Knowra Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841) was a Russian poet, novelist, and playwright whose works include A Hero of Our Time and “The Demon.” His writing helped shape Russian Romanticism and the psychological novel.
Russian Romanticism : A movement in Russian literature that emphasized emotion, individual freedom, nature, and the exceptional figure. Its themes and forms shaped Lermontov’s poetry and prose.
A Hero of Our Time : Lermontov’s 1840 novel, a set of linked narratives centered on the disillusioned officer Grigory Pechorin. Its fractured chronology and self-portrait of a restless generation define Lermontov’s best-known prose.
Unreliable narrator : A narrator whose account cannot be fully trusted because of limited knowledge, bias, or deception. Pechorin’s self-account is framed by other narrators, complicating judgment of his character.
Russian literature : Literature written in Russian, including poetry, fiction, drama, and literary criticism. Lermontov helped establish the nineteenth-century tradition that later Russian writers inherited.
Alexander Pushkin : A Russian poet and writer whose works established foundations for modern Russian literature. Pushkin’s death helped prompt Lermontov’s rise to national attention.
The Demon : Lermontov’s narrative poem about a fallen spirit who falls in love with the Georgian princess Tamara. This long-developed poem brings his Romantic themes of rebellion, love, and spiritual exile together.
Frame narrative : A story structure in which an outer narrative introduces or contains one or more inner stories. The novel’s shifting narrators reveal Pechorin gradually rather than in chronological order.
Russian psychological novel : A tradition of Russian fiction that investigates character through inner conflict, motive, and moral choice. Pechorin’s divided self helped shape later approaches to psychological characterization.
Caucasus : A region between the Black and Caspian seas, encompassing the Greater Caucasus and surrounding lands. Lermontov’s military service and exile there informed major works and settings.
The Death of the Poet : Lermontov’s 1837 poem condemning the society that he held responsible for Alexander Pushkin’s death. Its public denunciation made Lermontov famous and led to his first exile to the Caucasus.
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