Leskov, Nikolai

Leskov, Nikolai [Лесков, Николай], b 16 February 1831 in Gorokhov, Orel gubernia, Russia, d 5 March 1895 in Saint Petersburg. Russian writer. He lived in Kyiv from 1849 to 1857; there he learned the Ukrainian language and became acquainted with the life of the Ukrainian people and their culture. Leskov wrote stories on Ukrainian themes, such as ‘Nekhreshchenyi pop’ (The Unbaptized Priest, 1877), ‘Starinnye psikhopaty’ (Ancient Psychopaths, 1885), ‘Pecherskie antiki’ (Pecherske [District] Eccentrics, 1883), and ‘Zaiachii remiz’ (The Rabbit Warren, 1917). Leskov was personally acquainted with Opanas Markovych and Taras Shevchenko. He wrote articles and memoirs about Shevchenko, such as ‘Posledniaia vstrecha i posledniaia razluka s Shevchenko’ (The Last Encounter and the Last Farewell with Shevchenko, 1861) and ‘Zabyta li Tarasova mogila?’ (Is Taras’s Grave Forgotten?, 1882).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]