Taman, a refuge for honest smugglers. Pechorin and the smugglers

A smuggler cannot be honest because he is engaged in illegal activities. Why does Pechorin call smugglers honest? The answer can be found in the chapter “Taman”.

Grigory admits that he becomes sad at the end of the description of what happened to him in Taman. Pechorin sees the only remaining blind boy crying. Yanko and Ondine are carried away into the distance of the sea. For his work and devotion, the boy received a coin for a gingerbread. The reader feels sorry for the blind man, scared for Ondine, and offended for Pechorin.

Gregory himself understands what he has done. He compares himself to a stone thrown into a smooth spring. The epithet smooth correlates with pure, calm. Smugglers do their job to survive. Their squalid housing proves poverty and scarcity. The “peaceful circle” consists of several people, all of whom evoke only pity.

Yanko can be condemned, but his fate is also unenviable: not everyone can rush across a stormy sea on a dark night. What will happen to the old woman and the blind man, where will they find food for themselves?

Honest smugglers “Hero of our time”, honesty, in this case, is caring. Yanko and Ondine tried to alleviate the plight of the disadvantaged. Pechorin intervenes in their lives and forces the smugglers to leave the city they have chosen to live. They will cope and will be able to find a new shelter for themselves, but the blind boy is unlikely to meet the same friends. The only way to be well-fed is crushed against the rock of the human soul, busy looking for entertainment for its mind.

“Hero of Our Time” is a story about a man who absorbed all the vices of the average person of that era. Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is a person who has lost interest in life. He craves impressions, in pursuit of which he goes to the south of Russia. Material goods do not satisfy Gregory, they only make him bored. Pechorin is looking for adventure and new acquaintances. He describes these searches in detail in his diary, which will later become the main source for writing the novel.

“Taman” is one of the chapters of “Pechorin’s Journal”. Chronologically, it opens the hero’s diary entries, despite the fact that M.Yu. Lermontov placed it third in order.

By the will of fate, the hero ends up in Taman. He is forced to stop in a not very clean and gloomy apartment with equally gloomy and strange inhabitants. Acquaintance with them begins with a meeting with a blind boy who, according to the author, “is not so blind.” Also here we see the figures of a young guy named Yanko, his girlfriend and a decrepit old woman - in all likelihood, the mistress of the house.

The owners of the mysterious house are engaged in smuggling; this illegal business is their main source of income and perhaps the only way to feed themselves. Pechorin unwittingly witnesses one night incident, namely the transportation of contraband goods by Yanko, a brave bandit who is helped by a blind boy. This fact attracts Gregory’s attention, and he tries to find out from the boy the details of their activities. The reaction to Pechorin’s excessive interest was an attempt by the Taman people to get rid of the unwanted witness. The girl lures him on a boat trip and tries to drown him, but this attempt ends in failure. Gregory turned out to be stronger.

Frightened by possible exposure, Yanko and his beloved hastily leave Taman, leaving the blind boy and the old woman to their fate. Grigory Pechorin sees the bitter tears of a blind child and only then understands that he had no right to interfere with “honest smugglers”, that with his interest, his fleeting hobby, he breaks human destinies and cripples souls.

As in other chapters, in “Taman” the actions of Grigory Pechorin lead only to tragic consequences. He leaves the peninsula, leaving crippled destinies behind him, but never satisfying his whim.

Several interesting essays

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    The image of the pilot Alexei Meresyev has many positive personal qualities of the hero. Of course, a strong trait of his character is his persistence in achieving his goals.

  • The theme of nature in Yesenin's lyrics essay

    This article presents an analysis of nature in the works of Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin.

  • Characteristics and image of Raskolnikov in the novel Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky essay

    Raskolnikov is a handsome young man with aristocratic features. He rented a tiny closet in the attic of a five-story building.

  • These are two extremes, of course. People always try to keep hopes alive in others and in themselves, as they say, a spark. Despair is frowned upon because it is something like depression.

