasant, ended up on his native estate, from where he was expelled as a sinner. Then he lived for three years with the prince, whom he helped choose good horses for the army. One evening he decided to get drunk and squandered government money on the gypsy Grusha. The prince fell in love with her and bought her, but later he stopped loving her and drove her away. She asked the hero to take pity on her and kill her, he pushed her into the water. Then he went to war instead of the only son of poor peasants, accomplished a feat, acquired the rank of officer, retired, but could not settle in a peaceful life, so he came to the monastery, where he really liked it. This is what the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” is written about.
The main characters and their characteristics
The story is rich in characters from various classes and even nationalities. The images of the heroes in the work “The Enchanted Wanderer” are as multifaceted as their motley, heterogeneous composition.
- Ivan Flyagin- the main character of the book. He is 53 years old. This is a gray-haired old man of enormous stature with a dark, open face. This is how Leskov describes him: “He was a hero in the full sense of the word, and, moreover, a typical, simple-minded, kind Russian hero, reminiscent of grandfather Ilya Muromets in the wonderful painting by Vereshchagin and in the poem of Count A.K. Tolstoy.” This is a kind, naive and simple-minded person, possessing extraordinary physical strength and courage, but devoid of bragging and swagger. He is frank and sincere. Despite his low origins, he has dignity and pride. This is how he speaks about his honesty: “Only I have not sold myself, either for big money or for little, and I will not sell.” In captivity, Ivan does not betray his homeland, since his heart belongs to Russia, he is a patriot. However, even with all his positive qualities, the man committed many stupid, random actions that cost the lives of other people. This is how the writer showed the inconsistency of the Russian national character. Maybe that’s why the character’s life story is complex and eventful: he was a prisoner of the Tatars for 10 years (from the age of 23). After some time, he entered the army and served in the Caucasus for 15 years. For his feat, he earned an award (St. George's Cross) and the rank of officer. Thus, the hero acquires the status of a nobleman. At the age of 50, he entered a monastery and received the name Father Ishmael. But even at a church service, a wanderer seeking the truth does not find peace: demons come to him, he acquires the gift of prophecy. The exorcism of demons did not produce results, and he was released from the monastery to travel to holy places in the hope that this would help him.
- Pear– a passionate and deep nature, captivating everyone with her languid beauty. At the same time, her heart is faithful only to the prince, which reveals her strength of character, devotion and honor. The heroine is so proud and adamant that she asks to kill herself, because she does not want to interfere with the happiness of her treacherous lover, but she is also unable to belong to another. Exceptional virtue contrasts in her with the demonic charm that destroys men. Even Flyagin commits a dishonorable act for her sake. The woman, combining positive and negative forces, after death takes the form of either an angel or a demon: she either protects Ivan from bullets, or confuses his peace in the monastery. Thus, the author emphasizes the duality of female nature, in which mother and temptress, wife and mistress, vice and holiness coexist.
- Characters noble origins are presented in a caricatured, negative way. Thus, the owner of Flyagin appears to the reader as a tyrant and a hard-hearted person who does not feel sorry for the serfs. The prince is a frivolous and selfish scoundrel, ready to sell himself for a rich dowry. Leskov also notes that nobility itself does not provide privileges. In this hierarchical society, only money and connections give them, which is why the hero cannot get a job as an officer. This is an important characteristic of the noble class.
- Gentiles and foreigners also has a peculiar characteristic. For example, the Tatars live as they please, they have several wives, many children, but there is no real family, and, therefore, no real love either. It is no coincidence that the hero does not even remember his children who remained there; no feelings arise between them. The author demonstratively characterizes not individuals, but the people as a whole, in order to emphasize the lack of individuality in them, which is not possible without a single culture, social institutions - everything that the Orthodox faith gives to Russians. The writer got it both from the gypsies, dishonest and thieving people, and from the Poles, whose morality is cracking. Getting acquainted with the life and customs of other peoples, the enchanted wanderer understands that he is different, he is not on the same path with them. It is also significant that he does not have relationships with women of other nationalities.
- Spiritual Characters stern, but not indifferent to Ivan’s fate. They became a real family for him, a brotherhood that cares about him. Of course, they don't immediately accept it. For example, Father Ilya refused to confess to a runaway peasant after a vicious life among the Tatars, but this severity was justified by the fact that the hero was not ready for initiation and still had to undergo worldly trials.
