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Mikhail Lermontov
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Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov (1814-1841) was a Russian poet and prose writer. Fearless, impulsive, and passionate, he was the embodiment of Russian romanticism.
The contributions of Mikhail Lermontov to Russian literature are remarkable in view of his short life. Absorbing the romanticism of his European predecessors and contemporaries and, in his mature writing, disciplining it by realism and restrained language, he chastened early romantic impulses and language without losing the color and personal lyricism that first inspired his writings. Anton Chekhov said, "I know of no language better than that of Lermontov," and recommended it as a model for young writers.
Lermontov was born in Moscow Oct. 2/3, 1814. His mother died when he was 3, and his grandmother and father struggled for control of the child. The grandmother eventually won, but not before emotional scars were inflicted on the young boy. His health was poor, so his grandmother took him on several trips to the Caucasus, a region that left him with strong, affectionate impressions.
After an excellent secondary education, Lermontov entered the University of Moscow in 1830, where many schoolmates - among them Vissarion Belinsky, Aleksandr Herzen, Konstantin Aksakov, and Nicholas Stankevich - were destined to become, as he was, famous men of letters. Lermontov did not mix well with his fellow students and by nature stood aloof. In June 1832 he withdrew and entered the elite Guards School in St. Petersburg.
Early Period (to 1832)
By the summer of 1832 Lermontov had written more than 300 lyric poems, 3 plays, and some narrative poems, many unfinished. Romantic extravagances and themes about betrayed love, incest, and murder characterize the narrative poems, as in The Corsair (1828) and Two Odalisques (1830). Many early works show the marked influence of Lord Byron, although that of Friedrich von Schiller and Victor Hugo, among others, is also discernible. Dramas, such as The Spaniards and The Strange Man, usually have the theme of a sensitive youth and the tragic circumstances that ensue from that sensitivity. Many early poems are immature and extravagant, but some are remarkably good, for example, "The Angel" (1831), an anthology piece.
Middle Period (1832-1837)
Serving in the Hussars with light duties, Lermontov pursued the social pleasures of St. Petersburg, writing 4 narrative poems, 2 dramas (Masquerade and Two Brothers), and fewer than 30 lyrics. Of the narrative poems The Demon was most important. Lermontov worked on it from 1829 to 1841, with no fewer than eight revisions, five by 1834. The theme is a variation of the traditional "fallen angel."
During this period Lermontov first attempted prose fiction in Vadim and Princess Ligovskaya, probably because the genre was in the ascendant. Vadim, written between 1832 and 1834, has roots in the commonplaces of the Gothic tale and romantic themes. The story takes place against the background of Pugachev's rebellion of 1773-1774, and its theme is unrequited love. The most important prose effort, the unfinished social tale Princess Ligovskaya, provides an early sketch of Pechorin, the hero of A Hero of Our Times, although the style is at times florid and the narrative structure is faulty.
In 1837 Aleksandr Pushkin was killed in a duel, and Lermontov, who admired him tremendously, wrote a eulogy blaming those surrounding the throne. He was arrested, incarcerated, and then exiled for a year to military duty in the Caucasus.
Final Years (1837-1841)
Virtually everything Lermontov wrote during these years was of a high order. Whereas earlier poems reflected his immediate personal interest, these later poems (fewer than 70 lyrics) are about truth, freedom, honesty, and dignity. Many, filled with contempt and scorn for society, concern the conflict between the poet and the mob. He also completed five narrative poems and began two others, the best being The Fugitive, Mtsyri, and the final version of The Demon.
A Hero of Our Times (1840), the first Russian psychological novel and a great example of Russian prose, provoked a great deal of critical comment. The influential critic Vissarion Belinsky spoke in approving tones, but many critics considered it a distortion of reality. The work consists of five stories relating the adventures of Grigory Pechorin from various perspectives; the last three stories are narrated in the form of a journal. The setting is the Caucasus, and the themes are Pechorin's abduction of a native princess, an encounter with smugglers at the Black Sea port of Taman, a romantic rivalry between Pechorin and another officer for the affections of a Princess Mary, and an experiment by a friend of Pechorin's to prove the validity of predestination. The five parts are ordered to give progressively a closer and fuller view of Pechorin, but the order is psychological rather than chronological, with all the story elements subordinated to this psychological portrait. Pechorin suffers from boredom, lack of faith, and general spiritual desiccation. He is a vividly drawn character, a triumph of Russian literature.
