In Leskov’s “The Life of a Woman,” the theme of serfdom and reforms in Russia of the century before last is presented in an unusually sharp and poignant manner. The absence of a proper name in the title brings to the fore the social aspect: the life of one woman becomes a generalization of the fate of all women in feudal Russia. Researchers classify the story “The Life of One Woman” as “the saddest stories about a Russian peasant woman.”