How do Russians and British people treat left-handed people? All the books are about: “how left-handed people are treated.... The Tale of the Tula Oblique Left-Hander and the Steel Flea

A.M. PANCHENKO.
LESKOVSKY LEFT-HANDER AS A NATIONAL PROBLEM

Russia met Lefty more than a hundred years ago: “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea” with the subtitle “The Workshop Legend” was published in the autumn 1881 issues of I. S. Aksakov’s magazine “Rus”. Since then, Lefty has managed, and for a long time, to become a national favorite and a national symbol.
National symbols consist of various series. Where to classify Lefty? This figure is fictional, a literary character. Consequently, he should fall into the same row as Mitrofanushka, Chatsky and Molchalin, Onegin and Pechorin, Oblomov and Smerdyakov. However, in reality, Lefty is perceived as a folklore or semi-folklore character, as a version of Ivan the Fool, who, in the end, turns out to be smarter than everyone else, as relatives - in appearance - of Vaska Buslaev's associate Potanyushka Khromenky or his doubles from the historical songs about Kostryuk "Vasyutka the Short" " and "Little Ilyushenka" (A.A. Gorelov drew attention to this similarity in his excellent book, published in 1988, "N.S. Leskov and Folk Culture"). The reader associates Lefty with the epic and religious archetype “last shall be first.”
Leskov seemed to be striving for such a perception, which is (again, seemingly) indicated by the preface to the first publication, repeated in a separate edition in the printing house of A.S. Suvorin (1882). Leskov claims that he “recorded this legend in Sestroretsk according to a local tale from an old gunsmith, a native of Tula...”. But when critics, especially radical ones, began to scold Leskov for lack of originality, for “simple shorthand” (reviewer for the magazine “Delo”), he began to come up with “literary explanations.” From them it was clear that the preface was an ordinary hoax and that the “folk” in the tale was only a “joke and a joke”: “The British made a flea out of steel, and our Tula people shod it and sent it back to them.” This is a teaser, and a very old one, which existed in Russia even without the “Aglitsky” element: “The Tula people chained a flea” or “The Tula people shod a flea.”
Leskov agreed with those critics who believed that “where “left-handed” stands, one should read “Russian people.” But Leskov strongly objected to the fact that Lefty personifies the best qualities of the Russian people: “I cannot accept without objection reproaches for the desire to belittle the Russian people or flatter them. Neither one nor the other was in my intentions...” What did Leskov want to say? Let's turn to the text.
The hero’s appearance is very colorful: “He’s left-handed with an oblique eye, there’s a birthmark on his cheek, and the hair on his temples was torn out during training.” “Slanting left-hander” evokes complex associations – and primarily negative ones. “Oblique” as a noun in Russian means not only a hare, but also “enemy”, “devil”. “To squint is to plot intrigues” [Dal, II]. In addition, the hero of the tale is a blacksmith, a farrier, a forger, and in the language and in the popular consciousness he is associated with “intrigues” and “treachery.”
But much more important is the sign of leftism, a sign of wrongness and spiritual destruction. The righteous go to the right, to eternal bliss, unrepentant sinners go to the left, to eternal torment. In conspiracies, in lists of bad people who should be feared, along with “plain-haired women,” crooked, askew, and left-handed people are named. In the Bible, the attitude towards left-handers is also negative (the only exception is Judges 3:15). The ungodly army, for example, is described as follows: “Of all this people there were seven hundred chosen men, who were left-handed, and all these, when they threw stones with slings... did not throw them by” (Judges 20:16).
However, inversion is possible when “the left-handedness of the heroes emphasizes their unusualness and serves as a symbol of another world” [Ivanov, 44]. This applies not only to pagans, at least the ancient Roman augurs, but also to Christians, including Orthodox Christians, which is most important for understanding Leskov. In the Life of the holy fool Procopius of Ustyug it is said that he “carried three pokers in his left hand...”. If he raised them up, it was a prophecy of a good harvest, if he lowered them down, it was a prediction of a bad harvest. Every holy fool, according to the unwritten conditions of his “superlegal” feat not provided for by monastic charters, violates the norms of Orthodox behavior - he exposes himself, laughs (even in church), and mocks the temple splendor. This is truly “leftist behavior”: “neither a candle to God nor a poker to the devil.” But Lefty is not a holy fool.
Meanwhile, this is how he behaves in England, accepting a glass of wine from his hosts: “He stood up, crossed himself with his left hand and drank their health to all of them.” This is simply scary to read, because shuytsa, the left hand, is an “unbaptized hand” [Dahl], and it is difficult to sin more than to make the sign of the cross with it. This gesture of Lefty is from black magic, from the black mass, downright diabolical. By the way, I did not find a single similar case in works on Russian ethnography. Leskov “invented” this, and not by chance: he was from an old priestly family and knew perfectly well what was what.