During these years Lermontov was exiled to the Caucasus repeatedly by Czar Nicholas I, who was greatly displeased with his spirited irreverence. Lermontov was assigned to the front ranks, where his life would be in great danger. Lermontov obeyed orders cheerfully, distinguishing himself by his bravery. The Czar's design was not destined to be fulfilled; another fate awaited Lermontov. In Pyatigorsk, Lermontov provoked N. S. Martynov, a former fellow cadet and then a retired major, to a duel with his merciless satire of Martynov's affectations of Caucasian dress and manners. In the duel, fought on July 15, 1841, Martynov killed Lermontov with his first shot.
Further Reading
A balanced and intelligent review of Lermontov's work and some biographical information are in John Mersereau, Mikhail Lermontov (1962), and in the long introduction to Michael Lermontov, translated by C. E. L'Ami and Alexander Welikotny (1967). Recommended for general historical and literary background is Prince D. S. Mirsky, A History of Russian Literature (2 vols., 1927), which is available in abridged form, in one volume, edited by Francis J. Whitfield (1958).
Additional Sources
Kelly, Laurence, Lermontov: tragedy in the Caucasus, New York: G. Braziller, 1978, 1977.
| Fairy Tale Companion: Mikhail Lermontov |
Lermontov, Mikhail (1814–41), major Russian romantic poet and writer. In his romantic poems and ballads, such as ‘The Demon’ (1830–41), ‘Tamara’ (1841), and ‘The Combat’ (1841), he used motifs from folklore, mainly Transcaucasian, which he knew well from his travels. Also, his only fairy tale in prose, Ashik‐Kerib (1837, pub. 1846) is based on an oriental folk story, with its specific poetic style and exotic setting.
— Maria Nikolajeva
| Russian History Encyclopedia: Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov |
(1814 - 1841), leading nineteenth-century Russian poet and prose writer.
Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov became one of Russia's most prominent literary figures. Based on the quality and evolution of his writing, some believe that if he had lived longer he would have surpassed the greatness of Alexander Pushkin. Lermontov's reputation is rooted equally in his poetry and prose. Fame came to him in 1834 when he wrote Death of a Poet, in which he accuses the Imperial Court of complicity in Pushkin's death in a duel.
The evolution of Lermontov's poetry reflected a change in emphasis from the personal to wider social and political issues. The Novice (1833) is known for its tight structure and elegant language. The Demon (1829 - 1839) became his most popular poem. Taking place in the Caucasus, it describes the love of a fallen angel for a mere mortal. The Circassian Boy (1833) reflects his strong scepticism in regard to religion and admiration of premodern life. The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov (1837) is his greatest poem set in Russia. His best-known play is The Masquerade (1837), a stinging commentary on St. Petersburg high society.
Lermontov is considered to be the founder of the Russian realistic psychological novel, further developed by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy. A Hero of Our Time, which is partly autobiographical, is his greatest work in this genre. The main character, Pechorin, is an example of a disenchanted and superfluous man, and his story provides a bitter critique of Russian society. In this novel Lermontov masterfully and realistically described the landscape of the Caucasus, the everyday life of the various tribes there, and a wide range of characters.
Lermontov was killed in a duel with a former classmate in 1841.
Bibliography
Garrard, John. (1982). Mikhail Lermontov. Boston: Twayne.
Kelly, Laurence. (2003). Tragedy in the Caucasus. London: Tauris.
—ZHAND P. SHAKIBI
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Mikhail Yurevich Lermontov |
Lermontov, Mikhail Yurevich (mēkhəyēl' yūr'yĭvĭch lyĕr'məntŭf), 1814-41, Russian poet and novelist. Given an extensive private education by his wealthy grandmother, Lermontov began writing poetry when he was 14. He first attracted public attention in 1837 with the inflammatory poem "On the Death of the Poet," written to protest the death of Pushkin in a duel. A cavalry officer in the czar's army, he was temporarily banished to the Caucasus, where he had recuperated from illness as a child, and the area's stirring landscape became a prevailing element in his work. Of his early verse, which, like his life, was greatly influenced by Byron, only the lyric "The Angel" (1830) is equal to his later work.
