NIKOLAI LESKOV'S NOVEL “NO WAY OUT” AS A REFLECTION ON “REAL” NIHILISTS

Abstract

Aim. To reconstruct the social and political content of Nikolai Leskov’s novel “No Way Out”, in which Leskov’s reflections on “real” nihilists were a crucial part.Methodology. The methodological basis of this study is the historical and political science approach to the study of fiction texts.Results. For a long time it was believed that Nikolai Leskov's novel “No Way Out” is anti-nihilistic. However, Leskov himself was convinced that in his novel he was developing the “main idea” of Nikolai Chernyshevsky's nihilistic novel “What Is To Be Done?”, which is considering of be the “Nihilistic Gospel”. He attempted to show the fundamental differences between the “real” nihilists, people of duty and labor, and the “crowd of empty insignificant people” who call themselves nihilists. The article shows the main difference in the method of describing the “real” nihilists of Chernyshevsky and Leskov. While the first affirmed the idea of the need for honest work, showing solely a positive example of the ideal “new people”, the second followed the principle of contradiction and exposed the false nihilists. The article provides a comparative analysis of the behavioral strategies of the protagonists of Chernyshevsky and Leskov who can be called “real” nihilists. The article also reconstructs the social ideal expressed in the novel “No Way Out”.Research implications. The article reconstructs the social and political content of Nikolai Leskov’s novel “No Way Out”, ideas about the “real” nihilists and the social ideal.

Keywords

• Nikolai Leskov
• “No Way Out”
• nihilists
• “What Is To Be Done?”
• social ideal