A Hero of Our Time

A Hero of Our Time
ISBN: 9781847495761
Publication Date: 1 February 2017

Translated by Martin Parker and Neil Cornwell

On his travels through the wild mountainous terrain of the Caucasus, the narrator of A Hero of Our Time chances upon the veteran soldier and storyteller Maxim Maximych, who relates to him the dubious exploits of his former comrade Pechorin. Engaging in various acts of duelling, contraband, abduction and seduction, Pechorin, an archetypal Byronic anti-hero, combines cynicism and arrogance with melancholy and sensitivity.

Causing an uproar in Russia when it was first published in 1840, Lermontov's brilliant, seminal study of contemporary society and the nihilistic aspect of Romanticism - accompanied here by the unfinished novel Princess Ligovskaya - remains compelling to this day.

About the Author

A soldier in the Russian army stationed in the Caucasus, Mikhail Lermontov (1814-41) became a hugely famous and influential Romantic poet. His life was cut short in a duel with a fellow officer.