SOURCE: "Frame Story and First Person Story in N. S. Leskov," in Scando-Slavica, No. 3, 1957, pp. 49-73.

In the following excerpt, Ansberg discusses Leskov's trademark form, the frame story or skaz, and asserts that the author uses it for both aesthetic and practical purposes: to portray intimately subjective points of view and to disguise his sometimes dangerous opinions.

The frame story (Rahmenerzählung) and the first person story (Icherzählung) occupy an important place in Leskov's production. No definite number can be given for either, partly because the 36-volume edition of 1902-3, in spite of its title Polnoje sobranije sočinenij,¹ includes less than one fourth of all that Leskov wrote (and there are works by Leskov which have been inaccessible to me), partly because it is sometimes difficult to decide whether a given story is a frame story or not. Some have a definite and well developed frame...