A Hero of Our Time

Mikhail Lermontov's (1814–1841) novel "A Hero of Our Time" gave us the beloved and hated Byronic hero — a noble scoundrel, misunderstood, lonely and suffering, thoughtful and disillusioned, dark and alluring, haughty and cynical, yet charismatic and irresistible to women,... painfully self-aware — and blinding in his superiority over the other banal and mediocre society. The haunting echoes of the charm of such heroes are still heard in many novels and youth literature.
The feeling of closeness to nature always makes a person purer and nobler, but civilization does not let go and ultimately demands submission to its conventions.
But for those who do not want to adhere to social constraints, it is destined to become an oddity — a person who has no place among others.
Yet if a person is an outsider, he will inevitably remain an outsider…