Subject
- In the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” the main theme is righteousness. The book makes you think that a righteous person is not one who does not sin, but one who sincerely repents of his sins and wants to atone for them at the cost of self-denial. Ivan sought the truth, stumbled, made mistakes, suffered, but God, as we know from the parable of the Prodigal Son, values more the one who returned home after long wanderings in search of the truth, and not the one who did not leave and accepted everything on faith. The hero is righteous in the sense that he took everything for granted, did not resist fate, walked without losing his dignity and without complaining about the heavy burden. In his search for the truth, he did not turn towards profit or passion, and in the end he came to true harmony with himself. He realized that his highest destiny was to suffer for the people, “to die for the faith,” that is, to become something greater than himself. A great meaning appeared in his life - service to his homeland, faith and people.
- The theme of love is revealed in Flyagin’s relationship with the Tatars and Grusha. It is obvious that the author cannot imagine this feeling without unanimity, conditioned by one faith, culture, and paradigm of thinking. Although the hero was blessed with wives, he could not love them even after the birth of their children together. Pear also did not become his beloved woman, because he was captivated by only the outer shell, which he immediately wanted to buy, throwing government money at the feet of the beauty. Thus, all the hero’s feelings turned not to an earthly woman, but to abstract images of the homeland, faith and people.
- The theme of patriotism. Ivan more than once wanted to die for the people, and at the end of the work he was already preparing for future wars. In addition, his love for his homeland was embodied in a reverent longing for his fatherland in a foreign land, where he lived in comfort and prosperity.
- Faith. The Orthodox faith, which permeates the entire work, had a huge influence on the hero. It manifested itself both in form and in content, because the book resembles the life of a saint, both compositionally and in ideological and thematic terms. Leskov considers Orthodoxy to be a factor determining many properties of the Russian national character.
Problems
The rich range of issues in the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” includes social, spiritual, moral and ethical problems of the individual and the whole people.
- Search for the truth. In an effort to find his place in life, the hero stumbles upon obstacles and does not overcome all of them with dignity. Sins that become a means to overcome the path become a heavy burden on the conscience, because he does not withstand some tests and makes a mistake in choosing the direction. However, without mistakes there is no experience that led him to the realization of his own belonging to the spiritual brotherhood. Without trials, he would not have suffered his truth, which is never given easily. However, the price for revelation is invariably high: Ivan became a kind of martyr and experienced real spiritual torment.
- Social inequality. The plight of the serfs is becoming a problem of gigantic proportions. The author not only depicts the sad fate of Flyagin, whom the master brought to injury by sending him to the quarry, but also certain fragments of the life of other ordinary people. The fate of the old people, who almost lost their only breadwinner, who was recruited, is bitter. The death of the hero’s mother is terrible, because she died in agony without medical care or any help at all. The treatment of serfs was worse than that of animals. For example, horses worried the master more than people.
- Ignorance. Ivan could have realized his mission faster, but no one was involved in his education. He, like his entire class, did not have a chance to go out into the world, even after acquiring freedom. This restlessness is demonstrated by the example of Flyagin’s attempt to settle in the city even in the presence of the nobility. Even with this privilege, he could not find a place for himself in society, since not a single recommendation can replace upbringing, education and manners, which were not learned in the stable or in the quarry. That is, even a free peasant became a victim of his slave origin.
- Temptation. Any righteous person suffers from the scourge of demonic power. If we translate this allegorical term into everyday language, it turns out that the enchanted wanderer was struggling with his dark sides - selfishness, desire for carnal pleasures, etc. It’s not for nothing that he sees Pear in the image of the tempter. The desire he once felt for her haunted him in his righteous life. Perhaps he, accustomed to wandering, could not become an ordinary monk and come to terms with a routine existence, and he clothed this craving for active action and new searches in the form of a “demon.” Flyagin is an eternal wanderer who is not satisfied with passive service - he needs torment, feat, his own Golgotha, where he will ascend for the people.
- Homesickness. The hero suffered and languished in captivity in an inexplicable desire to return home, which was stronger than the fear of death, stronger than the thirst for the comfort with which he was surrounded. Because of his escape, he experienced real torture - horsehair was sewn into his feet, so he could not escape during all these 10 years of captivity.
- The problem of faith. In passing, the author told how Orthodox missionaries died trying to baptize the Tatars.
main idea
Before us comes the soul of a simple Russian peasant, which is illogical, and sometimes even frivolous in its actions and deeds, and the worst thing is that it is unpredictable. The actions of the hero are impossible to explain, because the inner world of this seemingly commoner is a labyrinth in which one can get lost. But no matter what happens, there is always a light that will lead you to the right path. This light for the people is faith, unshakable faith in the salvation of the soul, even if life has darkened it with falls. Thus, the main idea in the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” is that every person can become a righteous person, you just need to let God into your heart by repenting of evil deeds. Nikolai Leskov, like no other writer, was able to understand and express the Russian spirit, which A.S. spoke about allegorically and vaguely. Pushkin. The writer sees in a simple peasant, who embodied the entire Russian people, a faith that many deny. Despite this apparent denial, the Russian people do not stop believing. His soul is always open to miracles and salvation. She searches to the last for something holy, incomprehensible, spiritual in her existence.