  • Essay on the human soul

    The unrecognized, invisible, intangible part of a person. For thousands of years, the world's minds have been arguing about what the soul is! Is this God's Gift or a banal awareness of oneself as a person with an emotional background?

Description of the presentation by individual slides:

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help students analyze the third chapter of M.Yu. Lermontov’s novel “Hero of Our Time”

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How many stories does the novel “A Hero of Our Time” include? Features of the composition and genre of the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time” Do the events described develop consistently? What is unique about the composition of the novel? What task is the disrupted chronology of the novel subordinated to? What is the innovation of the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov?

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Take Lermontov’s story “Taman” - you won’t find a word in it that could be thrown out or inserted; the whole thing sounds from beginning to end in one harmonic chord; what a wonderful language...! D.V. Grigorovich The story of M.Yu. Lermontov “Taman”

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M.Yu. Lermontov's story "Taman" Lermontov's story "Taman" was first published in 1840 in the second issue of the eighth volume of the journal "Otechestvennye zapiski" Who is the narrator in the story "Taman"? Narrator: Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin. We are reading Pechorin's journal - personal notes in which a person, knowing that they will not become known to others, can set forth not only external events, but also internal, hidden from everyone, movements of his soul. Pechorin was sure that he was writing “this magazine... for himself,” which is why he was so open in describing them.

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The story of M.Yu. Lermontov “Taman” Change of narrator Pechorin Maxim Maksimych examines events as if through inverted binoculars and shows the general plan of events. As a storyteller, Pechorin has the greatest advantages, because not only knows more about himself than others, but is also able to comprehend his thoughts, feelings and actions. The officer-narrator brings events closer, transfers them from a general plan to a more enlarged one, but he knows little

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“Taman is the worst little town of all the coastal cities in Russia. I almost died of hunger there, and on top of that they wanted to drown me.” M.Yu. Lermontov’s story “Taman” What state is Pechorin in after arriving in Taman? What will an ordinary person do in moments of extreme physical fatigue? What does Pechorin do when he finds himself in a “bad” place? Why? Late night Began to demand Three nights did not sleep Exhausted Began to get angry Pechorin lays things out...(?) Inspects the pier..(?) Stands on the shore for a long time..(?) Talks about people..(?) Talks to a boy..(?) Takes a weapon..(?)

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Finding himself in an unfamiliar environment and in emergency situations, Pechorin makes mistakes and miscalculations. Which? How does he get out of difficult situations? What personality traits of Pechorin are manifested in the story with the “peaceful smugglers”? Show Pechorin's exceptional powers of observation, for example, in relation to a blind boy and girl. What conclusion does the hero come to at the end of the story? How does this characterize him? The story of M.Yu. Lermontov “Taman”

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What character traits does Pechorin show in Taman? M.Yu. Lermontov's story “Taman” The first meeting with a blind boy Observation of a girl and the first conversation with her The scene of Pechorin’s “charming” by an undine Observation of the meeting of a blind man and Yanko Interest in a person Interest in the unusual in a person “Youthful passion” Sadness Interest in everything mysterious Decisiveness, courage The active principle makes you go on a date The ability to sympathize with the grief of others

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Two worlds: Pechorin and the smugglers The story of M.Yu. Lermontov “Taman” Pechorin and the smugglers are united by a secret and the desire for it. Watching the crying boy, Pechorin realizes that he is as lonely as the blind orphan. He has a feeling of unity of feelings, experiences, destinies. Both Pechorin and the other heroes of the story are not ideal. All of them are infected with vices and passions. But Pechorin is not able to penetrate among ordinary people. Here he loses his intellectual advantages of a civilized person, he is alien to the natural world and life full of dangers.

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“And what do I care about human joys and misfortunes?..” exclaims Pechorin... Indeed, Pechorin’s activity is directed only at himself, it does not have a high goal, he is simply curious. The hero is looking for real action, but finds its likeness, a game. He is annoyed with himself because, invading people’s lives, he does not bring them joy, he is a stranger in this world. The story of M.Yu. Lermontov “Taman” Activity aimed at oneself, or activity for a great goal?

