In the story The Enchanted Wanderer, the author made an attempt at a religious interpretation of Russian reality. In the image of Ivan Flyagin, Leskov portrayed a truly Russian character, revealing the basis of the mentality of our people, which is closely associated with Orthodoxy. In modern realities, he clothed the parable of the prodigal son and thereby again raised the eternal questions that humanity has been asking for more than a century.

Nikolai Semenovich Leskov created his story in one breath. The whole work took less than a year. In the summer of 1872, the writer traveled to Lake Ladoga, the very place where the action takes place in The Enchanted Wanderer. It was not by chance that the author chose these protected areas, because the islands of Valaam and Korelu, the ancient abodes of monks, are located there. On this trip, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe work was born.

By the end of the year the work was completed and acquired the title "Chernozemny Telemak". The author put in the title a reference to ancient Greek mythology and a link to the scene. Telemac is the son of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus and Penelope, the heroes of Homer's poem. He is known for having fearlessly set out to find his missing parent. So Leskov's character embarked on a long and dangerous journey in search of his destiny. However, the editor of the "Russian Bulletin" M.N. Katkov refused to publish the story, citing the "dampness" of the material and pointing out the discrepancy between the title and content of the book. Flyagin is an apologist for Orthodoxy, and the writer compares him to a pagan. Therefore, the writer changes the title, but carries the manuscript to another publication, the newspaper Russkiy Mir. There it was published in 1873.

The meaning of the name

If everything is clear with the first version of the name, then the question arises, what is the meaning of the title "The Enchanted Wanderer"? Leskov put an equally interesting idea into it. First, it indicates the rich life of the hero, his wanderings, both on earth and within the limits of his inner world. Throughout his entire life, he walked towards the realization of his mission on earth, this was his main search - the search for his place in life. Secondly, the adjective indicates Ivan's ability to appreciate the beauty of the world around him, to be fascinated by it. Thirdly, the writer uses the meaning of "witchcraft", because often the character acts unconsciously, as if not of his own free will. He is led by mystical forces, visions and signs of fate, and not by reason.

The story is also called so because the author indicates the ending already in the title, as if performing a predestination. The mother predicted the future for her son, promising him to God even before birth. Since then, he has been under the spell of fate, aimed at fulfilling his destiny. The wanderer does not walk independently, but under the influence of predestination.

Composition

The structure of the book is nothing more than a modernized one and the composition of the tale ( folklore work, which implies an oral impromptu story with certain genre characteristics). Within the framework of the tale, there is always a prologue and an exposition, which we see in The Enchanted Wanderer, in the scene on the ship, where the travelers get to know each other. This is followed by the narrator's memories, each of which has its own storyline. Flyagin tells the story of his life in the style that is characteristic of the people of his class, moreover, he even conveys speech characteristics other people who are the heroes of his stories.

There are 20 chapters in the story, each of which follows without obeying the chronology of events. The storyteller arranges them at his own discretion, based on the hero's random associations. So the author emphasizes that Flyagin lived all his life as spontaneously as he talks about her. Everything that happened to him is a series of interconnected accidents, just like his narration is a series of stories linked by vague memories.

It was not by chance that Leskov added the book to the cycle of legends about the Russian righteous, because his creation was written according to the canons of life - a religious genre based on the biography of the saint. The composition of The Enchanted Wanderer confirms this: first, we learn about the hero's special childhood, filled with signs of fate and signs from above. Then his life is described, filled with an allegorical meaning. The climax is the battle with temptation and demons. In the final, God helps the righteous to endure.

What is the story about?

On deck, two travelers talk about a suicide sexton and meet a monk who travels to holy places to escape temptation. People are becoming interested in the life of this "hero", and he willingly shares his story with them. This biography is the essence of the novel The Enchanted Wanderer. The hero comes from serfs, served as a coachman. His mother could hardly bear the child and in her prayers promised God that the child would serve him if he was born. She herself died in childbirth. But the son did not want to go to the monastery, although he was haunted by visions urging him to fulfill the promise. While Ivan was stubborn, many troubles happened to him. He became the culprit in the death of the monk, who dreamed of him and foreshadowed several "deaths" before Flyagin came to the monastery. But even this forecast did not make the young man think about it, who wanted to live for himself.

First, he almost died in an accident, then he lost his lordly favor and sinned by stealing horses from the owner. For sin, he really did not receive anything and, made false documents, hired a nanny for a Pole. But even there he did not stay long, again violating the master's will. Then, in a battle for a horse, he accidentally killed a man, and in order to avoid prison he went to live with the Tatars. There he worked as a doctor. The Tatars did not want to put him down, so they were forcibly captured, although there he got a family and children. Later, the newcomers brought fireworks, with them the hero scared off the Tatars and fled. By the mercy of the gendarmes, he, like a fugitive peasant, ended up in his own estate, from where he was expelled as a sinner. Then he spent three years with the prince, whom he helped to choose good horses for the army. One evening he decided to get drunk and squandered the state money for the gypsy Grusha. The prince fell in love with her and redeemed her, and later fell out of love and drove away. She asked the hero to take pity on her and kill her, he pushed her into the water. Then he went to war instead of the only son of poor peasants, accomplished a feat, acquired the rank of an officer, retired, but could not get a job in a peaceful life, so he came to a monastery where he really liked it. This is what the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" is about.

The main characters and their characteristics

The story is rich in characters from a wide variety of classes and even nationalities. The images of the characters in The Enchanted Wanderer are as versatile as their variegated, heterogeneous composition.