Is there any justification for the “unbaptized hand”, because Lefty, after all, is very, very attractive to the reader and the author (and to me, a sinner): unselfish, smart, unpretentious, gentle... Ethnography knows something about “normal leftism”. Here is an Orthodox hunter going into the forest to hunt a bear. The hunter takes off his pectoral cross and places it in his boot or bast shoe under his left heel. The hunter reads the “Our Father” at the edge of the forest “falsely and renounced” - not inverted, from left to right, as was done in the Catholic West, but with a negation to each word: “Not-Father, not-ours, not-like, not-thou , not-in-heaven...” This is necessary in order to deceive the devil (his hair is combed to the left, sometimes his caftan is buttoned from right to left), to force him to recognize the hunter as “his own”, “left”.
In the same way, Lefty is baptized with a shuitsa in England, in a “foreign space.” “They noticed that he crossed himself with his left hand, and asked the courier: “What is he, a Lutheran or a Protestant?” The courier replies: “No, he... is of the Russian faith,” - “Why does he cross himself with his left hand?” The courier said: “He is left-handed and does everything with his left hand.”
Indeed: the left hand in inverted mythology is a skilled hand, but in Orthodoxy it is an unbaptized hand. Whatever you don’t do with it turns out to be both bad and bad; it turns out, to use Leskov’s expression, “verbal chirunda.”
So the British gave Emperor Alexander Pavlovich a clockwork flea with a key, so the sovereign “inserted the key.” The flea “begins to move its antennae, then began to move its legs, and finally suddenly jumped and in one flight a straight dance and two variations to the side, then to the other, and so in three variations it danced the whole cavril.”
There is a well-known expression “just cause”. But there is also a now rare, and once also commonly used expression “left business” (now in the language all that remains of it is “to be used up to the left”, i.e. to shoot, “left goods”, “left trip”, etc. “ beliefs"). Let’s look at Dahl [Dal II]: “Your work is left, wrong, crooked.” Tula craftsmen did the right thing. Previously, the flea danced, but now “it moves its antennae, but does not touch its legs... it does not dance and does not throw out any dances, as before.” We surprised the world, we defeated the British, but we ruined a good product, a very funny trinket. A.A. correctly noted in his book. Gorelov that the victory of the Tula people “looks like defeat” [Gorelov, 249].
If we formalize the plot of Leskov’s tale, the following chain will be built: first victory (“the head of the tsars” Alexander I travels around Europe after the defeat of Napoleon), then a dubious, “defeat-like” victory over the British (the flea is savvy), then an indication of defeat in the Crimean campaign - from the same, in particular, the British. The faithful and intelligent Lefty could not prevent the collapse in the Crimea, although he tried: “Tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks: let them not clean ours either, otherwise, God bless the war, they’re not good for shooting.” And with this fidelity, the left-hander crossed himself and died. (I wonder which hand he used to cross himself for the last time? I hope it was his right hand.)
So, the tale of Lefty is a tale of the Russian national fall. The fault lies with Nicholas I, who more than once surprised Europe and ended his ceremonial reign in disgrace. The circumstances of Russian life are also to blame, as Leskov wrote in his “explanation”: “The left-hander is sharp-witted, quick-witted, even skillful, but he doesn’t know the “calculation of strength” because he has not mastered the sciences and instead of the four rules of addition from arithmetic, he still wanders around The Psalter (so! - A.P.) and the sleep book. He sees how in England, for those who work, all the absolute circumstances in life are better open, but he himself still strives for his homeland and still wants to say a few words to the sovereign about what is not being done as it should be, but this is not for a left-handed person. succeeds because they “drop him onto the paratha.” That's what it's all about."
I think not only this, otherwise it would be enough to limit ourselves to common social complaints about poverty, lack of education, lack of rights and overcrowding of Tula guild masters. The fact is that Russian common civilization, predominantly rural, shuns and fears industrial labor. This fear was expressed by Nekrasov in “The Railway”: “And on the sides there are all Russian bones...” Any construction is a religious act (in folk mythology), it requires a construction sacrifice, extreme effort. In the 20th century this mythology has become reality. We surprised the world. They destroyed their own country. The White Sea-Baltic Canal, which cannot be navigated... The ruined Aral Sea, the half-ruined Baikal and Ladoga... The useless BAM... Finally, the tragic Chernobyl...
The distant descendants of Lefty, the Russian tragic hero, had a hand in them.
LITERATURE
Gorelov. Gorelov A.A. N.S. Leskov and folk culture. L., 1988.
Dahl I-IV. Dal V.I. Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language: In 4 volumes. M., 1955. T. 2.
Ivanov. Ivanov Vyach. Sun. Left and right // Myths of the peoples of the world: In 2 volumes. M., 1988 T.2.

