Аннотация: MMMDCCXLIII. A genius for the powerless people from the bureaucratic Russia (about Nikolai Leskov's story "The Old Genius"). An essay. - January 1, 2026.
A genius for the powerless people from the bureaucratic Russia (about Nikolai Leskov's story "The Old Genius"). An essay.
Any writer (in Russia) in any era lives in a certain system of circumstances.
If he has nothing to eat, then the writer needs a piece of bread.
If a writer has a piece of bread, then he needs a piece of butter (to spread on the bread). Etc.
The easiest way to get the necessary benefits (things) is to fit into the existing conditions.
And how to fit into these conditions? If there is no a separation of powers? If there is no free press?
You can use the method of "mythological stylization".
An example of mythological stylization: the tsar is good, the boyars are bad. Alexander Pushkin in "The Captain's Daughter" portrays an honest Russian woman who solves a difficult issue by addressing directly the Empress.
"Maria Ivanovna [Mironova] [Captain Mironov's daughter] accepted the letter with a trembling hand and, crying, fell at the feet of the Empress, who lifted her up and kissed her. The Empress began to talk to her. "I know you're not rich," she said, "but I have a debt in relation of Captain Mironov's daughter. Don't worry about your future. I'll take it upon myself to arrange your fortune."
Alexander Pushkin himself was able to feel the charm of personal contacts with the Emperor when Pushkin was solving his family problems.
An interesting example of mythological stylization is Nikolai Leskov's short story "The Old Genius."
Nikolai Leskov smoothly fits into the existing conditions. Leskov does not reach the level of the "tsar and boyars", he takes as the basis of the plot a simple legal case involving a "simple person" - an old lady (the widow of an official). The old lady tries to recieve the debt, the money. Almost all the characters in Nikolai Leskov's story (except one) are either positive or neutral characters.
The old lady (the main character of the story) - she strives to help people.
"... she met a sympathetic and gracious lawyer, and decision in court was quick and favorable for her... It's not that the police or any other bailiffs have been kind to the debtor - they say that they've been tired, already, because of the debtor; that they all feel very sorry for the old lady and are happy to help her..."
Anyway, the old lady can't to solve her legal problem: to receive the debt, the money.
She studies the art of arguing and reasoning, she is able to out-argue city-level officials: "And the officials only looked at her and turned away..."
The old lady herself becomes, in part, a mythological character. She acquires a special skills. "She learned to keep a sharp eye on every step of her elusive debtor and she knew all his secrets from the debtor's servants she had bribed."
But her legal problem is not moving in a positive way.
And so Nikolai Leskov brings a mythological character to the forefront.:
"She [old lady] asked, 'Who is he and what is his rank?' "This," he says, "is quite superfluous to tell it in our circle and it is not customary; call me Ivan Ivanovich, and I have a rank of fourteen sheepskins, which I could turn upside down and turn inside out."
(...) "The rank of fourteen sheepskins" - I understand this, since I was a wife of official. That means he's in the fourteenth grade. As for the name [reputation] and recommendations, he bluntly declares that "as for recommendations, he says, I neglect them and I don't have them, but I have brilliant thoughts in my head and I know worthy people who are ready to carry out any of my plans for three hundred rubles.""
That is, you do not need to try to make a personal request to the Tsar, but you need to find a mythological genius who hides both his name and his position, but who is able to solve any legal problem.
The main myth has an auxiliary myth: the "Serbian fighter" (apparently, some kind of serviceman of the Serbian army - he is in a "Serbian military suit").
The main myth, the auxiliary myth, and the old lady - they catch the debtor at the train station: the debtor is ready to leave Russia (for) abroad.
The auxiliary myth (on the instructions of the main myth) slaps the debtor in the face. The police appear, and begin to draw up a protocol.
The debtor is panicking: he has a foreign passport, a rich, beautiful lady (for a pleasant trip), and train tickets.
The debtor "in order to release himself from the obligation not to leave abroad, immediately paid his entire debt to the old lady in full and with interest."
Maybe some reader will ask: what is the relationship between a slap (scandal) and a paid debt?
... "The policeman says to [the debtor]: 'By the way, I have a paper [a document] in my briefcase which I must to hand over to you.'" (Delivery of the document is the key to debt collection).
And without a slap in the face, a policeman with a paper (which policeman must to hand over to the debtor) could not approach the debtor?
If there is a slap in the face, then there is also a briefcase with paper to hand over. And if there is no slap in the face, then there is no briefcase with paper to hand over...
What is the reason for the debtor's delay in leaving by train? Because of the slap in the face, because of the scandal, because of the protocol, because of the detention of the participants in the scandal.
But how did the paid debt end the administrative proceedings over the scandal? Are these things legally unrelated? Or related?
In Russia of 1841-1884, not only was there no a separation of powers, not only was there no a free press, but not all the readers had a law degree.
So the reader learns that the old lady "got all her money with interest." The reader enjoys the victory of justice (through the actions of the mythological genius Ivan Ivanovich with the rank of fourteen sheepskins), and Nikolai Leskov fits into the existing social conditions and has the moral right to a positive reaction from readers and to a literary honorarium.
The reader has the right to receive moral satisfaction from the victory of justice and to be in a good mood.
January 01, 2026, 20:16
Translation from Russian into English: January 1, 2026, 13:53
Владимир Владимирович Залесский ' Гений для беспомощных людей из чиновничьей России (о рассказе Николая Лескова "Старый гений"). Очерк. '
{ 3772. Гений для беспомощных людей из чиновничьей России (о рассказе Николая Лескова "Старый гений"). Очерк. - 1 января 2026 г.
MMMDCCXLIII. A genius for the powerless people from the bureaucratic Russia (about Nikolai Leskov's story "The Old Genius"). An essay. - January 1, 2026.
Vladimir Zalessky Internet-bibliotheca. Интернет-библиотека Владимира Залесского}