The Sentry
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to be out of contact with the real Russian life; and later on he found, too, that the 'advanced' theories attract a particularly objectionable type of people.
"Lyeskov's practical sense, independence of judgment and critical intelligence never allowed him to belong to any party. He could not accept any creed en bloc, and the result was that he was regarded with equal distrust both by the Left and the Right. The beginning of his unpopularity with the Left was, however, due to a misunderstanding … But eight years later the publication of his novel 'Nowhere to Go' raised a storm of abuse against him … and Lyeskov was called a spy, an agent of the government, etc. But Lyeskov was not intimidated by this, nor embittered, and at the end of his life he met with exactly the same fate at the hands of the Conservatives. He held two posts, one in the Ministry of Public Instruction, and another in the Department of Crown Property, both of which he had to give up because he was too free and independent in his judgments. It was a hard thing for him to do because he had no means of livelihood except literature, which did not pay very well, but he never hesitated to sacrifice worldly advantage to his conscience. It was his stories dealing with Church subjects that made him powerful enemies, 'The Cathedral Folk,' 'The Stamped Angel,' 'On the Edge of the World,' etc. He was declared to be 'a secret, cunning and insinuating Nihilist'."I confess that Lyeskov's fate at the hands of both the Parties and all the pure-souled Defenders of the rival political faiths, greatly delights one's sense or irony. For truth is infinite, and hued like a chameleon. Always behind one truth lurks another, and another, and then another complementary truth, often surprisingly disconcerting