Lermontov's poetic reputation, second in Russia only to Pushkin's, rests upon the lyric and narrative works of his last five years. The Demon (1829-41, tr. 1930), his narrative poem about the love of a fallen angel for a mortal, was used by Anton Rubinstein as the basis of an opera. Mtsyri (1833; tr. The Circassian Boy, 1875) reflects Lermontov's antireligious feeling and idealization of primitive life. His heroic poems include "The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov" (1837, tr. 1929). Lermontov's partially autobiographical novel A Hero of Our Time (1840, tr. 1958, 1966, 2005) consists of five tales describing aspects of the life of Pechorin, a disenchanted, bored, and doomed young nobleman. The novel is considered a pioneering classic of Russian psychological realism. Lermontov, who had once sought a position in fashionable society, became enormously critical of it. His caustic wit made him numerous enemies, and, like Pushkin, he was killed in a duel.
Bibliography
See biography by J. Lavrin (1959); studies by J. Mersereau (1962), L. Kelly (1977, repr. 1983), B. M. Eikhenbaum (1981), J. G. Garrard (1982), E. Etkind, ed. (1992), R. Reid (1997), V. Golstein (1998), I. Kutik (2004), and D. Powelstock (2005).
| Wikipedia: Mikhail Lermontov |
"Lermontov" redirects here. For other uses, see Lermontov (disambiguation).
For the ocean liner, see MS Mikhail Lermontov.
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This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (September 2007) |
| Mikhail Lermontov | |
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 Mikhail Lermontov in 1837 |
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| Born | October 15, 1814 Moscow, Russia |
| Died | July 27, 1841 (aged 26) |
| Occupation | Poet, Novelist, artist |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Writing period | Posthumous publication |
| Genres | Romanticism, poetry |
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Influences
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Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов Russian pronunciation: [mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf]), (October 15 [O.S. October 3] 1814 – July 27 [O.S. July 15] 1841), a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", was the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death. His influence on later Russian literature is still felt in modern times, not only through his poetry, but also by his prose. His poetry remains popular in Chechnya, Dagestan, and beyond Russia.
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Early life
Lermontov was born in Moscow to a respectable noble family of the Tula Governorate, and grew up in the village of Tarkhany (in the Penza Governorate), which now preserves his remains. According to one disputed and uncorroborated theory his paternal family was believed to have descended from the Scottish Learmonths, one of whom settled in Russia in the early 17th century, during the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. The legendary Scottish poet Thomas the Rhymer (Thomas Learmonth) is claimed to be a relative of Lermontov. However this claim has been neither proved nor disproved, and thus remains a legend.[1]
Lermontov's father, Yuri Lermontov, like his father before him, was a military man. Having moved up the ranks to captain, he married the sixteen year old Mariya Arsenyeva, to the great dismay of her mother, Yelizaveta Alekseyevna. A year after the marriage, on the night of October 3 (Old Style), 1814, Mariya Arsenieva gave birth to Mikhail Lermontov. According to tradition, soon after his birth, some discord between Lermontov's father and grandmother erupted, and unable to bear it, Mariya Arsenieva fell ill and died in 1817. After the daughter's death, Yelizaveta Alekseyevna devoted all her love to her grandson, always in fear that his father might move away with him. Either because of this pampering or continuing family tension or both, Lermontov as a child developed a fearful and arrogant temper, which he took out on the servants, and smashing the bushes in his grandmother's garden.
As a small boy Lermontov listened to stories about the outlaws of the Volga region, about their great bravery and wild country life. When he was ten, Mikhail fell sick, and Yelizaveta Alekseyevna took him to the Caucasus region for a better climate. There, young Lermontov for the first time fell in love.
