Nikolai Leskov
Two Leskov tales in their early English translations. Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is the story Shostakovich made into an opera, written, Leskov said, in a punishment room at Kiev university. Cross-eyed Lefty and the Steel Flea is its opposite in every way, a folk satire on Russian pride told in the voice of a village storyteller.
Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895) was a Russian novelist, short-story writer and journalist, admired by Chekhov and Gorky for his mastery of vernacular Russian and his vivid portraits of provincial and clerical life. Born in Gorokhovo, Oryol Province, he drew on wide travels across Russia; his tale Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District later inspired Shostakovich's opera. Skomlin also publishes Leskov's Cross-eyed Lefty and the Steel Flea.
Titles at Skomlin
Katerina is stifled by her loveless marriage to a bitter man twice her age whose family are cold and unforgiving. When she embarks on a passionate affair with a young worker on her husband's estate a force is unleashed inside her so powerful that she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
Tsar Alexander I of Russia while visiting England with his servant Platov is shown a number of impressive modern inventions. When they are shown a mechanical flea as small as a crumb with a key to wind it up that can only be seen through a microscope Nicolas orders Platov to find a Russian to beat the English at this game.