The Prison Cycle by N. S. Leskov in a Genre, Historical, and Literary Context (Leskov — Dostoevsky — Shchedrin)

The article examines the aesthetic and ideological features of N. S. Leskov’s essay “Holy Saturday in Prison,” as well as the articles “Outside the Prison Gates” and “From M. Stebnitsky,” published in the newspaper “Severnaya Pchela” (“The Northern Bee”) in the spring of 1862, and forming a one whole, “prison” publicistiс cycle. The idea of the cycle included a fundamental polemic against the entire genre tradition, a radical rethinking of genre clichés and the protection of the creative autonomy of the writer, his right to write without regard for established conventions. This is evidenced by the original descriptive techniques that continuously disrupt readers’ expectations. The narrator focuses on personal associations and small details that are not directly related to the prison theme. Leskov deliberately avoids a moral assessment of prisoners, omitting their background and not separating them from the people on the other side of the prison walls. He generously resorts to literary quotations and irony in the spirit of Heine, emphasizing the subjective nature of his observations. This technique sharply juxtaposes Leskov’s works with two of the most striking examples of the genre — the “Provincial Sketches” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and “Notes from the House of the Dead” by F. M. Dostoevsky. A comparative analysis of these texts has shown Leskov’s clear rejection of both objectification of his material and broad social, psychological, or philosophical generalizations. In this, the writer is unlike not only his great predecessors, but also numerous Dostoevsky imitators, including N. S. Kurochkin, who visited the same places of detention as Leskov, very shortly before the publication of his essay.