The nasty one
The hateful , also the offender ( Russian Язвительный , Jaswitelny ), is a story by the Russian writer Nikolai Leskow , which appeared in the St. Petersburg monthly Jakor (The Anchor) in 1863 .
Nikolai Danilow and the other serf farmers from the parish village of Rachmany in the Orjol governorate do not allow anything to be done with them, because "respect for one's own dignity is above fear for one's physical existence".
content
Englishman Mr. Dane has been in Russia for seven years; is now the administrator of Prince Kulagin's property and wants to build a factory. That is why the farmers have to stay locally and are not allowed to earn money in Ukraine .
The governor sends his civil servant inspector - the first-person narrator - to the Rachmany peasants for good reason. The inspector had spent his childhood there very close - in the K. district; so is a local. The dispatched inspector is now supposed to find answers to two questions - as quickly as possible, but discreetly -: Why was Mr. Dane beaten and chased away by the farmers? Why are the schnapps distillery, mill, Mr. Danes house including office, servants' house, workshops and laundry in ruins? The inspector had the arrested suspected agitator and arsonist Nikolai Danilov remove his ankle and avoid harsh tones during the subsequent interrogation. Nikolai Danilov admits how he was bullied by Mr. Dane. When the farmer had left his place of work at the construction site in the direction of his home village, he was caught and not whipped, but instead had to sit on one of the beams in front of all the workers as a punishment - hands in laps. Nikolai Danilov wanted his ax; wanted to work with the others, but he couldn't. The farmer describes the Englishman's next torture: “He led me to the building, he had a lackey bring a gilded armchair from the manor house, he set it up in front of the people, he put me on this armchair ... and in the back cushion stuck a safety pin and he tied me to it like a sparrow. "
At the inspector's request, Prince Kulagin wants to forgive his rebellious peasants. The Prince's condition: Mr. Dane takes command again in Rachmany. Because the peasants no longer want the Englishman, this " spiteful man", a trial takes place. Three farmers are sent to Siberia for forced labor , twelve are sent to the penal complex and the rest of those involved are flogged and resettled.
reception
- 1959: Setschkareff accuses Leskow of proliferation.
literature
German-language editions
Output used:
- The nasty one. The story of an inspection officer. German by Hilde Angarowa . P. 35–57 in Eberhard Dieckmann (Ed.): Nikolai Leskow: Collected works in individual volumes . Vol. 1: The Lady Macbeth from the Mtsensk district. Stories. 632 pages. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1988 (1st edition), ISBN 3-352-00252-5
Secondary literature
- Vsevolod Sechkareff : NS Leskov. His life and his work. 170 pages. Verlag Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1959
Web links
- The text
- Wikisource Язвительный (Лесков) (Russian)
- online at RVB.ru (Russian)
- online at pereplet.ru (Russian)
- online at royallib.com (Russian)
- Entry in the Laboratory of Fantastics (Russian)
Remarks
- ↑ With K. is meant Kromy . This early work is set in Leskov's closer home. In Weiler Panino district Kromy Leskov is grown (using this output, comments, footnote 38 on p. 620).
- ↑ The serfdom was abolished in Russia in late winter. 1861 Leskow mentions that corporal punishments were usually carried out on corporal farmers in the stables (edition used, notes, footnote 57 on p. 620).