School years
The intellectual atmosphere in which he grew up differed little from that experienced by Pushkin, though the domination of French had begun to give way to a preference for English, and Lamartine shared his popularity with Byron. In his early childhood Lermontov was educated by a Frenchman named Gendrot. Yelizaveta Alekseyevna felt that this was not sufficient and decided to take Lermontov to Moscow, to prepare for gymnasium. In Moscow, Lermontov was introduced to Goethe and Schiller by a German pedagogue, Levy, and shortly afterwards, in 1828, he entered the gymnasium. He showed himself to be an exceptional student. Also at the gymnasium he became acquainted with the poetry of Pushkin and Zhukovsky, and one of his friends, Katerina Hvostovaya, later described him as "married to a hefty volume of Byron". This friend had at one time been an object of Lermontov's affection, and to her he dedicated some of his earliest poems, "Нищий (У врат обители святой)" (The Beggar). At that time, along with his poetic passion, Lermontov also developed an inclination for poisonous wit, and cruel and sardonic humor. His ability to draw caricatures was matched by his ability to pin someone down with a well aimed epigram or nickname.
At the university
After the academic gymnasium, in August 1830, Lermontov entered Moscow University. That same summer the final, tragic act of the family discord played itself out. Having been deeply struck by his son's alienation, Yuri Lermontov left the Arseniev house for good, only to die a short time later. His father's death on such a note was a terrible loss for Mikhail, and is reflected in his poems: "Forgive me, Will we Meet Again?" and "The Terrible Fate of Father and Son".
Lermontov's career at the university was short-lived. He attended lectures faithfully, but he would often read a book in the corner of the auditorium, and rarely took part in student life. A prank pulled by a group of students against one of the professors named Malov brought his time at the University to an end. Several biographers see this incident as the reason for Mikhail's departure.[citation needed]
Young cadet - first poems
The events at the University led Lermontov to seriously reconsider his career choice. From 1830 to 1834 he attended the cadets school in Saint Petersburg, and in due course he became an officer in the guards. There Lermontov got a chance to show his incredible strength: he and another junior officer would tie steel ramrods, as if they were simple ropes, into knots, until they were caught at this task . When they were caught doing it,by General Schlippenbach he yelled them "What are you kids doing, pulling pranks like these?" and since then Lermontov would laugh:"Such kids! to tie steel ramrods into knots!"
At that time he began writing poetry. He also took a keen interest in Russian history and medieval epics, which would be reflected in the Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov, his long poem Borodino, poems addressed to the city of Moscow, and a series of popular ballads.
Fame and exile
To express his own and the nation's anger at the loss of Pushkin (1837) the young soldier wrote a passionate poem—the latter part of which was explicitly addressed to the inner circles at the court, though not to the tsar himself. The poem all but accused the powerful "pillars" of Russian high society of complicity in Pushkin's death. Without mincing words, it portrayed that society as a cabal of self-interested venomous wretches "huddling about the throne in a greedy throng", "the hangmen who kill liberty, genius, and glory" about to suffer the apocalyptic judgment of God. Cleaving the repressive atmosphere of 1830's Russia like a lightning bolt from a still sky, the poem had the power of biblical prophecy.
The tsar, however, seems to have found more impertinence than inspiration in the address, for Lermontov was forthwith sent off to the Caucasus as an officer in the dragoons. He had been in the Caucasus with his grandmother as a boy of ten, and he found himself at home, with feelings deeper than those of childhood recollection. The stern and rocky virtues of the mountain tribesmen against whom he had to fight, no less than the scenery of the rocks and of the mountains themselves, were close to his heart; the tsar had exiled him to his native land.
Lermontov visited Saint Petersburg in 1838 and 1839, and his indignant observations of the aristocratic milieu, wherein fashionable ladies welcomed him as a celebrity, occasioned his play Masquerade. His not reciprocated attachment to Varvara Lopukhina was recorded in the novel Princess Ligovskaya, which he never finished. His duel with a son of the French ambassador led to Lermontov being returned to the army fighting the war in the Caucasus, where he distinguished himself in hand-to-hand combat near the Valerik River.
By 1839 he completed his most important novel, A Hero of Our Time, which prophetically describes the duel like the one in which he would eventually lose his life.
Death and the aftermath
On July 25, 1841, at Pyatigorsk, fellow army officer Nikolay Martynov, who felt hurt by one of Lermontov's jokes, challenged Lermontov to a duel. The duel took place two days later at the foot of Mashuk mountain. Lermontov was killed by Martynov's first shot. Several of his verses were posthumously discovered in his notebook.