1. Ivan Flyagin - the main character of the book. He is 53 years old. This is a gray-haired old man of enormous stature with a swarthy open face. This is how Leskov describes him: "He was in the full sense of the word a hero, and, moreover, a typical, simple-minded, kind Russian hero, reminiscent of grandfather Ilya Muromets in the beautiful picture of Vereshchagin and in the poem of Count A. K. Tolstoy." He is a kind, naive and simple-minded person with extraordinary physical strength and courage, but devoid of bragging and swagger. He is frank and sincere. Despite his low birth, he possesses dignity and pride. This is how he speaks of his honesty: “Only I didn’t sell myself for big money, not for little, and I won’t sell myself.” In captivity, Ivan does not betray his homeland, since his heart belongs to Russia, he is a patriot. However, even with all his positive qualities, the man committed many stupid, random acts that cost the lives of other people. So the writer showed the inconsistency of the Russian national character... Perhaps that is why the character's life story is complex and eventful: for 10 years he was held captive by the Tatars (from 23 years old). After some time, he entered the army and served in the Caucasus for 15 years. For the feat, he earned an award (St. George's Cross) and the rank of officer. Thus, the hero acquires the status of a nobleman. At the age of 50, he went to a monastery and was named Father Ishmael. But even at the church service, a wanderer seeking the truth does not find peace: demons come to him, he has the gift of prophecy. The expulsion of demons did not give a result, and he was released from the monastery on a journey to holy places in the hope that this would help him.
2. Pear - a passionate and deep nature, captivating everyone with its languid beauty. At the same time, her heart is true only to the prince, which betrays her strength of character, devotion and honor. The heroine is so proud and adamant that she asks to kill herself, because she does not want to interfere with the happiness of the treacherous lover, but she also cannot belong to another. She contrasts exceptional virtue with the demonic charm that ruins men. Even Flyagin commits a dishonorable act for her sake. A woman, combining positive and negative forces, after death takes the form of either an angel or a demon: sometimes she protects Ivan from bullets, then confuses his peace in the monastery. So the author emphasizes the duality of feminine nature, in which mother and temptress, wife and mistress, vice and holiness coexist.
3. Characters noble origin presented caricaturely, negatively. So, the owner Flyagin appears before the reader as a tyrant and cruel man who does not feel sorry for the serfs. The prince is a frivolous and selfish bastard, ready to sell himself for a rich dowry. Leskov also notes that the nobility itself does not give privileges. In this hierarchical society, they are given only by money and connections, so the hero cannot get a job as an officer. it important characteristic the nobility.
4. Gentiles and foreigners also has a peculiar characteristic. For example, Tatars live as they have to, they have several wives, many children, but real family no, and, therefore, true love too. It is no coincidence that the hero does not even remember his children who remained there, no feelings arise between them. The author demonstratively characterizes not individual personalities, but the people as a whole, in order to emphasize the absence of individuality in it, which is not possible without a single culture, social institutions - everything that the Russian Orthodox faith gives to Russians. Gypsies, dishonest and thieving people, and Poles, whose morality is cracking, got from the writer. Getting acquainted with the life and customs of other peoples, the enchanted wanderer realizes that he is different, he is not on his way with them. It is also significant that he does not develop relationships with women of other nationalities.
5. Clergy characters severe, but not indifferent to the fate of Ivan. They became a real family for him, a brotherhood that worries about him. Of course, they don't immediately accept it. For example, Father Ilya refused to confess a fugitive peasant after a vicious life with the Tatars, but this severity was justified by the fact that the hero was not ready for initiation and still had to pass worldly tests.

Theme

• In the story The Enchanted Wanderer, the main theme is righteousness. The book makes one think that a righteous person is not one who does not sin, but one who sincerely repents of sins and wishes to atone for them at the cost of self-denial. Ivan was looking for the truth, stumbled, made mistakes, suffered, but God, as is known from the parable of Prodigal son, more precious is the one who returned home after long wanderings in search of truth, and not the one who did not leave and took everything on faith. The hero is righteous in the sense that he took everything for granted, did not resist fate, walked without losing his dignity and without complaining about a heavy burden. In search of the truth, he did not turn either to profit or to passion, and in the final he came to true harmony with himself. He realized that his highest destiny was to suffer for the people, “to die for the faith,” that is, to become something greater than himself. A great meaning appeared in his life - serving the motherland, faith and people.
• The theme of love is revealed in the relationship of Flyagin with the Tatars and Grusha. Obviously, the author cannot imagine this feeling without unanimity, conditioned by one faith, culture, paradigm of thinking. Although the hero was blessed with his wives, he could not love them even after the birth of joint children. Pear, too, did not become a beloved woman for him, because he was carried away in it only by the outer shell, which he immediately wanted to buy, throwing state money at the feet of the beauty. Thus, all the feelings of the hero turned not to an earthly woman, but to abstract images of the motherland, faith and people.
• The theme of patriotism. Ivan more than once wanted to die for the people, so in the final of the work he was already preparing for future wars. In addition, his love for his homeland was embodied in anxious yearning for his homeland in a foreign land, where he lived in comfort and prosperity.
• Vera. The hero was greatly influenced by the Orthodox faith, which permeates the entire work. It showed itself both in form and in content, because the book resembles the life of a saint, both compositionally and ideologically and thematically. Leskov considers Orthodoxy to be a factor determining many properties of the Russian folk character.

Problems

The rich problematic in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" contains the social, spiritual and moral-ethical problems of the individual and the whole people.

• Search for the truth. In an effort to find his place in life, the hero stumbles upon obstacles and not all of them overcomes with dignity. The transgressions that have become a means for overcoming the path become a heavy burden on the conscience, because he does not withstand some tests and makes mistakes in choosing a direction. However, without mistakes, there is no experience that led him to the realization of his own belonging to a spiritual brotherhood. Without trials, he would not have suffered his truth, which never comes easily. However, the price for the revelation is invariably high: Ivan became a kind of martyr and experienced real spiritual torment.
• Social inequality. The plight of the serfs is becoming a gigantic problem. The author not only depicts the sad fate of Flyagin, whom the master brought to injury by sending him to the quarry, but also some fragments of the life of other ordinary people. Bitter is the share of old people who almost lost their only breadwinner, who was recruited. The death of the hero's mother is terrible, because she was dying in agony without medical assistance or any assistance at all. The attitude towards serfs was worse than towards animals. For example, horses worried the master more than people.
• Ignorance. Ivan could have realized his mission faster, but no one was involved in his education. He, like all his class, did not have a chance to become people, even acquiring a free one. This restlessness is demonstrated by the example of Flyagin's attempt to get a job in the city, even in the presence of the nobility. Even with this privilege, he could not find a place for himself in society, since no recommendation can replace the upbringing, education and manners that were not comprehended in the stable and not in the quarry. That is, even a free peasant became a victim of his slave origin.
• Temptation. Any righteous person suffers from the scourge of demonic power. If we translate this allegorical term into everyday language, it turns out that the enchanted wanderer was struggling with his dark sides - selfishness, desire for carnal pleasures, etc. It is not for nothing that he sees Pear as a tempter. The desire, once felt for her, haunted him in his righteous life. Perhaps he, accustomed to wandering, could not become an ordinary monk and put up with a routine existence, and this craving for action, new searches, he clothed in the form of a "demon". Flyagin is an eternal wanderer who is not satisfied with passive service - he needs torment, feat, his own Calvary, where he will ascend for the people.
• Homesickness. The hero suffered and languished in captivity in an inexplicable desire to return home, which was stronger than the fear of death, stronger than the thirst for comfort that surrounded him. Because of his escape, he experienced a real torture - horsehair was sewn into his feet, so he could not escape all these 10 years of captivity.
• The problem of faith. In passing, the author told how Orthodox missionaries died trying to baptize Tatars.

