Le Boeuf musqué - L'Epouvantail - La Rapine

Nikolai Leskov

Publié par

221 pages

Résumé

An ex-seminary student Vasily Bogoslovsky, a.k.a. Ovtsebyk (Musk-Ox, a nickname referring both to peculiarities of his appearance and certain living habits) is an out-of-this-world eccentric whose every step and phrase baffles and amuses people around him. He detests the state of things around him, but is uncapable of any practical work, spending his time loitering in woods, reading Latin philosophers and revisiting his old friends from time to time, reminding them about his urgent need of finding 'konditsia' (here: employment).[5]Alexander Sviridov, once a serf peasant and now a successful building engineer, entrepreneur and businessman, is a direct opposite: intelligent and good-natured, he's a practical man to a core, enjoying all-round respect and admiration. It is to him and Nastassya Petrovna, his beautiful wife, that the narrator comes asking to help finding Ovtsebyk just any occupation to keep him from trouble. Alexander and Nastassya try their best but fail. Ovtsebyk shies caring Nastassya, and ignores whatever work he's presented with, preferring to wander around, 'agitating' against the state of things. Developing an almost irrational hatred towards the only man who's eager to give him work and shelter, he's deeply pained by the way 'common people' he cares for, love the latter and ignore his own anti-social 'sermons'. Unable to cope, he hangs himself.[5]