Member: kelt65

By the way, I think the story "The Left-Handed Craftsman" I mentioned below is the same story you referred to as "The Steel Flea," unless Leskov wrote two stories centering around steel fleas.

posted by rocketjk at 3:17 pm (EST) on Sep 16, 2008

The Leskov collection I just finished included "Lady Macbeth," "The Enchanted Wanderer," "The Left-Handed Craftsman," "The Sentry" and "The White Eagle." I enjoyed them all and will keep my eye out for more from Leskov.

On, I guess, a slightly more modern note, I am also almost through a very interesting collection called "An Anthology of Russian Literature in the Soviet Period from Gorki to Pasternak." It was edited and translated by Bernard Guilbert Guerney and came out in 1960, published by Random House as a Modern Library Paperback. It doesn't include any of the authors you mentioned, but does give quite an interesting survey. It includes a full-length version of "We" by Evgenii Zamiatin.

posted by rocketjk at 3:16 pm (EST) on Sep 16, 2008

Hi Tim, Coincidentally, I just finished the Leskov collection the other day. I enjoyed all the stories thoroughly. I essentially came across him by accident, and it's unclear to me why he should be, as you say, virtually unknown here. Oh, well. Guess that makes us special. All the best, Jerry

posted by rocketjk at 1:45 pm (EST) on Sep 15, 2008

Hi Tim, I recently started making my way slowly through a collection of stories by Nikolai Leskov. Last night I read "Lady MacBeth of the Mtsenk District," which I liked a lot. I ran a search for Leskov in the Fans of Russian Literature group and found your post mentioning that story. I see we have a bit in common other than old Nikolai. For one thing, I lived in New Orleans from 1979 through 1986. It would also seem that our political ideas are somewhat similar, from your favorites list. Howard Zinn, in fact, was my freshman history teacher at Boston University. That was an eye-opener. Anyway, just thought I'd say a quick hello. Greetings from San Francisco. Best, Jerry

posted by rocketjk at 12:48 pm (EST) on Aug 4, 2008