Article

Name: How to Read a Leskov’s Story “Chertogon” (“The Devil-Chase”): There Is Absolutely no Life…

Authors: A. E. Bochkarev

National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Russian Federation

Abstract: The article presents a structural-semantic analysis of a N. Leskov’s story “The Devil-Chase” (“Chertogon”) in order to establish some particularly meaningful elements of the text and show how they direct and determine the understanding. In particular, there are some utterances, a narrative perspective, a narrative program, as well as some multiple variable focalizations, which show a narrative subject in focus of different points of view. As for a narrative organization, the told story is enclosed between two reflected sentences: (1) “there is absolutely no life” and (2) “...he feels life again” with a key link episode, such a devil-chase (‘chertogon’), as a condition for transformation of ‘non-life’ in ‘life’ in the time interval t0 ‒ t0+1. In a narrative perspective, the so called rite, described in the story, includes some several episodes (subframes), such a riotous night in a restaurant, ablution in baths and praying before the icon of Virgin of All-Waving (“Vsepetaya”), connected by a causal implication A → B → C. So ‘fall’ is necessary implicated by ‘ascension’, as being concerned in a mutter and condition, behind only a basic opinion, what the narrative subject believes, as a ground and a “good popular faith” as guarantee for truth.

Keywords: narrative program, focalization, evaluation, opinion, interpretation

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