A Hero of Our Time

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814–1841) is a brilliant Russian poet, prose writer, and playwright—a classic of both Russian and world literature. His poems and epics are magnificent; only a few prose works, created within such a short lifetime, are able to match them in artistic expressiveness. The works collected here belong to various genres and were written in different periods of Lermontov’s creative life. This includes a textbook novel—part of the school literature curriculum—“A Hero of Our Time,” in which the author presented the dramatic fate of his generation; and the romantic fairy tale “Ashik-Kerib,” based on the Azerbaijani version of the widespread Eastern epic; and the little-known essay “The Caucasian Man”; and the composition on the given topic “Panorama of Moscow,” written by Lermontov at the School of Guards Ensigns. The collection is completed by the mystical story “Штосс” (“Stoss”), which the author could not finish because he was killed in a duel. We invite you to listen to the works of this genius of Russian letters performed by masters of the spoken word. Performers: Honored Artist of Russia S. Chonishvili, Honored Artist of Russia A. Bordukov, P. Kaledin (actor)