Educated at the Orel Gymnasium, Leskov was forced to discontinue his education when fire destroyed the family estate. He took a job as a clerk at the Orel criminal court and then transferred to Kiev, where he lived with an uncle. He studied privately and immersed himself in philosophy, economics and languages. From 1857 to 1860, he worked as an estate manager for an English company and travelled extensively throughout Russia. He then moved to Moscow and started writing articles for magazines. In 1861, he settled in St. Petersburg and began his career as a writer and journalist. From 1862 to 1863, he travelled in Eastern Europe and in 1864, published his first novel, Nekuda. In 1865, he published Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which was subsequently used as the basis for an opera by Shostakovich. A definite liberal with controversial views of religion and the church, Leskov's views eventually led to his censorship in the 1880's. From 1874 to 1883, he served on the Scholarly Committee of the Ministry of Education. His work was viewed with suspicion by the Soviet regime and it wasn't until the 1940's that his work was freely available in Russia. His other works include The Musk-Ox and Other Tales (1863), Na No-zhakh (1870), The Cathedral Folk (1872), The Sealed Angel (1873) and The Enchanted Wanderer. |
