The shameless one
The Shameless ( Russian Бесстыдник , Besstydnik) is a short story by the Russian writer Nikolai Leskow , which appeared in 1877 in the February and March issues of the St. Petersburg magazine Jachta as a supplement. In 1890 the text was included in vol. 6 of the Leskow complete edition.
Two shameless people
Shortly after the Crimean War on a St. Petersburg camaraderie evening in the house of Lieutenant General of the Artillery Stepan Alexandrowitsch Khrulyov: The first-person narrator Profiri Nikititsch, a participant in the war, excites himself loudly over the present in the salon Petrovich, a "fat man in paymaster uniform": The crooks have “Stolen from us and stuffed our pockets, built houses and bought goods!” The Black Sea Fleet captain Yevgraf Ivanovich, just as “poor front-line pig” as the narrator, shamelessly calls the speech of his angry table neighbor.
The purser remains calm and replies, if those from the trenches had been in his place, they would have been enriched by theft as well. The narrator struggles to suppress the exclamation: “What kind of cattle are you!” It seems that he is pretty much alone with his point of view. Because the war participants in the group agree with the shameless paymaster.
German-language editions
Used edition
- The shameless one. German by Erich Ahrndt . P. 184–197 in Eberhard Dieckmann (Ed.): Nikolai Leskow: Collected works in individual volumes. 4. The unbaptized priest. Stories. With a comment from the editor. 728 pages. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1984 (1st edition)
Web links
- The text
- Entry in the Laboratory of Fantastics (Russian)
- Entry in WorldCat