main idea

Before us comes the soul of a simple Russian peasant, which is illogical, and sometimes even frivolous in its actions and deeds, and worst of all, that it is unpredictable. It is impossible to explain the hero's actions, because the inner world of this seemingly commoner is a labyrinth in which one can get lost. But whatever happens, there is always a light that will lead you on the right path. This light for the people is faith, unshakable faith in the salvation of the soul, even if life has darkened it with the falls. Thus, the main idea in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" is that every person can become a righteous person, you just need to let God into your heart, repenting of evil deeds. Nikolai Leskov, like no other writer, was able to understand and express the Russian spirit, about which A.S. spoke allegorically and vaguely. Pushkin. The writer sees a simple peasant who embodied the entire Russian people, a faith that many deny. Despite this apparent denial, the Russian people never cease to believe. His soul is always open to miracles and salvation. Until the very last moment she is looking for something sacred, incomprehensible, spiritual in her existence.

The ideological and artistic originality of the book lies in the fact that it transfers the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son into the modern reality of the author and shows that Christian morality does not know the time, it is relevant in every century. Ivan, too, became angry with the usual way of things and left his father's house, but from the very beginning his home was a church, so his return to his native estate did not bring him peace. He left God, indulging in sinful amusements (alcohol, deadly battles, theft) and sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of depravity. His path was a heap of accidents, in it N. S. Leskov showed how empty and absurd life without faith, how aimlessly its flow, which always brings a person to the wrong place where he would like to be. As a result, like his biblical prototype, the hero returns to the origins, to the monastery that his mother bequeathed to him. The meaning of the work "The Enchanted Wanderer" lies in the acquisition of the meaning of being, which calls Flyagin to selfless service to his people, to self-denial for the sake of a higher goal. Ivan could not do anything more ambitious and correct than this dedication to all mankind. This is his righteousness, this is his happiness.

Criticism

The opinions of critics about Leskov's story, as always, were divided due to ideological differences of the reviewers. They expressed their views depending on the magazine in which they were published, because the editorial policy of the media of those years was subordinated to a certain direction of the publication, its main idea. There were Westernizers, Slavophiles, Pochvenniki, Tolstoyans, etc. Some of them, of course, liked The Enchanted Wanderer because their views found their justification in the book, while others strongly disagreed with the author's worldview and what he called the Russian spirit. For example, in the journal Russkoe Bogatstvo, the critic NK Mikhailovsky expressed his approval of the writer.

In terms of the richness of the plot, this is perhaps the most remarkable of Leskov's works, but in him the absence of any center is especially striking, so that, in fact, there is no plot in it, but there is a whole series of plots strung together like beads on a string, and each bead by itself can be very conveniently taken out, replaced by another, or you can string as many beads as you like on the same thread.

Equally enthusiastic about the book was a critic from the magazine "Russian Thought":

Truly wonderful, capable of touching the most callous soul, a collection of lofty examples of virtues with which the Russian land is strong and thanks to which "hail stands" ...

N. A. Lyubimov, one of the publishers of Russkiy Vestnik, on the contrary, refused to publish the manuscript and justified the refusal to publish it by the fact that “the whole thing seems to him more like raw material for making figures, now very vague, than a finished description of something in the reality of what is possible and happening. " This remark was eloquently answered by BM Markevich, who was the first listener of this book and saw what a good impression it made on the public. He considered the work to be something "highly poetic." He especially liked the descriptions of the steppe. In his message to Lyubimov, he wrote the following lines: “His interest is always supported equally, and when the story ends, it becomes a pity that it is over. It seems to me that there is no better praise for a work of art. "

In the newspaper "Warsaw Diary" the reviewer emphasized that the work is close to the folklore tradition and has a true national origin. The hero, in his opinion, has a phenomenal, typically Russian endurance. He tells about his troubles in a detached manner, like about other people's misfortunes:

Physically, the hero of the story is the brother of Ilya Muromets: he endures such tortures by the nomads, such a situation and living conditions that he is not inferior to any hero of antiquity. In the hero's moral world, that complacency prevails, which is so characteristic of the Russian common man, by virtue of which he shares the last crust of bread with his enemy, and in war, after a battle, he gives help to the wounded enemy on an equal basis with his own.

The reviewer R. Disterlo wrote about the peculiarities of the Russian mentality depicted in the image of Ivan Flyagin. He stressed that Leskov managed to understand and display the simple-minded and humble nature of our people. Ivan, in his opinion, was not responsible for his actions, his life, as it were, was given to him from above, and he resigned himself to it, as to the weight of the cross. L. A. Annensky also described the enchanted wanderer: "Leskov's heroes are inspired, enchanted, mysterious, intoxicated, bewildered, insane people, although according to their inner self-esteem they are always" innocent, "always righteous."

ABOUT artistic identity of Leskov's prose, the literary critic Menshikov spoke out, emphasizing, along with the originality, the shortcomings of the writer's stylistics:

His style is wrong, but he is rich and even suffers from the vice of wealth: satiety.

You cannot demand from the pictures what you demand. This is a genre, and the genre must be taken by one measure: is it skillful or not? What directions are there to follow? This way it will turn into a yoke for art and strangle it, like a bull crushed by a rope tied to a wheel.

Interesting? Keep it on your wall!