Relations between Russians and British

Anastasia Ovchinnikova

The interaction between the Russians and the British, like many other peoples, occurs with some complications.

To begin with, it is worth talking about the attitude of Russians and British towards each other. As A.V. Pavlovskaya writes in the book “England and the British”: “The British have a generally friendly attitude towards Russians... The standard reaction to the message that you are Russian is a phrase about the weather. That is, the British in general always, as is well known, talk about the weather, but in combination with our country it is inevitably the topic of cold. If you are traveling in the summer, then your interlocutor will be surprised beyond measure when, in response to a question about the weather in Russia, he hears that it is hot there now. If you are asked about the weather in winter, then please your interlocutor and describe the real Russian winter, even if there is the usual winter slush at home at this time...

But Russians still raise some concerns: it’s the fault of television, which always talks about our crime, and our own modern feature films, glorifying the immortal mafia, and sometimes the behavior of our compatriots who have breathed the air of freedom.”

The Russian national character is characterized by increased interest, curiosity and goodwill both towards foreigners in general and towards the British in particular. Accordingly, the words foreign and foreigner do not have inherent (that is, initially inherent regardless of context) negative connotations, rather the opposite. These are words that arouse interest and increased attention, setting up the perception of something new, exciting, unknown. The British are one of the most respected nations for Russians. Perhaps this is due to the positive image of the British from literature and films. And even after personal contact, despite all the oddities of the British, Russians still perceive them positively. The English words foreign and foreigner are used, as a rule, in negative contexts. In the illustrative phraseology of English dictionaries, foreigner (foreigner) appears in a clearly condescending light.

An important problem that you encounter when you find yourself in a foreign country is the language problem. Strictly speaking, it is not central. To enjoy your stay in another country, other factors, such as attitude, are much more important. If it is positive, if you firmly decided that you will feel good, then most likely it will be so. Knowledge and understanding of another culture, the desire to understand, accept and even forgive those cases that go against your ideas about beauty are very important. It is enough to agree that foreign does not mean bad, but simply different, so that life abroad becomes much easier.

It is quite possible to live without a language in another country. For this there is a language of facial expressions and gestures. But, of course, knowing the language helps a lot and makes your life different. You see more, understand more, fear less, feel calmer. The problem with the English language is that almost everyone knows it, at least a little, but few understand it. To begin with, the English that we have always been taught, the so-called Royal English (in England itself it is called BBC English or Oxford English) is mainly suitable for conversation with the Queen. In order to learn live English, you need to communicate with a native speaker either in England or in Russia. Educational tourism pursues precisely this goal: for people to practice language skills in a native speaker country. There is another difficulty that many tourists will agree with: often a foreigner speaking English that is not his native language is much easier to understand than a native Englishman. In addition, the English language on an island that is small by our standards has a huge number of dialects, accents and variations, primarily phonetic.

It is interesting that the younger generation, who grew up more relaxed and cosmopolitan, as a rule, do not have great difficulties in using their, even the most meager, knowledge. But the elder, even having studied all the rules of grammar and phonetics, very often cannot open his mouth and is completely unable to communicate. Which once again proves that the problem here is not knowledge, but psychology.

As advised by A.V. Pavlovskaya: “If you want to be understood, first of all, put some porridge in your mouth and under no circumstances pronounce the sounds clearly - let’s pretend that this is a joke, although this is exactly the impression that often arises when first communicating with the English. Use facial expressions and gestures more; in England this, however, is not accepted, but it can help you find your way or, like Figaro and Lefty, have lunch. And most importantly, relax, don’t worry, don’t be afraid to make a mistake: the British are very lenient towards foreigners and will try to understand you in any case, and if they suddenly succeed, they will certainly be surprised at how good your English is.” Unlike the British, Russians are perhaps the only nation that laughs at foreigners’ attempts to speak Russian.

Since the most popular accommodation option is the so-called. “host family”, then it is worth mentioning the peculiarities of life in an English family.

Family life is an integral part of the curriculum. The family is usually carefully selected by the school administration or company based on many parameters. Typically the group chaperone or sales manager will explain to tourists that an English family will be different in many cultural ways, such as no showers, different food and pets in the house. A family in England can be referred to as a family consisting of a husband, wife, and sometimes children, or a single woman or man. Sometimes family pets receive more attention than children. That is, even the British treat their children rather coolly. Therefore, you should not expect a warm welcome when you enter their home.

From time immemorial, the Russian people were famous for their hospitality and hospitality. In any home or family, Russians warmly welcomed and welcome people they know and don’t know, provide accommodation for the night, and treat them to everything they can. 80% of the British have a fairly clear attitude towards foreign students in their home - shelter, food, small talk at dinner. At this point all communication stops. The British are characterized by a love of silence and solitude, and a desire not to interfere in the affairs of others.

At the same time, there will be less conflict if you keep your family informed of your movements.

Food in the family is most often also a problem, since we have different opinions about the taste and nutritional value of foods. The problem can be resolved through a simple conversation with the family. Usually, if the request is within the bounds of politeness, the family will accept it.

On the first day of arrival, students usually take a test to determine their language level. A very big mistake our students make is cheating. In England, and in many other countries, this is strictly prohibited. Cheating is one of the clearest examples of collectivist culture. In an individualistic culture, cheating can be severely punished.

A smile plays a big role in communicating with the British. One of the strange features of representatives of Russian culture in the eyes of the West is gloominess, inhospitability, and lack of a smile. In our time, when international contacts are becoming more widespread and intense (both sides are making up for lost time over decades of isolation), the problem of smiling has suddenly become especially acute.

Russians do not smile (and hence they are “gloomy savages”, aggressive by nature, etc.), they are an unsmiling nation (they are an unsmiling nation) and therefore you need to be on your guard with them: you can expect anything from these gloomy types. As funny as it may seem for the Russians, the furor created by M. S. Gorbachev in England in December 1984, which began his “triumphant march” in the Western world, was caused, in particular, by a pleasant surprise - a smiling Soviet ruler of high rank.

So, the West’s claim to the “mysterious Russian soul”: why don’t they smile? Thousands of foreign tourists, especially from English-speaking countries, leaving Russia and speaking enthusiastically about what they saw, complain at the end: but why are the people on the street so gloomy, why don’t they smile?

On the contrary, Russian people, having entered the English-speaking world, are perplexed about smiles.

