The Steel Flea (Penguin Little Black Classics) - Softcover

Leskov, Nikolay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014139739X ISBN 13: 9780141397399

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2015

Synopsis

'He gave orders that they were not to get any hot glum pudding in flames, for fear the spirits in their innards might catch fire'

The Steel Flea is an uproarious and alcohol-soaked shaggy-dog story from one of Russia's great comic masters.

Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

Nikolay Leskov (1831-1895). Leskov's works are available in Penguin Classics in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Other Stories and Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida.

About this title

From the Author:

Nikolay Semenovich Leskov was a Russian writer, dubbed the “most national writer of Russia.” Leskov was born in a village in the Oryol Region of Central Russia. His father was an official of the criminal court chamber who had earned a hereditary nobility title despite the fact he originated from a line of clerics. His mother was a noblewoman. Leskov spent his childhood in Oryol, on his parents’ estates in the region. He also spent several years in the house of his mothers’ rich relatives, as his parents had no money to pay for his home education. The relatives had him tutored by Russian, German and French teachers. He studied together with his cousins, showing much greater capabilities, which resulted in his being sent back home. When he was ten, he entered the Oryol gymnasium, but failed to graduate. When he was sixteen, his father died, and all the family belongings were lost in a fire. Leskov went to work as a clerk in the Oryol criminal court chamber. He later used his experience in the office in many of his works.

From the Back Cover:

Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

Nikolay Leskov (1831-1895). Leskov's works are available in Penguin Classics in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Other Stories and Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 014139739X
• ISBN 13: 9780141397399
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 64