In the center of the school study of Leskov's creativity is the story "The Enchanted Wanderer", the main character of which will be discussed further. “He was a man of enormous stature, with a swarthy open face and thick wavy hair of a leaden color: his gray cast strangely. He was dressed in a novice cassock with a wide monastic belt belt and in a high black cloth cap ... This new companion of ours, in appearance, could have been given a little over fifty, but he was in the full sense of the word a hero, and, moreover, a typical, ingenuous, kind Russian hero, reminiscent of the grandfather of Ilya Muromets in the beautiful picture of Vereshchagin and in the poem of Count AK Tolstoy ", This is how Ivan Severyanich Flyagin appears before the readers. from the very first lines, the author makes it clear that his hero is the true son of his people, the one who has long been considered his protection and support) “Russian hero”. He is fifty-three years old, and behind a whole life) full of adventure, anxiety, wanderings. Born a serf, Ivan Severyanich was a coachman for his master and a fugitive serf) was a horse thief and a nanny of a "foster-girl", for ten years he lived among the Tatars, obeying their customs, but when he got to his homeland, he was punished for escaping from serf bondage and released to freedom; killed his beloved woman, served under an assumed name in the soldiers; rewarded for bravery with the St. George Cross and promoted to officer, he was forced to serve in the theater as a "demon", and, finally, "left completely homeless and without food", went to the monastery.

Flyagin's whole life has passed on the way, he is a wanderer, and his wanderings are far from over. And if we abandon all the external vicissitudes of his fate, then his life path is the path to faith, to that world outlook and state of mind in which we see the hero on the last pages of the story: "I really want to die for the people." This path does not begin from birth, and not even from the moment of independent life. The turning point in the fate of Flyagin was his love for the gypsy Grushenka. This bright feeling became the basis for the moral growth that Ivan Severyanich undergoes. Before meeting his love, he, having sprouts of goodness in his soul, was often very cruel. By chance, out of "post-mischief" having killed a monk, constipation to death of Sawakirey because of a lawsuit with a horse, Ivan Severyanitch does not particularly think about this, and thoughts about the people he killed do not often visit him. But even when a nun killed by him, "crying like a woman," appears to him in a dream, Flyagin does not perceive it as something terrible and unusual, but calmly talks to him, and wakes up, "forgets all this." And the point here is not that in the character of Ivan Severyanich cruelty, just a moral feeling in him is not yet developed, and love helped to grow humanity in his soul.
At the very first meeting, the beauty of Grusha strikes Ivan Severyanich in the very heart: “I see different acquaintances of the repairmen and breeders, and I recognize so simply rich merchants and landowners who are hunters to their horses, and between all this public a gypsy walks like this ... you can't even describe her as a woman, but as if like a bright snake, on the tail moves and the whole camp bends, and from black eyes it burns with fire ... "Here it is, I think, where is the real beauty, that nature is called perfection" (136-137). And then Pear, bought by the "changeable" prince for fifty thousand and almost immediately abandoned by him, finds in the prince's servant a genuine spiritual, friendly sympathy. “You alone And loved me, my dear friend,” (163), she will say to Ivan Severyanich before her death. It was not a man's love for a woman, but a brother's Christian love for a sister, full of selfless compassion. Love "angelic", as it will be called in the story "Non-Death Golovan". Flyagin kills Grusha to save her from a grave sin: suicide and murder of the child that she carried under her heart, murder of the treacherous prince and his young wife. The heartbreaking scene of Ivan Severyanich's farewell to Grusha can be called the culmination of the moral layer of the story, because this sacred love “crossed out” everything previous in Flyagin's life, and the hero becomes different, builds his life according to other, moral laws. This Christian love of man for man, "a high passion, completely free from selfishness", showed the hero his further path - "a direct path to love, even wider and more comprehensive, love for the people, for the Motherland. The moral feat of self-sacrifice accomplished by Ivan Severyanich for the sake of Grushenka is the first in a series of manifestations of staunchness, heroism and self-denial. This is the salvation of the only son of the old men Serdyukov from the soldiery, and fifteen years of service "for faith" in the Caucasus under a false name, with the most dangerous assignments, and great prophecies in the monastery about the coming war, and the desire to "die for the people." The great sacrificial love for one person laid in the soul of Ivan Severyanich love for all people, for his people, responsibility for his fate: "And I was filled with fear for my Russian people and began to pray for all others." began to admonish with tears, pray, they say, about the subjugation of the king's subnose of every enemy and adversary, for near there is all-destruction to us. And tears were given to me, wonderfully abundant! " I was crying for my homeland. "

Ivan Severyanich fell in love with “an individual person” and only then “humanity in general‘, and this is exactly the path that anyone who follows the commandments of Christ must follow. Perhaps it was this ability to intuitively guess the right path of goodness and follow it that Leskov had in mind when, in the last lines of the story, he spoke of God “hiding his destinies from the clever and reasonable and only sometimes revealing them to babies” (179). Despite his physical and spiritual heroism, Ivan Severyanich Flyagin is an infant "charmed" by life and its poetry, the world around him and its endless beauty. Ivan Severyanich is often called a "fool" in the story; Severyanich is wise in heart, and this is his strength. "A pure heart", a rich spiritual world, combined with a child's outlook on life, not clouded by either science or "theories that are in the air," give Leskov's hero "Behold God", see all the beauty of the world and be fascinated by it. Flyagin has an amazing gift for describing everything that is dear to his soul: his native village on a holiday, and Grushenka, and the beautiful mare Dido: “We bought Dido's mare from the factory, a young, golden-bay one, for an officer's saddle. She was wonderful : the head is pretty, the eyes are nice, ... the mane is light, the chest between the shoulders sits deftly, like a boat, and is flexible in the belt, and the legs in white stockings are light, and she throws them as she plays ", His descriptions are full of sincere feeling and true poetry, Childishly naive, direct and practical, Flyagin's attitude to the Christian religion, In his hope for release from captivity, Ivan Severyanich often resorts to God: ".. and you start to pray .. and you pray .., you pray so that even the Indus snow under the knees will melt, and where tears fell, you will see grass in the morning ”, Such a belief is limitless, but it is not fanatical, Leskovsky's hero does not allow himself to be carried away by any myths, no matter how authoritative they are, Any concepts are tested by the practice of life itself, Sometimes And van Severyanitch is in doubt and stops praying, but does not stop believing,
Wise and naive, strong and meek, accustomed to all life events to respond with the heart, and not the constructions of the mind, who grew up on the national Russian soil and became
the personification of the nation, the "enchanted wanderer" leaves us on the way, in anticipation of
new roads. The story ends on a note of quest, "carries a victorious optimistic beginning" ", faith in the spiritual wealth of the Russian people and in its power to overcome obstacles that are too often encountered on its historical path.