In the Western world in general and in the English-speaking world in particular, a smile is a sign of culture (culture, of course, in the ethnographic sense of the word), it is a tradition, a custom: to stretch your lips into the appropriate position to show that you have no aggressive intentions, you are not going to rob or kill. This is a way of formally demonstrating to others that one belongs to a given culture, to a given society. The method is very pleasant, especially for representatives of those cultures in which a smile is an expression of natural sincere disposition, sympathy, good attitude, as in Russia.

These are completely different smiles in different cultures. In the Western world, a smile is both a formal sign of culture that has nothing to do with sincere affection for the person you are smiling at, and, of course, like all of humanity, a biological reaction to positive emotions; Russians have only the latter. And there is no need to worry about this, or shrug your shoulders, or suspect intrigues - everything is normal, everything is natural: in one culture - this way, in another - differently.

Russians have a completely different mentality, different traditions, different life, different culture - in this matter everything is exactly the opposite. The higher a person’s social position, the more serious his image should be. If you are running for a high position, you must show future voters that you are a thorough, serious, intelligent person and, therefore, aware of what a difficult task you have ahead of you, what serious problems you will have to solve. A smile in such a situation is inappropriate; it will only show that the person is frivolous, does not realize the responsibility of his work, and therefore cannot be trusted.

Let's summarize.

1. There are different smiles.

A “formal smile” is a type of greeting in Western cultures to strangers, an attempt to ensure safety in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. In Russian culture this can have the exact opposite effect.

“A commercial smile” is a requirement of modern service. It is being introduced in Russia by foreign companies and no longer seems so unusual.

“A sincere smile” is a manifestation of good feelings, a good attitude. This is a natural human reaction to positive circumstances and is not culturally conditioned. This type of smile is common to all human communities, regardless of cultural conventions. This type of smile is characteristic of Russians.

2. The difference in smiles is a difference in culture.

3. All people need to learn to understand and accept other cultures; without this, neither intercultural and international communication, nor cooperation, nor world peace are possible.

Let's compare the main features of the British and Russians. Independence, bordering on the aloofness of the British, is the basis of human relations. The British diligently avoid personal aspects in colloquial speech. They are characterized by such traits as restraint, a tendency to understatement, and scrupulousness.

The psychology of the Russian people, perhaps thanks to Orthodox influence, has firmly included such psychological qualities as love and compassion, sacrifice and responsibility, solidarity and mutual assistance, perseverance in suffering and the absence of strict regulation of human behavior.

The famous English restraint, the desire to hide emotions and save face is a consequence of strict upbringing. There aren't many things that can set an Englishman off. Restraint, control over one's feelings, often mistaken for simple coldness - these are the life principles of this small but proud people. In those cases when a representative of the sentimental Latin race or the spiritual Slavic race weeps with tears of admiration or tenderness, the Englishman will say “lovely” (“cute”), and this will be equivalent in the strength of the expression of feelings.

The only thing that can piss off a true Englishman is the noisy and defiant behavior of others. Even in London, a city almost entirely given over to tourists and immigrants, you can often see a decorous English couple on a bus looking with open disgust at a noisy and emotional group of Spanish or Italian tourists and allowing themselves, even in a fit of sincere indignation, to just frown their eyebrows and silently look at each other indignantly .

English restraint and reluctance to show their feelings cause the greatest misunderstanding, and sometimes condemnation of those around them, both emotional representatives of the Romanesque world and sensitive ones of the Slavic world; even the Germans are distinguished by at least sentimentality. The British got rid of all these qualities unnecessary for everyday life.

Madame de Staël never ceased to be amazed at the coldness and formality of relations between people in England. She, an emotional Frenchwoman, was outraged by the fact that in this country there are a lot of formalities, even in relationships between close people: for example, brothers and sisters do not come to visit each other without invitations, sons and daughters after marriage do not live with their parents, in order to in order to speak to a person in society, you must be introduced to each other, etc.

Among the British, the ability to patiently listen to an interlocutor without contradicting him does not always indicate agreement. You should not begin negotiations with English firms without careful preparation and approval. If the terms and program of your stay have been agreed upon, there is no need to inform your partners about your arrival and address. Exchanging handshakes is accepted only at the first meeting; in the future, the British are content with a simple verbal greeting.

At the same time, it must be remembered that working with representatives of Russian nationality requires a certain control, great strictness, and prevention of the sometimes encountered laxity, irresponsibility and negligence.

The main thing for the interaction of different cultures is to understand and accept a person or an entire nation.

Basic rules for successful communication between Russians and English

It must be remembered that Russians feel uncomfortable in a competitive situation; the desire for harmony and cooperation within the group is their main concern, hence the inadmissibility of public criticism in such cultures.

Russians are focused on long-term relationships, they do not strive to do business from the first meeting - trust in the partner must appear, and this takes time. Often business contacts between the British and Russians are unsuccessful due to the difference in goals: the British are immediately focused on business, and the Russians first want to establish good interpersonal relations. One of the greatest disappointments of a Russian person is when he realizes that an Englishman will not become his close friend.

Russians are often modest and do not brag about their achievements; the British have a different strategy - “you can’t praise yourself, no one will praise you.”

When distributing rewards and resources, Russians use the principle of fairness in relation to members of the outgroup and the principle of equality in relation to members of the ingroup, and the British use the principle of fairness in both situations. This gives rise to misunderstanding when a Russian views an Englishman as a member of an ingroup, and he applies the principle of justice in relation to him. For a Russian, this is a signal of rejection by an Englishman.

