Lermontov's Narratives of HeroismNorthwestern University Press, 1998 - 244 pages This is the first study of Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov (1814-41) that attempts to integrate the in-depth interpretations of all his major texts--including his famous A Hero of Our Time, the novel that laid the foundation for the Russian psychological novel. Lermontov's explorations of the virtues and limitations of heroic, self-reliant conduct have subsequently become obscured or misread. This new book focuses upon the peculiar, disturbing, and arguably most central feature of Russian culture: its suspicion of and hostility toward individual achievement and self-assertion. The analysis and interpretation of Lermontov's texts enables Golstein to address broader cultural issues by exploring the reasons behind the persistent misreading of Lermontov's major works and by investigating the cultural attitudes that shaped Russia's reaction to the challenges of modernity. |
Contents
The Russian Context | 28 |
Chapter Four The Enigma of Heroism in Lermontovs The Song | 85 |
Pechorin in The Fatalist | 110 |
Chapter Six Lermontov versus Marlinsky or | 133 |
The Making | 154 |
Afterword The Man That Hath No Music in Himself | 186 |
| 222 | |
| 237 | |
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Common terms and phrases
actions Alexander Herzen angel Arbenin attitude Baroness beauty behavior Belinsky bliss Borodino Byron Byronic hero challenge characters clearly confrontation contemporary Cossack courageous critics cultural death Decembrist Decembrist uprising Demon describes Dostoevsky erotic evil exile explores fact fails Fatalist fate freedom gambling gnostic Grushnitsky happiness heaven heroic heroism honor human individual Ivan Ivan the Terrible Kalashnikov Kazarin killed Kiribeevich Lermon Lermontov Lermontov's heroes Lermontov's novel Lermontov's play Lermontov's poem literary loss lost Lotman Maksim Maksimych marlinism Marlinsky Marlinsky's mask masquerade monastery montov's moral Moscow Mtsyri narrative Nicholas one's oprichnik outlook paradise Pechorin person poet poetry popular post-Decembrist predicament Prince Zvezdich Princess Mary prison protagonist Pushkin readers refusal responsibility reveals Romantic Romanticism Russian literature Saint Petersburg Shprikh similar Slavophiles social society song soul sounds tale Tamara texts tion tormented traditional tragic truth tsar tsar's University Press Vladimir Vulich Western Woe from Wit words writes мне он