The writing

Throughout his entire career, Leskov was interested in the topic of the people. In his works, he repeatedly refers to this topic, revealing the character and soul of the Russian person. In the center of his works are always noble people with unique fates. Strength, spontaneity, spiritual purity and kindness are the main features of Ivan Severyanich Flyagin - the hero of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer". We meet with him during the author's journey along Lake Ladoga. The author notes the similarity of Flyagin with legendary hero epics by Ilya Muromets: “He was a man of enormous stature, with a swarthy open face and thick wavy hair of a lead color: his gray cast so strangely ... he was in the full sense of the word a hero, and, moreover, a typical, simple-minded, kind Russian hero, reminiscent of grandfather Ilya Muromets ... "

This is a kind of key to understanding this image. Ivan Flyagin firmly believes in the unshakable power of predestination and all his life is looking for his place among people, his vocation. His life is a search for harmony between originality, the spontaneous strength of the individual and the requirements of life itself, its laws. The wandering itself has a deep meaning, the motive of the road becomes the leading one. “You can't run around your way,” says Flyagin. Each stage of his life path becomes a new step in moral development. The first stage is life in the master's house. He has a lively valiant mischief and ... in the excitement of a fast ride, without wanting to, he destroys an old monk who accidentally met him, who fell asleep on a wagon with hay.

At the same time, young Ivan is not particularly burdened by the misfortune that has occurred, but the murdered monk now and then appears to him in dreams and pesters him with his questions, predicting the hero's trials that he still has to go through. With his soul, Ivan feels that one day he will have to atone for this sin, but he brushes off these thoughts, believing that the time has not come to atone for sins.

But at the same time, he is loyal and devoted to his masters. He saves them from inevitable death when traveling to Voronezh, when the cart almost falls into the abyss. He does this not for the sake of some personal gain or reward, but because he cannot but help those who need his help.

The second stage is the education of the girl. Behind the external rudeness is hidden the great kindness inherent in the Russian people. Serving as a nanny, he takes the first steps in mastering the world of his own and someone else's soul. For the first time, he experiences compassion and affection, for the first time he understands the soul of another person. When he encounters the girl's mother, two feelings struggle in him: the desire to give the child to the mother and a sense of duty. For the first time, he makes a decision not in his favor, but out of mercy and gives up the child. Then fate throws Ivan into captivity to the Tatars for ten years. Here new feelings open up to him: longing for his native land and the hope of returning. Ivan cannot merge with someone else's life, take it seriously. Therefore, he always strives to escape, easily forgets his wives and children. In captivity, he is oppressed not by the wretchedness of material life, but by the poverty of impressions. Russian life is incomparably fuller and richer spiritually. “Sultry look, cruel; space - no edge; the grass is riotous, feather grass is white, fluffy, like a silver sea is agitated, and the smell rushes in the breeze: it smells like a sheep, and the sun pours, burns, and the steppe, as if life is painful, is nowhere to be seen, and there is no bottom to the depth of longing ... you know where, and suddenly a monastery or a temple will appear in front of you, and you will remember the baptized land and cry. "

Memories bring Flyagin back to holidays and weekdays, to his native nature. And the opportunity to escape was presented to him. He got to his native land, and Holy Russia, to which he aspired so much, met him with whips. Flyagin almost dies from drunkenness, but chance saves the hero and turns his whole life upside down, gives her a new direction. Thanks to the meeting with the gypsy Grusha, the "wanderer" discovers the "beauty of nature, perfection", the witchcraft power of talent and feminine beauty over the human soul. This is not a passion, but a shock that elevates a person's soul. The purity and greatness of his feelings is that it is free from pride and possessiveness.

He lives not only for himself, but also for another person. He himself realizes that this love has reborn him. To save the soul of a loved one, he helps Grusha commit suicide by pushing her off the cliff into the river. After the death of a loved one, there is a road again, but this road is to people in atonement for sin. Ivan goes to the soldiers, changing fate with a man whom he has never seen, taking pity on the grief-stricken old men, whose son is threatened with recruitment. Service in the Caucasus becomes another test for him. After the feat on the crossing, he is forced to tell about himself, to reveal "his former being and title." He himself makes a harsh judgment on himself and his past life, realizing that he is a "great sinner." Ivan Severyanovich grew spiritually, bearing personal responsibility for his life before God and people.

At the end of the story, Ivan Flyagin becomes a monk. But even a monastery will not be a quiet haven for him, the end of his journey. He is ready to go to war, because he "really wants to die for the people." The image of the "enchanted hero" created by the author contains a broad generalization of the national character and shows the main idea, the moral meaning of human life - to live for others, giving all of himself, all strength, talent, opportunities to his neighbors, his people, his land.

