“There has never been such a perfect, beautiful, and nuanced prose in Russia,” said Gogol. He was talking about Mikhail Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time. Do you like Gogol? I like him very much. It wouldn’t be right not to read a book an author I love so much praised. Besides, this book is one of the classics in every must-read list. Moreover, here is a little information for you: Dostoevsky was 18, and Tolstoy was 11 when the book was published.
It is rare for such a young writer to write such a great book. It makes one wonder if he didn’t die such an early age, what else would he have written? I am sure that everyone who meets the character of Pechorin will think the same. Pechorin can be a testament to why women love “bad”, “rascal” men, albeit only for a while. The character is quite antipathic and attractive but highly convincing, one of the best characters I’ve ever read.
Even though A Hero of Our Time is 170+ years old, it can be read like a modern work, and it is proof of its immortality. If you are overwhelmed with recent literature, you can be sure that this will make you smile. I highly recommend it to everyone, mainly classic lovers.
A Hero of Our Time
The first major Russian novel, A Hero of Our Time was both lauded and reviled on publication. Its Byronic hero, twenty-five-year-old Pechorin, is a beautiful and magnetic but nihilistic young army officer, bored by life and indifferent to his many sexual conquests. In five linked episodes, Lermontov builds up a portrait of a man caught in and expressing the sickness of his times. Chronicling his unforgettable adventures in the Caucasus involving brigands, smugglers, soldiers, rivals, and lovers, this classic tale of alienation influenced Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Anton Chekhov, holding up a mirror not only to Lermontov’s time but also to our own.
Mikhail Lermontov (1814-41) was a Russian Romantic writer and poet. As a young man Lermontov was an officer in the guards, and was sent to fight in the Caucasus after insulting the Tsar. His dramatic life ended after being shot down in a duel.
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called “the poet of the Caucasus”, the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin’s death in 1837 and the greatest figure in Russian Romanticism.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
