Leskov's Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo uezda: Composition and Symbolic Framework

Author: Aizlewood, Robin¹

Source: The Slavonic and East European Review, Volume 85, Number 3, 1 July 2007 , pp. 401-440(40)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

This article examines the distinctive Leskovian composition of recurrent, linking and overlapping detail and motifs — and the density and open-ended character of the meanings they generate — in his classic story Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo uezda (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, 1865). The analysis begins by showing motif in a metapoetic function and then considers at length the three main overarching and archetypal motifs — water, life and death; the house and imprisonment; the garden and sensuality; it concludes by moving to a consideration of the architectonics of the text's composition, its key themes and symbolic framework. Study of this aspect of his poetics has a key role to play in Leskov studies; at the same time it contributes to the conceptualization of his characteristic heterogeneity and to an understanding of his overall worldview.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: The School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London

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