The Cathedral Folk
by Nikolai Leskov
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Description
"Nikolay Leskov, a contemporary of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, has remained largely unknown in the West. A master storyteller and connoisseur of language, Leskov drew on his provincial background and extensive travels throughout the empire as a businessman to depict a Russia quite different from that of his aristocratic peers, earning him the reputation of the most Russian of Russian writers. The publication of his masterpiece, "The Cathedral Clergy," in 1872 marked the beginning of the author's show more lasting popularity among his countrymen, who were captivated by its superb storytelling, its living, breathing characters from all classes of society, its wit and humor, its fresh style, and its treatment of spiritual themes. Leskov's fictitious Old Town is a microcosm of rural Russia; his chief protagonists, Father Savely and Deacon Achilles, two of the most famous characters in Russian literature, are unforgettable. As beloved by Russians as the works of Leskov's better known fellow writers, "The Cathedral Clergy" offers, in its unusual subject matter and unconventional structure, a unique approach to the Russian Realist novel. This "chronicle," as the author called it, is difficult to categorize. Largely realistic, even naturalistic in places, it also waxes lyrical, particularly in its gripping descriptions of nature. It is the tale of a town, an adventure story, a love story (of a happy marriage), a life of a modern martyr, a comedy as well as a tragedy. Given its vivid style, rife with archaisms, colloquialisms, mispronunciations, dialect words, folklore, songs, intentionally bad poetry, and puns, "The Cathedral Clergy" has proven nearly impossible to translate. This expertly annotated translation, however, now affords English speakers the pleasure of discovering a nineteenth-century Russian novel that Russian readers have long considered a classic."--Back Cover. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Leskov is like a great Russian composer without the melodic gift of the best. Next to the likes of Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky Leskov's work seems somehow more localized, less universal. 3.8194 stars.
Ratings
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Lists
Lamont's Hundred Best Novels (1947)
100 works; 4 members
Author Information
338+ Works 2,992 Members
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Amstelboeken (176-177)
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Cathedral Folk
- Original title
- Soborjanje
- Alternate titles*
- De priesters van Stargorod; De priesters
- Original publication date
- 1872 (Russisch) (Russisch); 1931 (Nederlands) (Nederlands)
- People/Characters*
- Sawelii Toeberozow (protopop); Zacharja Benefaktow (priester); Achilla Djesnitsin (diaken)
- Original language*
- venäjä
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 891.7 — Literature & rhetoric Literatures of other languages East Indo-European and Celtic literatures Russian and East Slavic languages
- LCC
- PG3337 .L5 .S613 — Language and Literature Slavic languages and literatures. Baltic languages. Albanian language Slavic. Baltic. Albanian Russian literature Individual authors and works 1800-1870
Statistics
- Members
- 80
- Popularity
- 397,898
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.88)
- Languages
- 7 — Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 13
- ASINs
- 4