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How do they treat an “unclean” place in the city? Why doesn’t it repel Pechorin, doesn’t frighten him, but attracts him? Who in the story “challenges” Pechorin? What's the secret here? Why does Pechorin talk about what he saw at night to the blind man and the “undine”, but says nothing to his orderly? I firmly decided to get the key to this riddle”... The story of M.Yu. Lermontov “Taman”

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“And why did fate throw me into the peaceful circle of honest smugglers? Like a stone thrown into a smooth spring, I disturbed their calm, and like a stone I almost sank to the bottom!” The hero understands perfectly well that he rudely invaded someone else’s life, disrupted its calm, slow flow, and brought misfortune to people. Thus, Pechorin is clearly aware of his role in the destinies of other people. Thoughts about this bother him constantly, but in this story they are expressed for the first time. In addition, the moral result of these reflections is also important. Pechorin confirms the guess about his complete indifference to the misfortunes of other people: he does not see his personal guilt in what happened, shifting all responsibility to fate. The story of M.Yu. Lermontov “Taman” And again boredom, indifference, disappointment...

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Pechorin and the past Pechorin does not want to remember the past. Lonely, sad, embittered by misfortunes, he wants only one thing - to be left alone, not tormented by memories and hopes. Of course, he remembers everything and suffers from the memories. Pechorin is running not from Maxim Maksimych, but from his memories. The past seems unworthy of attention to him. And although he writes that his diary will be a “precious memory” for him, in the present he is indifferent to the fate of his notes. Pechorin and the present Pechorin’s behavior portrays a depressed person who does not expect anything from life. The meeting with Maxim Maksimych emphasizes the gap between them - between a common man and a nobleman. In addition, the boredom inherent in Pechorin may indicate some of his indifference to his real life. His life has no purpose, he sees no way out either in the present or in the future. In this, as in many other things, Pechorin is typical of his time. The story of M.Yu. Lermontov “Taman” Pechorin and time

The meeting of Pechorin, the main character of Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of Our Time,” with “honest smugglers” is depicted in the story “Taman,” the first in Pechorin’s Journal. The composition of the novel is unusual: it consists of separate stories with their own complete plot, united by a common main character. Lermontov adheres not to the chronology of events, but to the logic of the gradual revelation of the character of the main character. The presence of three narrators is also connected with this. First, Maxim Maksimych talks about Pechorin’s organization of Bela’s kidnapping, his cooling towards her and the death of the girl, then the narrator, wandering around the Caucasus, conveys his impressions of the meeting he saw between Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych. Having received Pechorin’s notes and learned of his death, the narrator allegedly publishes his diaries (“Pechorin’s Journal”) with the goal (as he says in the preface) to show the “history of the soul” of a man called a hero of the time and characterized as a portrait made up of vices of today's young generation.

From the story “Taman” the reader learns that immediately upon arriving in the Caucasus from St. Petersburg, “out of official necessity,” and not of his own free will, Pechorin found himself in the “bad town” of Taman. There is no detailed description of the town, only a passing mention of dirty alleys and dilapidated fences, but that is not why it is called “bad”. The epithet rather reflects Pechorin’s attitude to the events taking place in this place. Summing up everything that happened, Pechorin writes in his diary: “... a blind boy robbed me, and an eighteen-year-old girl almost drowned me.” Thus, ironically about what happened, the hero names the two main participants in the unfolding drama.

In creating Taman, Lermontov relied on the literary tradition of the robber short story genre, which is romantic in its depiction of heroes and circumstances. At first, one gets the impression that the author does not deviate from this genre. The plot of events - “vatera”, where “unclean”, a blind man who is “not as blind as he seems”, a lunar landscape, a storm at sea, a mysterious white figure, a brave swimmer - all this arouses Pechorin’s interest, makes him not sleep at night, secretly monitor what is happening on the seashore. However, all this does not disturb and captivate him so much that he forgets about what happened in the recent past: the monotonous sound of the sea reminds him of “the murmur of a falling asleep city” and brings back sad memories. At the same time, the night adventure is not so important that, wanting to find out the outcome, Pechorin postponed his departure to Gelendzhik. Having learned that the ship will not arrive for another three or four days, he returns from the commandant “sullen and angry.”

