A Hero of Our Time

Lermontov's only novel, "A Hero of Our Time" examines a weary and cynical man trapped in the futility of his age. Published in the early 19th century, it was to prove a hugely influential work for many subsequent Russian writers. Despite his obvious talents and natural abilities, Pecorin is restless and bored. In a quest for motivation and stimulation, he leaves behind the civilized world of society drawing rooms for the wilds of the Southern Caucasus. Rather than finding the impetus he so craves, he becomes increasingly alienated from those around him. Sickened by the condition of his times, he chooses to reject a life of morality. A probing study of a man--and a society--in crisis, "A Hero of Our Time" was to become a seminal work of its era. Poet and novelist Mikhail Yurevich Lermontov was a leading figure in Russian Romantic literature.