A Hero of Our Time

«A Hero of Our Time» — the first psychological novel in Russian literature, recognized as a masterpiece of Russian prose. A text that is quite short in volume contains so many thoughts, such vivid images and alive characters, such precise observations, that even today, almost two hundred years later, we cannot tear ourselves away from the book. «Lermontov as a prose writer — is a miracle», his prose is «beautiful and fragrant» — these are the assessments given by his literary contemporaries to a still very young author (he was not yet 30 years old).
In our book, the reader will find not only the canonical text of «A Hero of Our Time», but also its classical analysis, which is included in the mandatory list of school and university programs of Russian literature, — an article by V. G. Belinsky titled «A Hero of Our Time. A Work by M. Lermontov». In the comments, we have tried to clarify what may cause difficulties for modern readers, such as obsolete geographical names and to describe elements of Caucasian life that are far from us.
Illustrations created by artists such as Valentin Serov, Mikhail Vrubel, Mikhail Zichy, as well as paintings by Lermontov himself will help the reader to imagine the heroes and their surroundings, to feel the aroma of a long-past era.