
A Hero of Our Time
Mikhail Lermontov(Author)
Penguin Classics (Publisher)
Published on 1. October 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-14-044795-8 (ISBN)
Description
A masterpiece of Russian prose, Lermontov's only novel was influential for many later 19th century authors, including Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov. Lermotov's hero, Pechorin, is a dangerous man, Byronic in his wasted gifts and his cynicism, and desperate for any kind of action that will stave off boredom. In five linked episodes, Lermontov builds up a portrait of a man caught in and expressing the sickness of his times.
Reviews / Votes
"Natasha Randall's English, in her new translation, has exactly the right degree of loose velocity. . . . (Nabokov's version, the best-known older translation, is a bit more demure than Randall's, less savage.)"-James Wood, London Review of Books
"[A] smart, spirited new translation."
-The Boston Globe
"One of the most vivid and persuasive portraits of the male ego ever put down on paper."
-Neil LaBute, from the Foreword
More details
Edition
Rev edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
171 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-14-044795-8 (9780140447958)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Mikhail Lermontov
A Hero of Our Time
E-Book
06/2001
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€6.99
Available for download
Previous edition
M.IU Lermontov
A Hero of Our Time
Book
01/1975
Penguin Books Ltd
€27.43
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
Mikhail Lermontov was born in 1814 and made several journies to the Caucasus before entering St Petersburg Guards' school where he began writing poetry and autobiographical dramas in prose. He died in a duel in 1841. Influenced by Byron, he is renowned as Russia's one true Romantic poet. Paul Foote was, until his retirement, a University Lecturer in Russian and Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford. He has translated works by Tolstoy and Saltykov-Shchedrin.