Russia
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Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov
Moscow, Russia
Archival Overview
Tragic genius of Russian Romanticism whose grief-stricken elegy on Pushkin's death and psychological masterpiece A Hero of Our Time (featuring Pechorin) redefined Russian prose before his death in a duel at age twenty-six.
Biographical Record
Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841), raised by his wealthy grandmother at the Tarkhany estate following his mother's early death, was an aristocratic cavalry officer in the Hussar regiment. Upon the fatal duel of Alexander Pushkin in 1837, the furious 22-year-old Lermontov penned Death of the Poet, boldly accusing the Tsarist court aristocracy of complicity in the murder, which led to his arrest and exile to the Caucasus warfront.
Surrounded by the sublime Caucasian peaks, Lermontov composed the mystical narrative poem The Demon and his groundbreaking novel A Hero of Our Time (1840). Introducing the cynical, disillusioned anti-hero Grigory Pechorin ('the superfluous man'), Lermontov founded modern Russian psychological realism. Like Pushkin before him, Lermontov was killed in a pistol duel at the foot of Mount Mashuk in Pyatigorsk at the age of twenty-six.
Key Life Milestones
Writing of 'Death of the Poet' (Smert Poeta)
Authored his explosive, grieving elegy on Pushkin's duel, cementing him as Pushkin's undisputed heir.
Publication of A Hero of Our Time (Geroy nashego vremeni)
Published Russia's first psychological novel, introducing Pechorin as the archetype of the 'superfluous man'.
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialPyatigorsk (Stavropol Krai), Russia