“A tale of Russian faith”: Leskov's tradition in S. N. Durylin's prose

The article discusses how N. S. Leskov’s works influenced Durylin’s writings: his construct of memory, his genre preferences, and his image of Russia as the country of the worldly saints. Some parallels, citations, and reminiscences in Durylin’s Chertog Moei Pamiati (Zapiski Elchaninova) (Palaces of my memory (Elchaninov’s notes)), Troitsyn Den’ (The Whit Sunday), Khivinka are first described and analyzed. All Durylin’s literary critique works on Leskov express the idea that Leskov’s whole life, as well as his writings, was a painful search for the faith and ideal. Durylin was one of the first to note that Leskov’s characters of worldly saints distinguish the image of the lost Russia created by him from other, more critical, images of Russian life. Durylin sees Leskov as the author of the tale of the Russian faith which is very closely related to the ideas, plots, and images of his own prose. The article discusses Durylin’s references to Leskov’s name and texts, Durylin’s preference for such genres as memoirs, chronicles, notes ( Soboriane ( The Cathedral Clergy/ The Cathedral Folk ) - Kolokola ( The Bells ), the similarities in the plots and motifs of these two writers, and use of some Leskov’s narrative strategies by Durylin. The article show how Leskov and his esthetics influenced Durylin’s works and how Durylin interpreted them in the light of his own ideas.