The Enchanted Wanderer

The Enchanted Wanderer (Очарованный странник) is a short novel by Nikolai Leskov, first published in Russky mir newspaper in 1873 (issues Nos. 272, 274, 276, 279, 281, 283, 286, 288, 290, 293, 295, 297, 300, 302, 304, 307, 309 and 311).

Background

The original idea for the story came to Leskov after his visiting in 1872 Lake Ladoga and the Valaam monastery. In January Leskov sent the first version of the story, entitled Black Earth Thelemacus (Черноземный Телемак) to The Russian Messenger, but Mikhail Katkov rejected it. In March Leskov sent the manuscript to the Dostoyevsky's Grazhdanin magazine, again to no avail. According to N.A. Lyubimov of The Russian Messenger, "Apart from some episodes, with Filaret and Saint Sergius, the whole thing appeared to [Katkov] more like a rough bulk of material for some future working upon… rather than the finished work, describing something real." As critic Boris Bukhstab later remarked, the story could have been construed as aimed against dvoryanstvo, weak and 'unmanly', according to the protagonist. This could have particularly upset Katkov, who had had disputes with Leskov previously, on that particular matter.^[1]

Dedication

The original version of The Enchanted Wanderer came out with a dedication to Sergey Egorovich Kushelev, an infantry general, close to the Russian Court, and Leskov's friend. "In the Autumn of 1872 as I've written The Sealed Angel… Adjutant-General Sergey Egorovich Kushelev visited me, asking for a manuscript to be taken to the Court so that Empress consort Maria Aleksanrovna could read it. This started my friendship with several houses which at the time regarded beau monde, particularly the Kushelev house where I've been received as a friend. There I met a lot of interesting people," Leskov remembered.^[2]

Reception

Contemporary critics's reaction was generally lukewarm. Narodnik Nikolay Mikhaylovsky in 1895, re-assessing the whole of Leskov's legacy, wrote: "In terms of fabula reachness it might have been Leskov's most significant work, but total lack of focus is more than obvious so there is no fabula as such, rather a set of fabulas, stringed together, so that any bead could be removed and replaced by another, and any number of other beads could be put onto the same string."^[1] Later critics praised The Enchanted Wanderer as one of Leskov's masterpieces where, according to D.S. Mirsky, the author used his unique gift of a storyteller to the fullest effect.^[3]

Synopsis

The protagonist, Ivan Flyagin, a bogatyr-type of a character has been "promised to God" by his mother but refused to join the monastery as a young man, ignoring all the "signs", allegedly pointing him the way. The rest of his life he sees as a "punishment" for this, and after all becomes a monk, driven though not by spiritual motives, but rather by poverty and having nowhere else to go.^[1]

English translations

• The Enchanted Wanderer: Selected Tales, Modern Library Classics, 2003. ISBN 0-8129-6696-1

References

External links

• Очарованный странник. The original Russian text.