Other compositions on this work

Mysterious Russian soul "in N. Leskov's story" The Enchanted Wanderer Analysis of an episode from the novel "The Enchanted Wanderer" by NS Leskov Analysis of the episode "The Incident with Pear" (the story of NS Leskov "The Enchanted Wanderer") What is the charm of Ivan Flyagin? (to the story of N. S. Leskov "The Enchanted Wanderer") What is the meaning of the title of NS Leskov's story "The Enchanted Wanderer"? Female images in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" by NS Leskov Life path of Ivan Flyagin (based on the novel "The Enchanted Wanderer" by N. Leskov) Ivan Flyagin - the truth-seeker of the Russian land (based on the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" by Nikolai Leskov) Ivan Flyagin in Leskov's story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Ivan Flyagin - the main character of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" by N. S. Leskov Ivan Flyagin is an image that embodies the features of the Russian national character Who is Ivan Severyanich Flyagin: a sinner or a righteous man? The world of Leskov's images The image of Ivan Flyagin in the novel "The Enchanted Wanderer" by NS Leskov The image of Ivan Flyagin in the novel "The Enchanted Wanderer" by NS Leskov. Flyagin's image The enchanted wanderer is the most significant hero of N. S. Leskov Why is the story of NS Leskov called "The Enchanted Wanderer"? Righteous or Sinful Ivan Flyagin Russia in the story of N.S. Leskov "The Enchanted Wanderer" Russian national character in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" by N. S. Leskov Russian national character - the purpose of depicting the story of N. S. Leskov "The Enchanted Wanderer" Russian character in the stories of N. S. Leskov Freedom and necessity in "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy and "The Enchanted Wanderer" by N. S. Leskov The originality of the author's approach to the image of the hero in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" by N. Leskov The originality of the author's approach to the image of the hero in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" by NS Leskov The meaning of the title of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" by N. S. Leskov The meaning of Ivan Flyagin's wanderings (Based on Leskov's essay "The Enchanted Wanderer") Wanderer Leskov The creativity of N.S. Leskova (The story "The Enchanted Wanderer") The theme of wandering in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" by NS Leskov. Traditions of folklore and ancient Russian literature in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" by NS Leskov Analysis of the text of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" What traits of the Russian national character are embodied in Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin Genre, plot, composition, image of the main character Description of Ivan Flyagin in Leskov's story "The Enchanted Wanderer" The life of a Russian sinner in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" The meaning of the word "Wanderer" in the eponymous tale of Leskov Russian righteous in the works of N.S. Leskova (at the premiere "The Enchanted Wanderer") The plot and problems of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Life twists and turns of the protagonist of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Traditions of Old Russian Literature in the Novel "The Enchanted Wanderer" Ivan Severyanich Flyagin is a special person, exceptional, of a strange and unusual fate Riddles of Leskovsky Skaz based on the example of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" The laws of the artistic world of Leskov Flyagin - characteristic of a literary hero Russian righteous in the works of N.S. Leskova (at the premiere "The Enchanted Wanderer") The image of Ivan Flyagin in N. Leskov's story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Flyagin's image in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" The plot of Leskov's story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Narrative organization of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" The meaning of the title of Nikolai Leskov's story "The Enchanted Wanderer" The image of Ivan Flyagin in Leskov's story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Hero of Leskov's short story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Ivan Flyagin truth-seeker of the Russian land The history of the creation of the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Morality and humanism of the Russian person in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" The depiction of the Russian national character in the works of NS Leskov (on the example of the work "The Enchanted Wanderer").

The image of Ivan Flyagin, despite its seeming simplicity and uncomplicatedness, is ambiguous and complex. Leskov, learning the secrets of the Russian character, seeks the sources of holiness in the deeds of the sinner, portrays the truth-seeker who has committed many unrighteous deeds, but suffering, comes to repentance and faith.

For the first time we meet the hero on a steamer sailing to Valaam. He was a heroic monk, fifty-three years old, swarthy, with thick, gray hair, a beard and mustache. After talking with fellow travelers, he told the story of his wanderings. He was a serf, his mother died, and his father served as a coachman for the master.

He spent all his childhood in the stable, learned to understand horses well. As a teenager, he is assigned to the post-sale, helping to drive six horses. Once, when the horses were racing, he almost died saving the count's family, and as a reward he asked for a harmonica, which speaks of his disinterestedness and innocence. Once, Ivan whipped a whip at a monk dozing in a cart and blocking the road, and he overturned under the wheels and died. This monk dreamed of Ivan and told him that he was a child prayed and promised to God, and therefore must go to a monastery. This prophecy haunted him all his life.

More than once he looked death in the eyes, but neither earth nor water took him. Many trials fell to his lot. Having escaped with the gypsies from the count's estate, he will wander for many years. He will endure a ten-year captivity from the Gentiles, after escaping he will work as a horse carrier for the prince, then he will leave as a recruit to the Caucasus, where he will fight for more than fifteen years, become an officer and the Knight of St. George. After returning, I had a chance to work as a clerk in the address office and as an actor in a booth. In the end, he goes to the monastery.

Ivan did not have a chance to lead a settled life, to find a home and family. He is "an inspirational vagabond with a baby soul." He is not inherent in Christian humility, because he cannot put up with evil and injustice, but he is a deeply religious person. But he feels that his purpose is not just faith in God, church services are boring for him, he dreams of serving for the fatherland with faith. He has an independent, honest and open nature. Ivan considers himself a terrible sinner, because he was involved in the deaths of three people, suffers and repents; although the monk died due to his negligence, the Tatar accepted death in an honest duel, and he pushed Grushenka off the cliff into the river, swearing to her that he would do it, saving her from a shameful fate. Having left for a monastery, he travels as a pilgrim to holy places, atoning for his sins, and becomes a righteous man.

Essay about Ivan Flyagin

"The Enchanted Wanderer" is the story of Nikolai Leskov, published by him in 1837. The main attention in the story is given to Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin, whose life is described in detail by the author. Leskov was able to present in his story a new image, which has no analogues in Russian literature.

Why did Leskov put in his hero the image of an "enchanted wanderer"? He perceives the world around him as a true miracle. As the main thing actor, he does not have a certain dream in life, which is endless for him. This person is always moving forward on life path and in every new test he sees a challenge of fate.

It should be noted that Leskov's character took on the features of the legendary Ilya Muromets. Flyagin has a gigantic stature, a swarthy face and a truly heroic physique. At first glance, he is not even fifty years old. Ivan Severyanovich does not sit in one place throughout the story. You might think that he is not inclined to believe someone. But the main character later refutes this. And the salvation of Count K. is proof of that. This is exactly what Flyagin did to the prince and a young girl named Grusha.

You can add to the characteristics of this person the fact that he is completely devoted to higher powers, for which he received his protection from them. Flyagin is not vulnerable to death. Death overtook him many times, but he could not die. He thinks that the earth does not want to accept him for the terrible sins he has committed. The hero believes that it was his fault that there were many murders. Ivan Severyanovich has his own life morals, but he always remains honest with himself and other heroes of the story. Sometimes, he is too simple and naive, good-natured to the depths of his soul and open to everyone, but when evil comes, which he has to deal with, he can even be cruel.

The main driving force behind his actions is not a small force by nature. And this makes Flyagin go to recklessness. In his youth, Ivan did not really care, but later he realizes that he is responsible for this. The author of the work does not hesitate to mention that his character is a person with tremendous inner and physical strength. This lies in his ability in any situation to do what is needed and how it is right. Ivan Flyagin is in complete harmony with those around him and, like a true hero, is always ready to help.

In conclusion, we can say that all the features of the Russian national character are evident in the image of this man. But this does not mean that he is flawless. Contradiction is more characteristic of it. Somewhere he is smart and quick-witted, but somewhere on the contrary. He can commit madness, but, meanwhile, he is drawn to do good deeds. So, we can say with confidence: Ivan Severyanovich is the personification of the broad Russian personality, its infinity.