Subsequently, Pechorin will say that for a long time he has been living not with his heart, but with his head. When going on a date with the “undine,” he does not forget to take a pistol with him and warn the Cossack orderly so that when he hears the shot, he should run to the shore. The beauty, apparently, naively thought that, having charmed Pechorin, she would become the mistress of the situation. However, Pechorin is not like that and knows the value of female coquetry. And yet he gets embarrassed, really worried, he gets dizzy when the girl kisses him. On the one hand, he calls her behavior “comedy”, on the other hand, he succumbs to her charm. He is capable of deeply feeling and worrying, but never stops analyzing for a minute.


The climactic scene is a desperate struggle in a boat. Previously, Pechorin compared the girl with a romantic mermaid, admiring her long flowing hair, unusually flexible figure, golden tint of skin, regular nose, comparing her with “a bird scared out of the bush.” Like an educated aristocrat, he casually talked about "little foot" and "Geta's Minion." Now he has to fight for his life, and the girl for hers. And it’s not at all strange that now he says about her: “... like a cat grabbed my clothes... her snake nature withstood this torture.” However, it should be noted that, having climbed ashore, Pechorin was “almost happy” when he recognized “his mermaid” in the white figure on the shore.

The ending is not at all romantic. All the heroes are alive, but the “peaceful circle of honest smugglers” is disturbed, a half-deaf old woman and a blind boy are left to the mercy of fate. Pechorin sympathetically tells how the poor blind man cried for a long, long time, but immediately notes that “thank God, in the morning the opportunity arose to go.” In the finale, he once again remembers the abandoned blind man and the old woman, but philosophically remarks: “... what do I care about the joys and misfortunes of men...”. But whether he is truly indifferent to them or is trying to convince himself of this, the reader must understand for himself, reflecting on what he has read and comparing what he has learned about the hero in different parts of the novel.

Critic V.G. Belinsky assessed Pechorin as a man with “a strong will, courageous, not shy of any danger, inviting storms and anxiety.” This is how we know Pechorin from the stories of Maxim Maksimych, and now, in Taman, he himself spoke about one of these cases. Yes, he is active, brave, resourceful, decisive, intelligent, educated, but he is driven only by idle curiosity. “Smugglers” still wins against its background. They are also brave (Yanko) and resourceful (undine), and also evoke sympathy and pity (old woman, boy); they are fighting for life, and Pechorin plays with it, however, not only his own. The consequences of his interference in other people's destinies are sad, and he understands this by comparing himself to a stone that disturbed the surface of a spring, and then, in “Princess Mary,” with an ax in the hands of fate. Pechorin, according to Maxim Maksimych, feels no less unhappy than those to whom he, voluntarily or unwittingly, does evil. This is indirectly confirmed in Taman.

In this part of the novel, Pechorin does not utter a single large monologue; his thoughts and feelings are still largely hidden from the reader, but are already arousing great interest, thanks to omissions and omissions.

“Taman” was highly valued by Belinsky and Turgenev, Tolstoy and Chekhov for its special flavor, harmony, and beautiful language.

“And what do I care about human joys and misfortunes?”

M.Yu. Lermontov

Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of Our Time” solves a pressing problem: why do people, smart and energetic, not find use for their remarkable abilities and wither without a fight at the very beginning of life? Lermontov answers this question with the life story of Pechorin, a young man belonging to the generation of the 30s. The composition, plot of the work and the entire system of images are subordinated to the task of a comprehensive and deep disclosure of the personality of the hero and the environment that raised him.