Russians feel comfortable in relationships of unequal status. They like and consider it right to show respect to an authority figure and feel like a “boss” when communicating with subordinates. Many English people, on the contrary, feel uncomfortable when they find themselves in relationships with unequal status. They often say: “Call me by name,” but what’s even worse is that they start calling the Russian by name much earlier than he himself is ready for it.

Giving and providing services is especially important in Russian culture, and interaction is often built on a “non-monetary” basis. A Russian who views an Englishman as a member of an ingroup may be offended if he offers him money for some service rendered. The only appropriate payment is to do him a return favor.

In Russian culture, people often accompany each other and do personal things together. This creates discomfort for the Englishman, who needs autonomy and to be “alone.” At the same time, the Russian feels uncomfortable if the Englishman does not want to be with the group. If an Englishman makes an appointment with a Russian, he may well expect that he will appear not alone, but accompanied.

In order to successfully interact with the British, a Russian must learn to pay less attention to groups, to demographic characteristics (gender, age, etc.) and not to expect behavior in accordance with certain group norms, but to pay more attention to the attitudes and preferences of this particular person.

Russians should remember that the British are proud of their past and present achievements, their personal success, their competence. These are important aspects of their self-concept. However, they are not emotionally attached to their ingroups, with the exception of their own family (spouse and children). If there is a conflict between vertical and horizontal relationships, the Englishman will prefer horizontal relationships (for example, in a conflict between a spouse and older relatives, he will side with the spouse). This may seem strange to a Russian person.

The British are accustomed to competitive strategies, especially in situations where there is clearly a comparison with others. This is not evidence of his hostility, but simply a response to living conditions that require competition.

A Russian who is trying to convince an Englishman of something must provide personally meaningful arguments, as well as compliments on the Englishman’s achievements and competence. The ideas of group harmony, cooperation, and avoidance of confrontation do not inspire representatives of English culture.

Interaction with the British can be friendly from the first minute, but official and short-lived. Time is money for them and you can do business with it right away, because any delay for him is wasted time. Your relationship with him will last as long as he needs or is beneficial, because in his perception, the result of this relationship should be more significant than the costs of it. Particular attention should be paid to contracts: in English culture, a signature means a lot, but in Russian culture, a signature is not as significant as the final word.

Russians should not expect the British to distribute resources and rewards according to the principle of equality - only according to the principle of fairness, depending on personal contribution. Therefore, you should not expect the respect of an Englishman only because of status (belonging to the upper strata of society, formal education, singing, etc.). His respect must be earned through action. Therefore, when communicating with the British, you should not be too modest and keep silent about your achievements. But this must be done very skillfully. They do not like behavior that is either “bossy” or too humiliating; they value horizontal, i.e., equal relationships.

Also, don't expect them to tolerate illegal behavior, such as cheating or tax evasion, which is often "sympathetic" in Russian culture (as personal relationships are more important than the individual's relationship with the law and the state).

When you visit England, do not expect that you will often be accompanied on your business and trips - the British do many things alone and expect the same from others. The Englishman prefers to work in a situation where his individual efforts will be noticed and appreciated, and does not like group work, when the entire group or its top is rewarded, and individuals are anonymous.

In relation to nature, the Englishman feels more like its master and transformer, and is less inclined to obey it or live in harmony with it. Orientation: towards the future is the main one among the temporary orientations of the British, while Russians are more inclined to focus on the past (their ancestors, the history of their country and culture).

Here we also provide general rules for successful communication between Russians and English, which are of particular value for Russian tourists traveling to the UK:

Take into account the fact that the English speak rather slurredly, and you may not be able to understand their speech right away, regardless of your level of knowledge of the language.

The British value their own and other people's time very much, so try not to be late for your appointments.

When studying in educational institutions in the UK, do not forget that cheating is strictly prohibited. They can get kicked out of school for this.

Don't be surprised if your host family doesn't welcome you as warmly as you expected. For most families, students are just an opportunity to earn money.

It is better to discuss meals in the family in advance, since they have different ideas about the taste of food and its nutritional value.

When in the UK, try to be polite and smile more often.

To the question: “How are you?” It is not necessary to talk about all your problems - it is a simple greeting, implying a positive or neutral response.

If there is silence during a conversation with an Englishman, it is not at all necessary to artificially maintain the conversation. The British prefer to talk to the point.

When talking to English people, try not to speak too loudly or too quickly.

The British take any offense, even a minor one, extremely seriously, and will not treat it “with understanding.”

Try not to tell the Englishman “the whole truth to his face.” This is considered rude.

Don't be afraid to speak English. The British will do everything possible to understand you. Only Russian people tend to laugh at someone else's accent.

Triandis writes: “The wisdom of intercultural interaction is not to rush to conclusions when people do something that you think is strange. Play along with them until you understand the culture. For example, in many collectivist cultures, employees (including government employees) expect from the customer, in addition to paying for the service, special gratitude for themselves personally. Individualists see this as a bribe, but in collectivist cultures, where personal income is scarce and everything is shared among everyone, it is seen as completely normal.”

So, successful interaction between Russians and British is impossible without taking into account the ethnocultural characteristics of these peoples. If a person takes into account the characteristics of cultures, then he will have the right attitudes towards the perception of another culture.