In detail

In the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Ivan Flyagin has the main role.

His image appears before us in the form of a strong Ilya Muromets. Even at the beginning of the story, the Author compares him with this knight. He was tall, strong build with a dark complexion.

Our main character was born in the name of the count, his father and mother were serfs and. Mom died when she gave birth to Ivan. And my father worked in the stable. The boy spent all the time with the horses. And when he grew up more or less he was put to work with his dad. Once they drove the count near the temple. And one priest was dreaming. And Vanya hit him with a whip.

When Ivan was taking the duke to Voronezh, a large cliff appeared in front of them. ... Ivan managed to slow down, and he himself fell into it. But he survived in an incomprehensible way. His duke, of course, thanked him. And instead of going to the monastery, Ivan chose an accordion, which he never knew how to play.

Soon Flyagin was sent to crush the stone on the garden paths. But he got tired of everyone laughing at him and he decided to run away and hang himself. As soon as he hung in a noose, someone cut the rope. It turned out to be a gypsy who then suggested that Ivan steal. And so that he would not betray him, he ordered to steal horses from the stables of the count, whom Ivan served. Ivan did it. And when they sold these horses, he received only one ruble. He eventually went to surrender to the police. This speaks of his next quality - honesty. Although he went to steal horses, he still confessed.

Soon Ivan got a job with the master, his wife left him for a military man and left her nursing daughter. And Flyagin nursed this girl. It speaks of his love for children.

Once Ivan and the little daughter of the master went to the shore of the bay, the girl had sore legs and the doctor said that they should be buried in a squeak. But on the shore the girl was seen by her mother. She asked Ivan to give her the child, but he did not agree. Then the cavalry husband of this young lady appeared and wanted to pay money so that the child would be given to them, but he received nothing but manual work under his eye. The lancer did not raise money, and this pleased Ivan. At first, Flyagin did not want to give up the child, but when he saw the girl's mother reaching out her hands to her, he still took pity. Suddenly a gentleman with a pistol appeared on the beach and Ivan had to leave with the cavalryman and the girl's mother.

After they arrived in the city, the uhlan said that he could not keep the serfs who had fled. Gave him money and let him go. At that moment I felt very sorry for Ivan. He had nowhere to go. He wanted to go and surrender to the police. But I decided to go drink tea with bagels. Then I saw how Khan Dzhangar and the king were selling the mare, and people were fighting for her. After that, a cavalryman entered the battle, but Ivan went to fight in his place. This speaks of his positive quality-courage. But the fact that he buttoned the Tatar with a lash speaks of his ruthlessness. They wanted to take him to prison, but the Tatars took pity on Ivan and took him to them.

Ivan lived with them for ten years, was a doctor, but when he wanted to run away, the Tatars caught him, cut his heels and put the cut horse hair there. Initially, it was very painful for him to walk. And so Ivan lived in this horde for many years. He had two wives and many children. Once the khan ordered him to cure his wife and let Ivan into his yurt, after which he had two more wives.

Somehow priests came to the Tatars, they wanted them to accept Christianity, but the Tatars refused. And after a while, the protagonist of the story found one deceased father in the field, but he never found the second. The next time unknown people came to them, they were in bright clothes. These people wanted to buy horses. One evening, they launched fireworks and all the horses ran away, and the Tatars, in turn, ran to catch them. Ivan understood how the horses and Tatars had been frightened, and repeated the same. One day he found earth that eats away at the skin. And he came up with such a plan: to pretend to be sick, and when the earth corroded his feet, a horsehair came out, and pus along with it. Then our hero decided to launch the last fireworks and left.

After some time, Ivan came to the Caspian Sea, and then came to Astrakhan. I earned money there and drank it. When he woke up he was in prison. From prison he was sent to his native estate. But Father Ilya refused to confess his confession, since he lived with the Tatars in sins for a very long time. The count, who began to pray to God after the death of his wife, refused to have those who did not Communion as a servant, gave him his passport and let him go.

When he left the estate, Ivan came to the market. I saw a gypsy trying to sell a bad horse to an ordinary peasant. Since Ivan was offended by the gypsy, he helped the peasant. After that, he began to go to the bazaars and help the peasants, advise which horse you can buy and which one cannot. Soon he became the king of the gypsies and tradesmen.

Once the prince asked him to reveal the secret of how he chooses horses. Ivan began to teach him, but the prince did not understand anything, then he invited Ivan to work with him. And they made friends with the prince. In order not to spend extra money, Ivan left them to the prince. But somehow the prince went to the market and ordered to send there a mare, which Ivan liked very much, he wanted to drink it hot, but there was no one to leave the money. Then he went to a tavern to drink tea, and saw a man there who drank and did not get drunk. Then Ivan asked to teach him so. Then the peasant ordered him to drink glass after glass, but before each one make passes with his hands, so Ivan learned to drink and not get drunk and checked all the money in his bosom. In the evening, friends quarreled.

They were kicked out of the tavern, then the beggar brought Ivan to the "living room" where there were only gypsies. And now Ivan will see a gypsy who sang songs, Grusha called her. Then Ivan gave her all his savings.

When he sobered up, he confessed to the prince that he had spent the entire treasury on one gypsy. After which he fell ill with alcoholic psychosis. When Ivan recovered, he learned that the prince had spent all the money to redeem Pear from the crowd. She fell in love with the prince very much, and he began to feel weary about her, taking advantage of her lack of education. Ivan, in turn, felt sorry for her.

Once a gypsy woman suspected that the prince had a mistress and sent Ivan to the city to find out. He went to the prince's former mistress and found out that he wanted to marry Grusha for Ivan. When Flyagin returned from the market, he saw that Pear was nowhere to be found. Then he found a gypsy on the shore, it turned out that the prince locked her in a house in the forest under the protection of girls, and she ran away from them. She asked to kill the prince's bride, otherwise she would become "the most shameful woman." Ivan could not stand it and threw her off the cliff.

Then Ivan escaped and began to wander around the world, until Pear appeared to him and showed him the right path, on which he met two old people. These old men gave Ivan new documents according to which he was Pyotr Serdyukov.

Then he asked me to go to the Caucasus and served there for more than fifteen years. Then he was ordained an officer and dismissed. In St. Petersburg, he worked as a "clerk" and earned little because he got the letter "fit", and there were very few surnames for this letter. And he decided to leave this job. He was not taken as a coachman and he had to go to work as an actor. There he is portraying a demon.