The story told in Taman has a vital basis. Lermontov was in Taman in 1837. He had to stay late waiting for the ship. The old Cossack woman Tsaritsykha mistook Lermontov for a secret spy who wants to detect smugglers. Tsaritsykha’s neighbor was a beautiful Tatar woman, whose husband had dealings with smugglers. And there was a blind boy, Yashka. All the facts of life appear before us in a different form.

The story “Taman” is an independent work of art and at the same time is part of a novel. It is written in the form of a diary, and this is no accident. If at the beginning of the novel the author strives to show Pechorin’s contradictory actions, then later on the pages of the diary the secret and obvious motives of the hero’s actions are revealed and their reasons are analyzed.

It should be noted that in “Taman” the romantic elation of the narrative is harmoniously combined with a realistic depiction of the characters and life of free smugglers. For example, let’s take the description of Yanko’s portrait: “A man in a Tatar hat came out of the boat, but he had a Cossack haircut, and a large knife was sticking out of his belt.” And this detail (the knife) reminds us of the dangerous profession of a smuggler. Somehow it is said very simply about Yanko’s prowess. “Well, blind man,” said the female gloss, “the storm is strong. Yanko will not be there." “Yanko is not afraid of the storm,” he answered. Following this dialogue, Lermontov draws a raging sea. “Slowly rising to the ridges of the waves, quickly descending from them, the boat approached the shore.” The description of the raging elements serves as a means of revealing the prowess of Yanko, for whom “everywhere there is a road, where only the wind blows and the sea makes noise.” It is not for the sake of love that he goes to great lengths, but for the sake of profit. His stinginess is amazing: the blind boy receives a small coin as a reward. And Yanko asks the old woman to tell her “that, they say, it’s time to die, I’ve healed, I need to know and honor.” Fate does not bring Pechorin and this “honest” smuggler directly together, but nevertheless Yanko is forced precisely because of him to leave the “inhabited lands.” The heroes of the story are engaged in a dangerous trade - smuggling. Lermontov deliberately does not specify what exactly they are transporting through the strait and what they are taking overseas. “Rich goods”, “the cargo was great” - we don’t know anything else. It is important for Lermontov to create in the reader a feeling of a dangerous, unusual life, full of anxiety.

Let's trace the relationship between Pechorin and the smugglers. Having settled in a hut where it is “unclean,” Pechorin does not even think of being afraid, one might even say he behaves thoughtlessly. On the very first night, he “got up, threw on his beshmet... quietly left the hut, seeing a shadow flash past the window.” Why does he need this alien life? The answer is very simple. Everything is interesting to him, important, he needs to “touch” everything, this is probably what attracts Pechorin’s character. He is young, looking for love. But the mysterious girl lured him into the boat, he “felt her fiery breath on his face” - and at that same moment the “mermaid” threw his pistol into the water. There is no longer an “undine”; there is an enemy with whom we must fight.

To top it all off, the blind boy robbed Pechorin with the girl’s knowledge, and this completely destroys the dreams in which our hero was. Yes, Pechorin is largely to blame: inexperience, inability to understand people. And what were the consequences of the phrase: “What if, for example, I decided to inform the commandant?” And the old woman, and the blind boy, and the girl could not explain Pechorin’s actions other than the desire to “convey to the commandant.” After all, he walks around, looks out, threatens. They don’t understand that he is simply interested in these people, their lives. And this curiosity resulted in Pechorin ruining the lives of the smugglers and, moreover, almost dying himself. And when the blind boy began to cry, when the girl left forever with Yanko, then Pechorin was horrified by what he had done: “And why did fate throw me into the peaceful circle of honest smugglers? Like a stone thrown into a smooth spring, I disturbed their calm, and, like a stone, I almost sank to the bottom myself.”

As for the artistic side of the story “Taman,” it is simply impossible to overestimate it. But I would still like to more specifically define what the work is based on. These are the “three pillars”: accuracy, imagery, expressiveness. And what a selection of “telling details”! For example, Pechorin writes in his travel journal: “... two benches and a table... not a single image on the wall - a bad sign!” Looking at this poor situation, we can say that people live here temporarily, they are ready to leave their uncomfortable shelter at any moment.

