From Nikolai Leskov’s short story The Sentry: In those days there were neither telegraphs nor telephones, and in order to transmit the orders of the authorities as expeditiously as possible, the “forty thousand couriers” immortalized by Gogol in his Government Inspector used to gallop head-long in all directions. This, of course, was not as quick […]

From Nikolai Leskov’s short story The Sentry: Though in those days very few people devoted their time to the study of history, they nevertheless believed in it and were particularly anxious to take part in its making.

From Nikolai Leskov’s short story The Left-handed Craftsman: Their contest started while they were still on the open sea and they went on drinking until they reached the estuary of the Dvina at Riga, and all this time both of them drank the same amount of liquor and neither of them was able to drink […]

From Nikolai Leskov’s short story The Left-handed Craftsman: ” … for the English aren’t fools but a very clever people and their craftsmanship has a good deal of sound common sense behind it. One can do nothing against the English,” they said, “without careful consideration, but with the Lord’s blessing we may be able to […]

From Nikolai Leskov’s short story The White Eagle: … all my thoughts seemed to revolve around Ivan Petrovich, that gay living man who had popped out of the ground so suddenly, just like a mushroom in a field after a shower: it is very small, but you can see it from anywhere; everybody looks at […]

From Nikolai Leskov’s short story The Left-handed Craftsman: … Platov found it a bit hard to say what he wanted to say in French, because, to tell the truth, Platov wasn’t much interested in French and, being a married man, he thought all French talk silly and hardly worth while.