Hero of Our Time

Mikhail Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time (1840) is one of thegreat classics of Russian nineteenth-century literature, is a novel ofunique structure, based on a series of short storied held together by aByronic hero, Pechorin, whose gifted but embittered nature typified theso-called superfluous men of the 1830's. The novel, however, raisesissues of imperialism, fate, free will and the limits of self-knowledge.Thepresent study draws together the now considerable body of secondarymaterial on Lermontov's novel, and offers new insights in the light ofthe recent critical and theoretical trends on such aspects asethnicity, materialism, narrative implications of diary form and theludic dimensions of fate. This up-todate, comprehensive study of A Hero of Our Time will appeal to students at all levels of specialism.