Or in the scene of a conversation between a girl and a blind man, we learn that the storm is strong, the fog is getting thicker. It would seem, so what? But this is important for smugglers: you can’t go “on business” in all weathers.

The technique of antithesis in the story is interesting. This is how the blind boy imagines the image of Yanko: “Yanko is not afraid of the sea or the wind.” A sort of fairy-tale hero, a fearless hero. But Pechorin sees Yanko differently: “a man of medium height, wearing a Tatar lamb’s cap” came out of the boat, an ordinary man, not at all heroic in appearance.

The technique of combining the sublime and the base in the story is also interesting. Here romance coexists with the prose of life. The mysterious girl reminds Pechorin of a romantic heroine. But the “mermaid” sings her beautiful free song, standing on the roof of a miserable hut. The girl’s words addressed to Pechorin are mysterious, and the blind boy’s lamentations are pitiful: “Where did I go?... With a knot? What a knot!”
If we talk about the plot, it vaguely resembles the plot of “Bela”. A Russian young man meets a local “savage” girl and falls in love with her. The plot is typical for the literature of Lermontov's era. But in Taman everything is unconventional. The girl was supposed to fall in love with the newcomer. But everything turns out to be a trick. Landscape sketches give the story a romantic flavor and, contrasting with the wretchedness of the “unclean place,” open up a charming world of beauty and bliss to the reader.

The composition of the story is unique. The work opens and ends with the hero’s judgments, testifying to the bitterness of the experience gained in this event, about an attempt to be indifferent to the people with whom fate confronts him.

A.P. Chekhov, with all the severity of his assessments, said: “I don’t know the language better than Lermontov…”.

I would like to add on my own that sometimes it becomes sad when, in the modern variety of books, it is very difficult to choose reading for the soul. All this market “reading” that surrounds us everywhere, screams and gets into our eyes, is simply annoying. And, honestly, one small story “Taman” from “A Hero of Our Time” is already worth all this “book disgrace.”