The ideological and artistic originality of the book lies in the fact that it transfers the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son to the author’s contemporary realities and shows that Christian morality knows no time, it is relevant in every century. Ivan also became angry at the usual way of things and left his father’s house, only his home from the very beginning was the church, so his return to his native estate did not bring him peace. He left God, indulging in sinful amusements (alcohol, mortal combat, theft) and getting deeper and deeper into the quagmire of depravity. His path was a heap of accidents, in which N.S. Leskov showed how empty and absurd life is without faith, how aimless its course is, which always takes a person to the wrong place where he would like to be. As a result, like his biblical prototype, the hero returns to his roots, to the monastery that his mother bequeathed to him. The meaning of the work “The Enchanted Wanderer” lies in finding the meaning of existence, which calls Flyagin to selfless service to his people, to self-denial for the sake of a higher goal. Ivan could not do anything more ambitious and correct than this dedication to all of humanity. This is his righteousness, this is his happiness.
Criticism
Critics' opinions about Leskov's story, as always, were divided due to the ideological differences of the reviewers. They expressed their thoughts depending on the magazine in which they published, because the editorial policy of the media of those years was subordinated to a certain focus of the publication, its main idea. There were Westerners, Slavophiles, Pochvenniks, Tolstoyans, etc. Some of them, of course, liked “The Enchanted Wanderer” because their views were justified in the book, while others categorically disagreed with the author’s worldview and what he called the “Russian spirit.” For example, in the magazine “Russian Wealth”, critic N.K. Mikhailovsky expressed his approval of the writer.
In terms of the richness of the plot, this is perhaps the most remarkable of Leskov’s works, but what is especially striking in it is the absence of any center, so that, strictly speaking, there is no plot in it, but there is a whole series of plots strung together like beads on a thread, and each bead is on its own and can be very conveniently taken out, replaced with another, or you can string as many more beads as you like on the same thread.
A critic from the magazine “Russian Thought” responded equally enthusiastically to the book:
Truly wonderful, capable of touching the hardest soul, a collection of lofty examples of virtues with which the Russian land is strong and thanks to which “the city stands”...
N. A. Lyubimov, one of the publishers of the Russian Messenger, on the contrary, refused to print the manuscript and justified the refusal to publish by saying that “the whole thing seems to him more like raw material for making figures, now very vague, than a crafted description of something in the reality of what is possible and what is happening.” This remark was eloquently answered by B. M. Markevich, who was the first listener of this book and saw what a good impression it made on the public. He considered the work to be something “highly poetic.” He especially liked the descriptions of the steppe. In his message to Lyubimov, he wrote the following lines: “His interest is maintained equally all the time, and when the story ends, it becomes a pity that it is over. It seems to me that there is no better praise for a work of art.”
In the newspaper "Warsaw Diary" the reviewer emphasized that the work is close to folklore tradition and has truly folk origin. The hero, in his opinion, has phenomenal, typically Russian endurance. He talks about his troubles in a detached manner, as if about the misfortunes of others:
Physically, the hero of the story is the brother of Ilya Muromets: he endures such torture from the nomads, such an environment and living conditions that he is not inferior to any hero of antiquity. In the moral world of the hero, that complacency prevails, which is so characteristic of the Russian common man, due to which he shares the last crust of bread with his enemy, and in war, after the battle, he gives help to the wounded enemy along with his own.
Reviewer R. Disterlo wrote about the peculiarities of the Russian mentality, depicted in the image of Ivan Flyagin. He emphasized that Leskov managed to understand and portray the simple-minded and submissive nature of our people. Ivan, in his opinion, was not responsible for his actions, his life seemed to have been given to him from above, and he resigned himself to it as with the weight of a cross. L.A. Annensky also described the enchanted wanderer: “Leskov’s heroes are inspired, enchanted, mysterious, intoxicated, foggy, crazy people, although according to their internal self-esteem they are always “innocent”, always righteous.”
The literary critic Menshikov spoke about the artistic originality of Leskov’s prose, emphasizing, along with the originality, the shortcomings of the writer’s style:
His style is irregular, but rich and even suffers from the vice of wealth: satiety.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!You cannot demand from paintings what you demand. This is a genre, and a genre must be judged by one standard: is it skillful or not? What directions should we take here? In this way it will turn into a yoke for art and strangle it, just as a bull is crushed by a rope tied to a wheel.