The others asked him if a demon pretending to be a gypsy bothers him? By prayer, he coped with the devil, but little rages began to brainwash him. Because of them, Ivan killed a monastery cow. For this and other sins he was locked in a cellar, and there he read a lot of newspapers and began to divine. Then they took him to the forest and put him in a hut and locked him up there. Then they called a doctor to him and he could not understand the prophet Ivan or the banged one. And the doctor said to release him.

On the steamer he found himself making his way to the service. At this point, the passengers did not ask him about anything else.

The image of Ivan Flyagin in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" was at one time honest and correct, and at another time cunning and merciless. I liked Ivan Flyagin because he seems to me to have more good qualities than bad ones.

Several interesting compositions

• Characteristics and image of Svetlana in Zhukovsky's poem composition

  The main character of Vasily Andreyevich's poem is a real Russian girl. Svetlana also has characteristic qualities: beauty, intelligence, modesty, respect for religion, humility, curiosity.

What is a family heirloom, why is it interesting? Probably, in every family there is such an item that is of a certain value, not necessarily material and is passed down through generations.

In a war, it is possible to defeat an enemy that is outnumbered, but if there are soldiers in the ranks, brave patriots who love their land, in a word, heroes. Such an army will be invulnerable to the enemy. But all the same, what kind of fortitude was shown by those

• Composition I sit by the sea, river, lake

  I am sitting on the bank of the river. She runs, moves, carries her waters ... they sparkle in the sun! A sunny, warm day is obligatory. But it's still early, and I'm fishing. I love fishing very much, and the cat is also happy from my prey

• Characteristics and image of Taras Bulba grade 7 composition

  People who purposefully go to their goal, for whom there are no barriers to what they strive for, are very dangerous, because for them the motto and credo for life is "The goal justifies the means"

Composition - Russian character and the fate of the people in the story "The Enchanted Wanderer"

Reading the works of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov, you invariably note the originality and vivid originality of this writer. His language and style are completely unique and wonderfully harmonize with the plot of this or that work. His works are just as original in content.

Their main theme is the spiritual life of the country and the people. The main thing for the writer is the study of the life of Russia, reflections on its past and future. But, unlike Ostrovsky, Nekrasov and Tolstoy, Leskov focuses on portraying the fate of individual people.

The heroes of his works are Russians in the full sense of the word. They are real heroes, their fates are inextricably linked with the fate of the entire people.

Such is Ivan Severyanich Flyagin ("The Enchanted Wanderer"). Before us is a story about the life of an ordinary person, rich in adventures and unusual situations. However, with a more thoughtful reading behind a simple, everyday narrative, one can consider a deep study of the fate of an entire people. Ivan Severyanich is honest and impartial in his judgments about himself. Therefore, the reader has the opportunity to comprehensively evaluate this hero, his positive and negative qualities.

Flyagin had to endure a lot: the lordly anger, and the Tatar captivity, and unrequited love, and the war. But he comes out of all trials with honor: he does not humiliate himself before the masters, does not submit to adversaries, does not tremble before death and is always ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of truth. He never, under any circumstances, betrays his convictions, principles and faith.

Ivan Flyagin is a deeply religious person, and faith helps him to remain himself. After all, he did not accept the Muslim faith in captivity, although this could greatly facilitate his life. Moreover, Ivan tries to escape, fails and escapes again. Why is he doing this? After all, at home he will not better life... Ivan Severyanich's answer is simple: he yearned for his homeland, and it is not appropriate for a Russian person to live among the "busurman", in captivity. God always lives invisibly in the soul of the "enchanted wanderer".

And Ivan ends his path in the monastery as a novice. This is the only place where he finally finds peace and grace, although at first the demons were in the habit of tempting him: at the sight of people in Ivan Severyanich, "the spirit rose", recalling the past restless life.

Ivan Severyanich follows where fate drives him, and completely surrenders to chance. He does not have any planning of life. And this, according to Leskov, is characteristic of the entire Russian people. Ivan Flyagin is alien to any selfish deed, lies and intrigues. He frankly talks about his adventures, not hiding anything or making up in front of the audience. His, at first glance, chaotic life has a special logic - there is no escape from fate. Ivan Severyanich reproaches himself for not immediately going to the monastery, as promised by his mother, but trying to find a better life, knowing only one suffering. However, wherever he aspired, wherever he was, he always faced a line beyond which he never dared to cross: he always felt a clear line between righteous and unrighteous, between good and evil, although some of his actions sometimes seem strange. So, he escapes from captivity, leaves his unbaptized children and wives, without regretting them at all, throws the prince's money at the feet of a gypsy woman, gives the child entrusted to him to his mother, taking him away from his father, kills the abandoned and disgraced woman he loves. And what is most striking in the hero is that even in the most difficult situations he does not think about what to do. He is guided by some kind of intuitive moral feeling that never fails him. Leskov believed that this innate righteousness was an integral part of the Russian national character.

The so-called "racial" consciousness, which Ivan Flyagin is fully endowed with, is also inherent in the Russian people. This consciousness permeates all the actions of the hero. Being held captive by the Tatars, Ivan does not forget for a minute that he is Russian, and with all his heart strives for his homeland, finally escapes. No one ever told him what to do and how to act. Sometimes his actions, it would seem, are completely illogical: instead of will, he asks the master for a harmonica, because of some chicks he ruins his prosperous life on the landlord's estate, voluntarily goes to recruits, pitying the unfortunate old people, etc. But these actions reveal before the reader that boundless kindness, naivety and purity of the wanderer's soul, which he himself does not even suspect, and which helps him to come out with honor from all life trials. After all, the soul of a Russian person, according to Leskov's deep conviction, is inexhaustible and indestructible.

Then what is the reason for the unhappy fate of the Russian man? The writer answered this question, revealing the reason tragic fate his "enchanted wanderer": the Russian man does not follow the path intended for him by God, but, having strayed once, cannot find the way again. Back in the beginning of the story horses crushed monk predicts Ivan: "... thou shalt die many times and have never perish, yet will ruin your present, and you then remember Maturin promise for you and go to the monk." And in these words the writer embodies the fate of all Russia and its people, who are destined to endure many sorrows and troubles until he finds his only, righteous path leading to happiness.