Bibliography

To prepare this work, materials were used from the site http://www.countries.ru/

A plot is an event or a series of interconnected events that develop sequentially and make up the content of a work of art. It consists of separate storylines.

In the tale “Lefty” there are clearly visible plot lines that reveal the image of a left-hander, the attitude of other characters towards him, and the ideological content of the tale. They can be represented like this: emperors and Platov, Platov and left-hander, l Evsha and the British. Let's look at each in detail.

The tale presents 2 emperors: Alexander

Pavlovich and Nikolai Pavlovich. After the Congress of Vienna, when the Russian army reached Paris and the Russian people defeated Napoleon, the author shows Alexander Pavlovich interested in the achievements of other peoples. And if it weren’t for the Don Cossack Platov, the foreigners would have “bowed” him to their side. Alexander Pavlovich did not know his people, he bowed to others. “We Russians are no good with our meaning,” he said.

Platov was offended by such injustice and consoled himself with sour vodka. The emperor paid big money to foreigners for outlandish crafts. So he gave a million and 5 thousand in silver for a flea.

Another emperor, Nikolai Pavlovich, “was confident in his Russian people and did not like to yield to any foreigner.”

He supported Platov in his intention to outdo the English masters. And indeed, the left-hander and his comrades managed to surpass the overseas masters. But Nikolai Pavlovich did not reward the left-hander in any way, only Platov gave him 100 rubles. The author notes that for the trip to England, the left-hander was given a formal caftan not a new one, but one from a court singer. The left-hander rode hungry all the way to London, since “after presentation to the sovereign, according to Platov’s order, the left-hander was given a generous portion of wine from the treasury.” (For comparison, let’s remember a million and 5 thousand to English craftsmen for a flea).

Platov, unlike Alexander Pavlovich, believed in the talent and strength of the Russian people. He tried in every way to show this to the emperors. On the other hand, his attitude towards this people is shown: enraged, he grabbed the left-hander by the hair and sat him down at his feet like a “pubel”, called him a fool in front of the emperor, took him without a “tugament”, and if necessary, wanted put the left-hander in a fortress casemate, sent him to England without food. Through the storylines of Platov and the emperors, Platov and the Lefty, the attitude of the authorities towards a talented person is shown. Neither the emperors nor Platov see human dignity in him and do not strive to help him. They need him as a person who will be able to glorify them abroad. They do not show any care for him, they cannot even feed him.

The storyline of the left-hander and the British allows us to reveal the inner world of the left-hander, his abilities, and shows how talent is treated abroad.

At first, the British respected him for his talent and recognized him as a master. They were even more surprised when they learned that the master was left-handed and that he did not know arithmetic.

In addition, Lefty was hardworking, modest, unpretentious, purposeful, and persistent. The labor process for a left-handed person is a sacred action. They asked the master for a blessing from Saint Nicholas, after which they retired to the left-handed man’s house and worked there for three days. No matter how the locals frightened them or distracted them, the craftsmen did not come out until the work was done. In communicating with the British, the left-hander's true love for his homeland was revealed. He couldn’t stay in England because “his parents were at home.”

The Russian faith is “correct” for a left-handed person, and he should believe the same way as the “right-fathers.” He was not attracted to the English women either, and he did not want to fool them unnecessarily, according to the Russian rules of life, for which the British liked him even more.

Lefty didn’t just look at what surrounded him in England, but studied it and gave everything his assessment. Like a true master, he wanted to inspect the English production and at the same time find out from the British the secret of how to clean a gun so that it would shoot better in case of war.

Lefty gave up personal success and material well-being; he thought about protecting his homeland and tried to help it.

But did the Motherland greet the left-hander with such love?

Weak and sick, he was immediately robbed, and a policeman was involved. In hospitals they did not accept me for treatment without a “tugament”, they carried me around in the cold undressed, dropped me, kept me on a cold floor, in general, they helped me die.

It is sad to realize that only the British saw in the left-hander “the soul of a man.” Through the humane attitude towards the left-hander of the British, the author shows the criminal attitude of the Russian authorities towards him, both in the person of the policeman, and in the person of the emperors, and in the person of those generals who neglected the secret of the left-hander and continued clean guns with bricks.

The storylines that I examined reveal the ideological content of the tale. Leskov wrote that when it comes to left-handed people, the entire Russian people is meant. In the tale, the Russian people are talented and moral, smart and patriotic, but they are humiliated by their own rulers and those who serve them. And no matter how hard Platov tried to explain to the sovereign that “the English masters have different rules of life, science and food, and each person has all the absolute circumstances before him, and therefore it has a completely different meaning, the sovereign did not want to listen to this for a long time.” .

The main goal of this fun, easy-to-read book is to introduce foreigners to the peculiarities of the Russian world: traditions, lifestyle features, way of life, morals, and distinctive features of the Russian national character. Such a “guide” will help you adapt to a foreign culture, overcome culture shock, and give you a feeling of comfort and tranquility. For all those studying Russian as a foreign language and preparing to visit Russia, it will also be of interest to Russian-speaking readers.

How to treat yourself and people Nikolay Kozlov

The topics raised in the book are at the crest of mass readership. This is a modern version of D. Carnegie’s books, only based on Russian material and including a wider range of issues: not only business and everyday communication, but also personal growth, family, sex. The author devotes a lot of space to the problems of family and sex, analyzes specific situations, argues with many deep-rooted prejudices and shows ways to harmonize relationships in a couple. The book contains applied information: psychological advice and recommendations, puzzles...

