Reading the World discussion
This topic is about
A Hero of Our Time
ARCHIVES
>
BOTM August A Hero of Our Time
date
newest »
newest »
This first significant prose novel from Russia captures the beauty of the Caucasus Mountains and the alienation, ennui and self absorption of the anti-hero main character; Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin. The structure of the novel is quite modern as we first meet Pechorin through the tales an associate tells, then meet him 'in person', so to speak, with our narrator actually encountering him and then lastly through Pechorin's diaries. Pechorin's manipulative tendencies, particularly his manipulation of women's emotions and his thirst for power over other people's feelings should make him decidedly unlikeable but our author has Pechorin ironically playing the incarnation of all that is wrong with Russian society, particularly Russian intellectual society, so I actually found him a fascinating character. Plus we have duels, smugglers, women of both high and low class and lots of adventure mixed in. I thought it was a great short novel.
The author's life ended the same way as Pechorin.I've read the book twice over the years and found it a worthwhile read.
Mod
I also gave it 4 stars. I often can be frustrated at what I call "historical f*ckboi" books, but I appreciated this one. I did like the satirical edge to it, and how the figure of the Byronic hero has been translated to reflect Russian culture and sensibilities. I found the story of Circassian princess from the beginning quite interesting, and well suited at displaying Pechorin's superfluous and exploiting nature.
It was also neat that unlike a lot of Russian books of this nature, it does not happen in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but mostly in the Caucasus- including in parts of modern day Georgia.
Mod
Mod
I enjoyed it becasue of the extra dimension of reading someone else's take on it.
I especially loved learning what a Byronic hero is. Also opened my eyes to other hero types.
A Hero of Our Time is a novel by Mikhail Lermontov, written in 1839, published in 1840, and revised in 1841.
It is an example of the superfluous man novel, noted for its compelling Byronic hero (or antihero) Pechorin and for the beautiful descriptions of the Caucasus. There are several English translations, including one by Vladimir Nabokov and Dmitri Nabokov in 1958.
Pechorin is the embodiment of the Byronic hero. Byron's works were of international repute and Lermontov mentions his name several times throughout the novel. According to the Byronic tradition, Pechorin is a character of contradiction. He is both sensitive and cynical. He is possessed of extreme arrogance, yet has a deep insight into his own character and epitomizes the melancholy of the Romantic hero who broods on the futility of existence and the certainty of death. Pechorin's whole philosophy concerning existence is oriented towards the nihilistic, creating in him somewhat of a distanced, alienated personality. The name Pechorin is drawn from that of the Pechora River, in the far north, as a homage to Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, named after the Onega River.
For more information about this book:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hero_...