    • In any high-quality work, the fate of the heroes is associated with the image of their generation. How else? After all, people reflect the character of their time, they are its “product”. We clearly see this in the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time". Using the example of the life of a typical person of this era, the writer shows the image of an entire generation. Of course, Pechorin is a representative of his time; his fate reflected the tragedy of this generation. M.Yu. Lermontov was the first to create in Russian literature the image of the “lost” […]
    • And it’s boring and sad, and there’s no one to give a hand to In a moment of spiritual adversity... Desires! What good is it to wish in vain and forever?.. And the years pass - all the best years! M.Yu. Lermontov In the novel “Hero of Our Time,” Lermontov poses to the reader a question that worries everyone: why do the most worthy, intelligent and energetic people of his time not find use for their remarkable abilities and wither at the very beginning of life’s impulse without a fight? The writer answers this question with the life story of the main character Pechorin. Lermontov […]
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    • “Taman” is a kind of culmination in the collision of two elements of the novel: realism and romanticism. Here you don’t know what to be more surprised at: the extraordinary charm and charm of the subtle, all-pervading color that lies in the images and paintings of the short story, or the extremely convincing realism and impeccable life-like verisimilitude. A. A. Titov sees, for example, the whole meaning of “Taman” with its poetry in the deliberate reduction and debunking of the image of Pechorin. Convinced that this was precisely the author’s intention, he writes […]
    • Pechorin Grushnitsky Origin An aristocrat by birth, Pechorin remains an aristocrat throughout the novel. Grushnitsky is from a simple family. An ordinary cadet, he is very ambitious, and by hook or by crook he strives to become one of the people. Appearance More than once Lermontov focuses attention on the external manifestations of Pechorin’s aristocracy, such as pallor, small brush, “dazzlingly clean linen.” At the same time, Pechorin is not fixated on his own appearance; it is enough for him to look [...]
    • Actually, I'm not a big fan of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time", the only part that I like is "Bela". The action takes place in the Caucasus. Staff Captain Maxim Maksimych, a veteran of the Caucasian War, tells a fellow traveler an incident that happened to him in these places several years ago. Already from the first lines, the reader is immersed in the romantic atmosphere of the mountain region, gets acquainted with the mountain peoples, their way of life and customs. This is how Lermontov describes mountain nature: “Glorious [...]
    • The novel by M. Yu. Lermontov was created in the era of government reaction, which brought to life a whole gallery of “superfluous people.” Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin, whom Russian society became acquainted with in 1839–1840, belonged precisely to this type. This is a man who did not even know why he lived and for what purpose he was born. “The Fatalist” is one of the most plot-intensive and at the same time ideologically rich chapters of the novel. It consists of three episodes, original experiments that either confirm or deny […]
    • “How often surrounded by a motley crowd...” is one of Lermontov’s most significant poems, close in its accusatory pathos to “The Death of a Poet.” The creative history of the poem has until now been the subject of ongoing debate among researchers. The poem has the epigraph “January 1st,” indicating its connection with the New Year’s ball. According to the traditional version of P. Viskovaty, it was a masquerade in the Assembly of the Nobility, where Lermontov, violating etiquette, insulted two sisters. Pay attention to Lermontov’s behavior during this […]
    • Curiosity, fearlessness, an unjustified thirst for adventure are the characteristics of the main character of the novel. Throughout the book, the author shows him to us from many different sides. First, this is the view of Maxim Maksimych, and then the notes of Pechorin himself. I cannot call the hero’s “fate” tragic, since neither the death of Bela, nor Grushnitsky, nor the sadness of Maxim Maksimych makes his life more tragic. Perhaps even your own death is not much worse than all of the above. The hero has a very detached attitude towards people, plays [...]
    • Grigory Pechorin Maxim Maksimych Age Young, at the time of his arrival in the Caucasus he was about 25 years old Almost retired Military rank Officer of the Russian Imperial Army. Staff Captain Character Traits Anything new quickly gets boring. Suffering from boredom. In general, a young man, tired of life, jaded, is looking for a distraction in the war, but in just a month he gets used to the whistle of bullets and the roar of explosions, and begins to get bored again. I am sure that he brings nothing but misfortune to those around him, which strengthens his […]
    • Lermontov’s youth and the time of formation of his personality occurred during the years of government reaction after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising. A difficult atmosphere of denunciations, total surveillance, and exile to Siberia on charges of unreliability reigned in Russia. Progressive people of that time could not freely express their thoughts on political issues. Lermontov was acutely worried about the lack of freedom, the state of stopped time. He reflected the main tragedy of the era in his novel, which he meaningfully called “The Hero of Our […]
    • So, “A Hero of Our Time” is a psychological novel, that is, a new word in Russian literature of the nineteenth century. This is truly a special work for its time - it has a truly interesting structure: a Caucasian short story, travel notes, a diary... But still, the main goal of the work is to reveal the image of an unusual, at first glance, strange person - Grigory Pechorin. This is truly an extraordinary, special person. And the reader sees this throughout the novel. Who is […]
    • Pechorin's life story is told to the reader by Maxim Maksimych. The psychological portrait sketched by the traveler adds several characteristic touches to the story of Pechorin’s life. The memory of Maxim Maksimych captured individual confessions of the hero, thanks to which the biography of the “hero of the time” acquired extraordinary credibility. Pechorin belonged to the highest society in St. Petersburg. His youth was spent in pleasures that could be obtained for money, and he soon became disgusted with them. Social life with its seductions is also [...]
    • And tell me, what is the mystery of the alternation of periods of history? In the same people, in just ten years, all social energy subsides, the impulses of valor, having changed their sign, become impulses of cowardice. A. Solzhenitsyn This is a poem by the mature Lermontov, revealing the social and spiritual crisis after the December generation. It closes the poet’s previous moral, social and philosophical quests, sums up past spiritual experience, reflecting the aimlessness of personal and social efforts […]


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