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This interpretation of Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov reveals how his life and his works can be understood as manifestations of a coherent worldview. It clarifies what has remained perplexing, corrects what has been misinterpreted and illuminates Lermontov's views of many subjects.
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"The book "Mikhail Lermontov" by John Mersereau Jr. is a comprehensive biography of the famous Russian writer and poet Mikhail Lermontov. The book delves into Lermontov's life, exploring his upbringing, education, and early career as a writer. It also examines his literary works, including his most famous novel "A Hero of Our Time" and his poetry, and the impact they had on Russian literature and culture. The author provides a detailed analysis of Lermontov's personal life, including his relationships with family, friends, and lovers, as well as his struggles with mental health and addiction. Mersereau Jr. also explores Lermontov's political views and his involvement in the Decembrist moveme...
Provides in-depth analysis of the life, works, career, and critical importance of Mikhail Lermontov.
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Poet, cavalry officer, celebrity - Mikhail Lermontov moved in an atmosphere of political intrigue and personal recklessness, producing poetry considered second only to Pushkin's in Russian literature and a career which has often been compared to Byron's. Between the salons and palaces of St Petersburg and the savage splendour of the Caucasus - his country of marvels - Lermontov lived his brief life without compromise. Born in 1814, he is best known as the author of A Hero of our Time and The Demon. He managed to be both and neither. At odds wih authority, yet at ease on his own terms, he wrote as he fought, in protest and fierce independence and died in a duel at the age of 26. This biography is a popular study of the poet.
'I remain in unchanged admiration for this bold, headstrong, carefree undertaking, a first novel published when the author was twenty-five, which proved to be the first prose masterpiece in Russian' Julian Barnes from his preface. Published in Russian in April 1840, A Hero of Our Time reached English in 1853, under the title 'Sketches of Life in the Caucasus, by a Russe.' Full of towering landscapes and local colour, it can be read as the travelogue of a poet and serving officer, but also as a portrait of the romantic as self-destructive anti-hero. Vladimir Nabokov's translation of A Hero of Our Time was published in the United States in 1958, the same year as Lolita: world fame was about to overtake this committed Russian living in America.