6 h 41 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the most dangerous thing about a brave young officer is that nothing holds his interest?
In the Caucasus, cliffs and snowy passes surround forts and spa towns where officers, exiles and travelers cross paths. Here, Mikhail Lermontov introduces Grigory Pechorin: clever, courageous, restless and often cruel. The loyal captain Maxim Maximych tells part of his story, while a traveling narrator gathers impressions of a man who leaves others changed.
A Hero of Our Time moves through five linked tales, from other people's accounts into Pechorin's private journal. Adventure, romance and a duel draw you toward a harder puzzle: why does he pursue what he cannot enjoy? Bela and Princess Mary become objects of his attention, while his own words expose a mind that struggles to care.
What you’ll discover
- A hero without comfort Meet an officer whose courage and intelligence offer no protection against boredom or cruelty.
- Mountains and restless towns Travel rough Caucasus roads, then enter spa towns alive with gossip and social games.
- A shifting view See Pechorin through other people's eyes before weighing the words of his private journal.
- Desire with a cost Follow his interest in Bela and Princess Mary, where attraction meets a troubling appetite for control.
- A generation under scrutiny Explore Lermontov's portrait of his age through a man he asks readers not to admire.
Who will love it
For readers who love a sharp central character, a wild setting and a puzzle about motive, and anyone curious about Russian literature.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A traveler meets a veteran in the mountains
- Pechorin takes what he wants in Bela
- A cold meeting between two old comrades
- Pechorin speaks for himself in Taman
- Society games and a rival in Princess Mary
- What the novel says and how it works
Who’s who
- PechorinA young army officer, clever, brave and bored, who pursues what he wants and cannot enjoy it once it is won.
- Maxim MaximychAn older staff captain, kind and loyal, who served alongside Pechorin and tells part of his story.
- The traveling narratorA young officer and writer who journeys through the Caucasus, meets Maxim Maximych and later publishes Pechorin's journal.
- BelaA young princess of a local mountain family whose life is changed when Pechorin takes an interest in her.
- GrushnitskyA young cadet who plays the part of a disappointed romantic and admires Princess Mary.
- Princess MaryA young woman at the spa town who becomes the target of Pechorin's attention and his games.
- Dr. WernerA sharp, ironic physician who becomes Pechorin's only equal in conversation at Pyatigorsk.
- VeraA married woman from Pechorin's past who still loves him and meets him again at the spa.
Formats and delivery
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- Audiobook
- 6 h 41 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Un héros de notre temps
by Mikhaïl Iourievitch Lermontov · 1840
In the Caucasus, Pechorin pursues love and danger, drawing others into his restless search for satisfaction.
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In short
A Hero of Our Time is a short novel by the Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov, published in 1840, when he was in his mid twenties. It is set in the Caucasus, the mountain borderland where Russian troops were fighting local peoples and where officers, exiles and travelers passed the time in forts and spa towns.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A traveler meets a veteran in the mountains
The book opens with an unnamed narrator, a young officer and writer, traveling through the Caucasus by carriage. He is collecting impressions, and he notes the cliffs, the snow and the rough roads of the Georgian Military Highway. On the way he meets Maxim Maximych, an older staff captain who has served in the region for many years. The two travel together when bad weather holds them in the mountains.
Maxim Maximych is plain, kind and honest, a soldier who has seen a great deal and speaks of it without show. He makes a good contrast with the man he is about to describe. The young narrator, who likes to listen, asks him for stories, and the older man begins to talk about a younger officer who once served under him in a fortress. That officer is Pechorin.
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What is A Hero of Our Time about?
It tells of Pechorin, a young Russian army officer in the Caucasus, through five linked tales. He chases love, danger and amusement, hurts people along the way, and cannot find real satisfaction.
Why is Pechorin called a Byronic hero?
He is proud, moody, brave, restless and alienated, like the heroes of Lord Byron's poems. Lermontov, however, treats the type with irony and shows the damage such a man does.
Is A Hero of Our Time a true story?
No, it is fiction, published in 1840. Lermontov drew on his own service in the Caucasus and on men he knew, but Pechorin is an invented character.
The author
Mikhail Lermontov
1814–1841 · Russian poet and novelist
Mikhail Iurevich Lermontov (1814–1841) was a Russian writer, poet and painter. He was born in Moscow and lived in Russia, including Saint Petersburg and the Caucasus. He wrote poems, plays and the novel A Hero of Our Time, published in 1840. He died in a duel near Pyatigorsk.
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