| A Decayed Family | |
| Title Orig: | Захудалый род |
| Author: | Nikolai Leskov |
| Country: | Russia |
| Language: | Russian |
| Genre: | Romantic chronicles |
| Publisher: | The Russian Messenger |
| Release Date: | 1874 |
| Media Type: | Print (Paperback & Hardback) |
A Decayed Family (Russian: Захуда′лый род|translit=Zakhudaly rod) is an unfinished novel by Nikolai Leskov, subtitled "The Family Chronicles of Princes Protazanov" (Семейная хроника князей Протозановых).[1] Parts one and two of it were first published in the 1874 Nos. 7,8 and 10 of The Russian Messenger[2] as part of a trilogy which also included Old Years in Plodomasovo (1869) and The Cathedral Clergy (1872).[3]
The publication of the novel has led to Leskov's severing all ties with The Russian Messenger. The main issue was the magazine's editor-in-chief Mikhail Katkov's disagreement with the author's position as regards Russian dvoryanstvo. At the time of the publication Katkov (while praising the novel's artistic qualities)[4] told the members of the magazine's stuff: "We've made a mistake, this is not our man, has nothing to do with us, [his departure is] not something to be pitied."[5] Outraged by editorial cuts, Leskov decided against starting upon the third part of the novel, leaving it unfinished.[1]
Leskov himself rated A Decayed Family higher than The Cathedral Clergy and The Sealed Angel, referring to it as his "most mature work".[6] The publication in the magazine of parts 1 and 2 received high praise from Ivan Aksakov and Nikolay Pirogov.[1]
In 1875 A Decayed Family came out as a separate edition. "Here its second part is presented in my own version, not that of Katkov," Leskov wrote in a letter to Ivan Aksakov on March 23, 1875.[1] As The Complete Leskov started to be published by Alexey Suvorin's publishing house, A Decayed Family was included into the Volume 6, which also featured Leskov's most radical anti-clerical essays and stories. On July 16, 1889, Leskov received the news that the whole issue of Volume 6 had been arrested by the police, which led to his first major heart attack. In July 1890 Volume 6 came out in the alternative version, A Decayed Family included.[1]