Miracle Island. How modern Taiwanese live by Ada Baskin

Evergreen tropical forests on the mountain slopes and well-groomed parks in cities, thousand-year-old traditions and ultra-modern skyscrapers, the cult of folk gods and nanotechnology... All this is the amazing island of Taiwan. How do the islanders live today? How do you take care of a person? What about nature? Is it possible to combine ancient prejudices and the achievements of high science? What is the “mystery of the Taiwanese character”? Read the book and you will find out about it. And also about how young people feel about sex before marriage, about family, about their elders. You will get acquainted with the peculiarities of the national...

Guilty of defending the Motherland, or Russian Timofey Kruglov

This book is about those who, without leaving their own sofa, found themselves abroad - about 25 million Soviet Russians abandoned on the outskirts of the former empire. This book is about those whom the Motherland did not take with it. This book is about those who were not evacuated. This book is about the conscience of Russians... How do Soviets become Russians? The answer to this question has been given by recent history. The fate of a person again becomes the main plot line of a work of art. Love meets hatred and death, loyalty to the oath meets betrayal. At the center of the story is Interfront...

Encyclopedia of Russian surnames. Secrets of origin... Tamara Vedina

A person living in Russia has a first name, patronymic and last name. This very word - surname - entered our language quite late, and it was introduced into Russian life by the great reformer - Tsar Peter I. The word "surname" translated from Latin means "family". This already indicates the purpose of the surname - to designate a single family name, which is used to call the entire family, including close and distant relatives. This encyclopedia will help you find out the meaning and origin of your last name. Thanks to our book, you can find out where your ancestors came from and what they did...

History of the Russian people from the flood to Rurik Vyacheslav Manyagin

Where did the Russian land come from? What secrets does the history of the Russian people hide? What do the Slavs have to do with the Aryans? Is it true that Moscow was founded by the biblical Patriarch Mosoh? This is only a tiny fraction of the questions that can be answered in the pages of this book. The author, a supporter of the historical tradition that dates back to Lomonosov and Tatishchev, explores the formation and development of the Slavic-Russian tribes, tracing their history from the 2nd millennium BC. e.

Notebook of a staff officer during... Ian Hamilton

Publisher's abstract: The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) for dominance in Northeast China and Korea has not escaped the attention of researchers. Hundreds of scientific papers and books are dedicated to her. Lost in this sea of ​​military historical literature are the original notes of the British military agent in the First Japanese Army, Major General Sir Ian Hamilton. He managed to draw general portraits of both Japanese and Russian soldiers, to describe their moral and combat qualities arising from their national character. This is the enduring value of memoirs...

Agreement. How matches are bought and sold... Alexey Matveev

Before you is a real sensation, designed for a wide range of sports fans: from narrow specialists to ordinary fans, and there are millions of them. There are no idle fictions here, the book is based on real facts, comments and opinions of authoritative people, whose names and surnames are widely known. This is book-investigation of the dark sides of domestic sports No. 1, which means that the entire large football community is destined for a deafening scandal, the consequences of which are completely unpredictable... Fixed matches are like UFOs - almost everything in them...

Legends of the Russian people I. Kuznetsov

Unhurried and wise, kind and cozy legends about Mother Volga and her brother the Dnieper, about native springs with living water and about the holy Kitezh Mountains, about how God created the Russian Land, about the dawn and frequent stars, about treasured treasures Stenka Razin and the hidden caves near Zhiguli... For almost two centuries now, the ascetics of Russian culture M. N. Makarov and I. P. Sakharov began recording these legends; their work was worthily continued by M. Yu. Zabylin, P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, S. V. Maksimov, A. N. Afanasyev... Based on classical folklore collections...

The Righteous Nikolai Leskov

The history of the creation of the cycle “RIGHTEOUS” is as follows. Once N.S. Leskov was accused of seeing only nasty things and abominations in all his compatriots. Then the writer made a vow: to find among the “sinners” of this world a crystal clear person, a righteous man, to show the greatness of the Russian soul. And Leskov began to “look for the righteous” throughout the Russian land: in the capitals and in the wilderness, in ancient legends and in newspaper reports, among different classes and ways of life. And I found them - selfless eccentrics and self-taught masters, martyrs and sufferers, lovers of humanity and philosophers... In the cycle...

The first writer who comes to his mind is, of course, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. The second portrait that appears before the inner gaze of the domestic bookworm is the face of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. But there is one classic who, as a rule, is forgotten in this context (or not mentioned so often) - Nikolai Semenovich Leskov. Meanwhile, his works are also saturated with the “Russian spirit,” and they also reveal not only the peculiarities of the Russian national character, but also the specifics of all Russian life.

In this sense, Leskov’s story “Lefty” stands apart. It reproduces with extraordinary accuracy and depth all the flaws in the structure of domestic life and all the heroism of the Russian people. People, as a rule, now do not have time to read the collected works of Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, but they should find time to open a book on the cover of which it is written: N. S. Leskov “Lefty”.

Plot

The story supposedly begins in 1815. Emperor Alexander the First, on a voyage across Europe, also visits England. The British really want to surprise the Emperor, and at the same time show off the skills of their craftsmen, and for several days they take him around different rooms and show him all sorts of amazing things, but the main thing they have in store for the finale is a filigree work: a steel flea that can dance. Moreover, it is so small that without a microscope it is impossible to see it. Our Tsar was very surprised, but his accompanying Don Cossack Platov was not at all. On the contrary, he kept bawling that ours could do no worse.

