The fighting nature

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Nikolai Leskov in 1872

The fighting nature , also Die Kampfbereite ( Russian Воительница , Woitelnitsa ), is a story by the Russian writer Nikolai Leskow , which appeared in the St. Petersburg Otetschestwennye Sapiski in April 1866 .

For more than five years, the first-person narrator converses at irregular intervals with the fighting nature - a Petersburg matchmaker from Mtsensk .

Domna

The fighting nature is the top trader Domna Platonovna, who was widowed at a young age. The first-person narrator gets to know the busy woman in a St. Petersburg lodge . Because both are compatriots - they come from the Orjol governorate - they never run out of things to talk about at the sporadic meetings in the Russian metropolis of Neva . Doma not only sells Mtsensk lace to the Petersburg people. The bustling used goods dealer also submits job offers, recommends cheap Petersburg moneylenders if necessary, and delivers letters to addresses that the sender does not like to give to the post office. But Domna's real domain is marriage brokerage .

The conclusion of such a struggle for survival: Towards the end of the above-mentioned period of action, the narrator has to do in one of the Petersburg typhus hospitals. There he happens to meet the fighting nature. Domna works as an overseer for the sick. She has given up her trade, the improper mediation - mentioned below under Lekanida - and all other secondary occupations. Domna is emaciated and appears to the narrator exhausted and powerless.

A few weeks later, the narrator is called to Domna's hospital. He finds her completely discouraged. Domna has found Valeryan Ivanov, a 21-year-old relative from the old homeland, an apprenticeship in Petersburg. The apprentice stole from the master and is now likely to be exiled to Siberia . The narrator cannot of course help in this case.

Domna dies - not yet 50 - of exhaustion .

Lekanida

Chatting about secondary issues puts the reader's attention to the test, but in a narrative stringently formed sequence, the author describes Domna Platonovna as a successful matchmaker in her most combative time.

Domna initially considers noble Lekanida Petrovna to be stupid. Because when a Domna merchant wants a lady, Lekanida annoyingly turns out to be neither tame nor docile.

The formerly haughty Lekanida had separated from her wealthy husband. Now he has disowned her and does not answer as soon as she writes begging letters. Lekanida is eventually thrown out of her apartment through indebtedness and has to be glad that Domna has picked her up, accommodated and fed. Because the Petersburg charities had shown Lekanida the door.

When Lekanida is sent to a wealthy Greek, she acts stupid again and only receives ten rubles. Domna slaps Lekanida in the face and takes the key from her. The next customer, a General, receives the key from Domna and can thus attack. Since then, Lekanida has been handling hundreds of ruble notes. The overnight wealthy woman does not show gratitude to Domna. Lekanida leaves Domna; moves to a posh residential area in Petersburg.

Quote

The pimp Domna states: "All this love - is pure nonsense."

reception

  • 1959: Setschkareff essentially takes the text as a great monologue by Domna Platonovna and explains: "Leskow succeeds in presenting a stupid woman who has a wealth of unsympathetic qualities, but in her stupidity ... appears sympathetic ..." .
  • 1967: Reissner observes that St. Petersburg immorality has become so natural for Domna that she is no longer able to distance herself from it.
  • 1988: Dieckmann writes that after all the fraudster Domna was cheated. Although Leskov preached no morality, he warned against the swamp of Petersburg.

literature

German-language editions

  • The ready to fight. A sketch. Translated from the Russian by Karl Nötzel . P. 67–215 in: Nikolai Lyesskow: The beautiful Asa. The steel flea. The ready to fight. Three stories. 237 pages. Verlag Karl Alber , Freiburg 1949
  • The fighting nature. German by Günter Dalitz. P. 339–436 in Eberhard Reissner (Ed.): Nikolai Leskow: Collected works in individual volumes. Love in bast shoes. With a comment from the editor. 747 pages. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1967 (1st edition)

Output used:

  • The fighting nature. German by Günter Dalitz. P. 348–443 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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edition used, p. 405, 11. Zvu
  2. ↑ Footnote 440 on p. 624 in the edition used
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 406 above and p. 375, 6th Zvu
  4. ↑ Edition used, p. 433, 13. Zvo
  5. ↑ Setschkareff, p. 67, 11. Zvu
  6. ^ Reissner in the follow-up to the 1967 edition, p. 728, 11th Zvu
  7. ^ Dieckmann in the follow-up to the edition used, p. 615, 14th Zvu