Lermontov: One Between Heaven and Earth

Alexander Blok, in a review of yet another book about the life and work of M. Y. Lermontov, lamented, as if empathizing with present and future biographers: “There is no ground for the study of Lermontov — the biography is... impoverished. It remains to 'foresee' Lermontov.” Nevertheless, there is still 'ground' for understanding the poet — it is his poems. Hardly in domestic literature will one find another writer whose creativity — brilliant poems, verses, drama, and prose — so fully and deeply reflected his fate, life circumstances, and personality development. The creative legacy of Mikhail Yurevich Lermontov speaks of him as a man more completely and profoundly than the memories of his contemporaries and undoubtedly serves as the best initial material for that 'foreseeing' that A. Blok dreamed of. The author of the new book about Lermontov, reflecting on the fate of the poet, analyzes in meticulous detail primarily his works (including imperfect, early writings), utilizes the most vivid and authoritative works of past researchers, as well as the philosophers and writers of the Silver Age, whose opinions about M. Y. Lermontov are unknown to the wider reader, agrees and argues with them. Lermontov is read deeply and in a new way, which happens in those cases when the poet (Valery Mikhailov — the author of more than twenty books of poetry and prose) writes about the poet.