Night Owls

by Nikolai Leskov, Hugh McLean (Translator)

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books

'I decided that my trip had evidently been in vain, since nothing of interest could possibly occur on this visit. I was mistaken.'

Condemned to sleeplessness by the chatter permeating his guesthouse room, a forlorn traveller turns his ear to the riotous tale spun by the garrulous, meddlesome, inane and utterly unprincipled Márya Martýnovna next door. Her exuberant deformations of morality and language scandalized Tsarist society, and she remains one of Russian literature’s most uproarious anti-heroes.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Russian Literature

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1891

About the author

also:
Николай Лесков
Nikolaj S. Leskow
Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Lesskow
Nikolaj Semënovič Leskov
Nikolaĭ Semenovich Leskov
Nikolai Ljeskow
Н. С. Лѣсков-Стебницкий
Микола Лєсков

Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (Russian: Николай Семёнович Лесков; 16 February 1831 — 5 March 1895) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and journalist who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. Praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form, and held in high esteem by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky among others, Leskov is credited with creating a comprehensive picture of contemporary Russian society using mostly short literary forms. His major works include Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1865) (which was later made into an opera by Shostakovich), The Cathedral Clergy (1872), The Enchanted Wanderer (1873), and "The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea" (1881).

Leskov was born at his parent's estate in Oryol Gubernia in 1831. He received his formal education at the Oryol Lyceum. In 1847 Leskov joined the Oryol criminal court office, later transferring to Kiev where he worked as a clerk, attended university lectures, mixed with local people, and took part in various student circles. In 1857 Leskov quit his job as a clerk and went to work for the private trading company Scott & Wilkins owned by Alexander Scott, his aunt's English husband. He spent several years traveling throughout Russia on company business. It was in these early years that Leskov learned local dialects and became keenly interested in the customs and ways of the different ethnic and regional groups of Russian peoples. His experiences during these travels provided him with material and inspiration for his future as a writer of fiction.

Leskov's literary career began in the early 1860s with the publication of his short story "The Extinguished Flame" (1862), and his novellas Musk-Ox (May 1863) and The Life of a Peasant Woman (September, 1863). His first novel No Way Out was published under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky in 1864. From the mid 1860s to the mid 1880s Leskov published a wide range of works, including journalism, sketches, short stories, and novels. Leskov's major works, many of which continue to be published in modern versions, were written during this time. A number of his later works were banned because of their satirical treatment of the Russian Orthodox Church and its functionaries. In his last years Leskov suffered from angina pectoris and asthma. He died on 5 March 1895. He was interred in the Volkovo Cemetery in Saint Petersburg, in the section reserved for literary figures.

Reviews

[Sebastiaan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helemaal niet slecht, maar ik mis mogelijk wat historische achtergrondkennis om de satire van de Russische maatschappij van 1891 helemaal te vatten. Bovendien kan ik duidelijk opmerken dat de vertaler (Hugh McLean) zijn uiterste best heeft gedaan om de talloze woordspelingen en malapropismen naar het Engels te vertalen, maar dat maakt de leeservaring er niet evidenter op.

[anna_frcska · Rating 5 out of 5]

God forbid a girl has a hobby.

[brox · Rating 3 out of 5]

can anyone tell me what the hell 'putting items on the gender' means

[弓 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly an intriguing story that wanted me to just keep on reading! Perhaps it is so because the premise is an "eavesdropping plot" and you feel engrossed in the story that is not yours.

I feel this book can stir quite some emotions within the reader due to the gossip and annoyance-driven narrator. While Klávdia is presented as a weird, apathethic, greedy and villainous character, Márya and Áichka - and by extension Klávdia's family members - are rendered (by themselves) as "normal people", "good Christians" that lead good Christian lives in accordance with the church. (Meanwhile some don't even know that some stories are actually deemed false by the priests and church of the religion they say they so understand and revere so much...) Amazing irony!

Those that are presented essentially selfless, who wish for true equality amongst people, no ridiculous fortune, no unnecessary killing of animals and who just want to lead simple lives or perhaps just lives in their on "unconventional" way, are deemed monsters, "queer", lost or just plain apathetic.