Lermontov's life was dramatic. After attacking the Tsar as complicit in the de facto assassination of Pushkin, Lermontov himself fell in a duel. His major works, which can be readily quoted from memory by many Russians, suffer from the generally poor quality of translation from Russian to English - Lermontov therefore, remains largely unknown to English-speaking readers. His poem "Mtsyri" ("The Novice") tells the story of a young man who finds that dangerous freedom is vastly preferable to protected servitude.
Works
Lermontov's poetic development was unusual. His earliest unpublished poems that he circulated in manuscript through his friends in the military were pornographic in the extreme, with elements of sadism. His subsequent reputation was clouded by this, so much so that admission of familiarity with Lermontov's poetry was not permissible for any young upper-class woman for a good part of the 19th century. These poems were published only once, in 1936, as part of a scholarly edition of Lermontov's complete works (edited by Irakly Andronikov).
During his lifetime, Lermontov published only one slender collection of poems (1840). Three volumes, much mutilated by censorship, were published a year after his death. His short poems range from indignantly patriotic pieces like Fatherland to the pantheistic glorification of living nature (e.g., Alone I set out on the road ...) Lermontov's early verse has been termed by some puerile, for despite his dexterous command of the language, it usually appeals more to adolescents than to adults. But like Percy Bysshe Shelley, with whom he is often compared, he attempted to analyse and bring to light the deeper reasons for this metaphysical discontent with society and himself.
Both his patriotic and pantheistic poems had enormous influence on later Russian literature. Boris Pasternak, for instance, dedicated his 1917 poetic collection of signal importance to the memory of Lermontov's Demon, a long poem featuring some of the most mellifluous lines in the language, which Lermontov rewrote several times. The poem, which celebrates the carnal passions of the "eternal spirit of atheism" to a "maid of mountains", was banned from publication for decades. Anton Rubinstein's lush opera on the same subject was also banned by censors who deemed it sacrilegious and stupid.
Legacy
A minor planet 2222 Lermontov discovered in 1977 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh is named after him.[2]
A sample of Lermontov's poetry
The Dream is one of Lermontov's last poems, found posthumously in his diary. Vladimir Nabokov thought this "triple dream" prophetic of the poet's own death.[3]
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Сон |
The Dream |
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See also
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mikhail Lermontov |
- "Un Coeur en Hiver" film by Claude Sautet based on one of the episodes in "A Hero of Our Time
- "The Princess of the Tide" - a poem by Lermontov
- Lermontov (crater) - crater on the planet Mercury named after him
- Mikhail Lermontov (ship)
- Sergei Parajanov - filmed Ashik Kerib, a 1988 film based on a short story by Lermontov
- A Hero of Our Time - English translation by Irwin Paul Foote, Penguin Classics.
References
- ^ Young Lermontov also associated the name with the Spanish statesman Duke of Lerma, painted his portrait and produced a whole play named Spaniards, but this relation rests on an absolutely clear fiction.
- ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (5th ed.). New York: Springer Verlag. pp. 181. ISBN 3540002383. http://books.google.com/books?q=2222+Lermontov+ST1.
- ^ Nabokov, Vladimir (1958). "Translator's Foreword". in Lermontov, Mikhail. A Hero of Our Time. New York: Doubleday. pp. vi.
External links
- Photo (1024x768)
- International Lermontov Society
- 22 Poems translated to English and many more in Russian
- Works by Mikhail Lermontov at Project Gutenberg
- (Russian) Online Lermontov shrine
- Some texts by Lermontov in the original Russian
- (Russian) The ancestors Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov
- M. Lermontov BORODINO
- Lermontov poems, including audio files, and English translations
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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Mentioned in
- Weltschmerz (literary term)
- Ashik Kerib (1988 Drama Film)
- Prayer (Molitva), song for voice & piano (Classical Work)
- Aleksandr (Mikhaylovich) Opekushin (art)
- Masquerada, suite from the incidental music for orchestra (or piano) (Classical Work)
- Mikhail Lermontov (Classical Musician)
- Pieces (3) for piano (from the opera War & Peace), Op. 96 (Classical Work)
- Lermontov, film score (Classical Work)
- Mikhail Mikhaylovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (Classical Musician)
- Tamara, symphonic poem (Classical Work)
- Shamil (Russian history)
- Romanticism
- National Library of Russia (Russian history)
- Russian State Library (Russian history)