He soon died, and ascended the throne who accidentally discovered a strange thing and decided to check Platov’s words by sending him to visit the Tula masters. The Cossack arrived, instructed the gunsmiths and went home, promising to return in two weeks.

The masters, including Lefty, retired to the house of the main character of the tale and worked there for two weeks, until Platov returned. Local residents heard the constant knocking, but the craftsmen themselves never left Lefty’s house during this time. They became recluses until the work was done.

Platov arrives. They bring him the same flea in a box. He furiously throws the first craftsman he came across into the carriage (he turned out to be left-handed) and goes to St. Petersburg to see the Tsar “on the carpet.” Of course, Lefty did not get to the king right away; he was first beaten and kept in prison for a short time.

The flea appears before the bright eyes of the monarch. He looks and looks at her and cannot understand what the Tula people did. Both the sovereign and his courtiers struggled with the secret, then the Tsar-Father ordered to invite Lefty, and he told him that he should take and look not at the whole flea, but only at its legs. No sooner said than done. It turned out that the Tula people had shoed the English flea.

Immediately the wonder was returned to the British, and in words something like the following was conveyed: “We, too, can do something.” Here we will pause in the plot presentation and talk about what the image of Lefty is in the tale of N. S. Leskov.

Lefty: between the gunsmith and the holy fool

Lefty’s appearance testifies to his “superiority”: “he’s left-handed with an oblique look, the hair on his cheek and temples was torn out during training.” When Lefty arrived to the Tsar, he was also dressed in a very peculiar way: “in shorts, one trouser leg is in a boot, the other is dangling, and the leg is old, the hooks are not fastened, they are lost, and the collar is torn.” He spoke to the king as he was, without observing manners and without fawning, if not on an equal footing with the sovereign, then certainly without fear of power.

People who are at least a little interested in history will recognize this portrait - this is a description of the ancient Russian holy fool; he was never afraid of anyone, because Christian Truth and God stood behind him.

Dialogue between Lefty and the British. Continuation of the story

After a short digression, let’s turn again to the plot, but at the same time let’s not forget the image of Lefty in Leskov’s tale.

The British were so delighted with the work that they demanded that the master be brought to them without hesitating for a second. The king respected the British, equipped Lefty and sent him with an escort to them. There are two important moments in the protagonist’s voyage to England: a conversation with the British (Leskov’s story “Lefty” is perhaps the most entertaining in this part) and the fact that, unlike Russians, our ancestors do not clean the barrels of guns with bricks.

Why did the British want to keep Lefty?

The Russian land is full of nuggets, and they don’t pay much attention, but in Europe they immediately see “diamonds in the rough.” The English elite, having once looked at Lefty, immediately realized that he was a genius, and the gentlemen decided to keep our man, teach him, clean him up, enrich him, but that was not the case!

Lefty told them that he didn’t want to stay in England, he didn’t want to study algebra, his education—the Gospel and the Half-Dream Book—was enough for him. He doesn't need money, nor women.

It was with difficulty that the left-handed man was persuaded to stay a little longer and look at Western technologies for the production of guns and other things. Our craftsman was of little interest in the latest technologies of that time, but he was very attentive to the storage of old guns. Studying them, Lefty realized: the British do not clean the barrel of their guns with bricks, which makes the guns more reliable in battle.

Despite this discovery, the main character of the tale still greatly missed his homeland and asked the British to send him home as soon as possible. It was impossible to send by land, because Lefty did not know any languages ​​other than Russian. It was also unsafe to sail on the sea in the fall, because it is restless at this time of year. And yet they equipped Lefty, and he sailed on a ship to the Fatherland.

During the journey, he found himself a drinking buddy, and they drank all the way, but not out of fun, but out of boredom and fear.

How bureaucracy killed a man

When friends from the ship were put ashore in St. Petersburg, the Englishman was sent to where all foreign citizens are supposed to be - to the “messenger house”, and Lefty was sent in an ill state through the bureaucratic circles of hell. They couldn’t admit him to any hospital in the city without documents, except the one where they were taken to die. Moreover, various officials said that Lefty should be helped, but here’s the problem: no one is responsible for anything and no one can do anything. So the left-handed man died in a hospital for the poor, and on his lips there was only one phrase: “Tell the Tsar Father that guns cannot be cleaned with bricks.” He nevertheless told it to one of the sovereign’s servants, but it never reached the Almighty. Can you guess why?

That's almost all on the topic “N.S. Leskov “Lefty”, brief content.”

The image of Lefty in Leskov’s tale and the model of the fate of a creative person in Russia

After reading the work of the Russian classic, a conclusion involuntarily arises: a creative, brilliant person simply has no hope of surviving in Russia. He will either be tortured by unchristian bureaucrats, or he will destroy himself from within, and not because he has some unresolved issues, but because Russian people are not able to simply live, his lot is to die, burning up in life like a meteorite in the earth’s atmosphere . This is how the image of Lefty in Leskov’s tale turns out to be contradictory: on the one hand, a genius and a craftsman, and on the other hand, a person with a serious destructive element inside, capable of self-destruction in conditions when you least expect it.