I could sense that Márya, although ironically not rich at all, truly thought she was a sort of hero of the story, while Klávdia was the horror, a villain.

Indeed an interesting read that still holds some resemblence to our current state of the world.

By the end it was visible that both the narrator Márya and Áichka were very biased, coloured by the wish to lead a "normal" (pre-decided) life and, perhaps, were feeling treathened by individuals such as Klávdia (and Áichka's love interest who was the same type of selfless person). Hence, they painted them as emotionless and dull - as if they were not really human unlike them.

The ending was a bit vague, and the whole depiction of the house in the beginning made me think the storyline would be about the house itself while in fact it was not. Nevertheless a good read about what it means to try and defy the expected lifestyle of your time, and the cost of it, specifically as a woman.

[Komal Hashmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story that just keeps on giving! One chaos after another. Twist upon a twist
It is also astonishing to see how the society is hell bent to transform a girl/woman according to its set standards esp. if she is trying to live her life in a different way.

Reading Nikolai Leskov is always such a treat. You can never guess what is coming your way.

[Afonso · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Besides, Nikolái Ivánovich suddenly got into a fierce argument with the waiters about the cigars, and it looked like there was a threat of a real awful hand-to-hand grabble. He asked for something called 'Bueno-Gusto' and they lit it for him. Then when he asked for the box, the inscription turned out to be 'Gueno Busto' or something even worse. Nikolái Ivánovich took all the cigars, tore the to bits, threw them on the floor, and stamped on them. This was the sort of thing he usually did to start a grabble.'

This book was a really pleasant surprise! An unnamed man decides to travel to an unnamed town out of boredom, where he lodges at the 'Expectension'. In this town lives a religious man who is known to be some kind of miracle-worker and crowds gather every day around his house to ask him for prayers. As the man goes to sleep at the Expectension, he is prevented from sleeping by the conversation in the room next door between two women, Martýnovna and Aíchka, who seem to have just met each other. Through the night, Martýnovna tells Aíchka the outlandish tale of how she came to be in this town looking for the miracle-worker. Martýnovna's story is a mixture of shameless gossip and irreverent tall-tales about her previous employers, the Stépenevs, where the male head of the house Nikolái was a pleasure-seeking fiend and the young woman Klávdia refuses to live like a noblewoman and wishes to give all the family fortune to the poor. Through this incredulous and funny story, Leskov satirises the Russia of his time, criticising the aristocracy for being out of touch with reality, the clergy for being hypocritical, and the people for being wilful in their ignorance. The cherry on top of the cake were the witty distortions of language that Leskov employs. They certainly made for a difficult reading, but they were hilarious.

Or, as another reviewer on Goodreads put it, "God forbid a girl has a hobby".

[Konstantina Papanikolaou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read and quick, especially for me, a person who knows nothing about Russian literature! Would've been four stars but for the printing: my copy had several pages that were their cut off or missing chunks of text.

I bought this as a collector's piece from the Penguin Archive collection but am very, very disappointed by the printing. Penguin, you have SO MUCH MONEY. Do better.

[Patrí · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had fun reading this book. marya really do talk too much lol but the story is so interesting. it's like listening to an old auntie's gossip about some drama she was involved with when she was younger. it's a fun and light read. although there are things to be said about the theme of the story and the characters, i'd rather just read it for the drama.

[ruhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7 ⭐️

[Michael Zwiauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real oddity. The most strait-laced of satires laden with disdain for its characters and a barrage of moral judgements told through multiple layers of narration. A fun diversion, but nothing more.

[t · Rating 3 out of 5]

marya martynovna they could never make me dislike you

[Imre · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 - not for me. The dialogue start clear but becomes rambling noise about half way through. The church criticism is written well - but absurd.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mayhem, a circus! I love this little book, it’s hilarious.

[Samantha M · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I'm sorry this was just so boring. I think someday I'll give it another try + I have a collection by this author on my shelf and I'd still be interested in giving that a go.