literature taman

  

You have to read the uploaded images and answer the questions below

****1. at least five of his/her own substantial literary critical comments based on the discussed stories. Each comment should be min. one paragraph – max. two paragraphs long; and*****

What is your vision of the character of Pechorin from “Taman”,  the part of Mikhail Lermontov’s novel A Hero of Our Time.

Project Pechorin against the “honest smugglers,” such as the old woman, the young girl, and the blind boy.

After reading this story, do you feel that you have a definite impression about who Pechorin was?

Or, do you feel that there is much left for readers to find out about Pechorin by reading the rest of the novel?

Do you think Pechorin is a happy character — yes or no, why?

MikhailIur’evich (or, Yur’evich) Lermontov (1814-1841)

Lermontov’s life was very short and bright like a lightning in the thunderous sky. Not

even reaching the age of twenty-seven he, nevertheless, went through the entire circle of life with

its highest inspirations and bitter disappointments.

Mikhail (or, Michel) spent his childhood in Tarkhany, in the estate of his grandmother,

Elisaveta Arsenieva, who adored her grandson and who was, at the same, time in constant feud

with his father. This family calamity has made a tragic impact on the life of young boy causing

his extreme sensitivity and often his ironically-tragic perception of the world in his boyhood and

adulthood.

A future poet received excellent education in University boarding school for the children

of the nobility at Moscow University and then proceeded to Moscow University itself (1830-32).

In his early years, Lermontov was strongly influenced by the English Romantic poet Lord Byron,

and in 1828 Lermontov’s first poems, “Circassians” and “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” appeared

under Byron’s influence. For his participation in the violent student manifestation against a

despotic professor Malov, Lermontov was “advised” to leave the Moscow University. He then

entered the cadet school in St. Petersbug where he spent “two dreadful years” and where his

romantic novella “Vadim” about Pugachev peasant upraising was created. Lermontov’s military

service in the Life-Guard Hussar Regimen in Tsarskoe Selo (1837-1838), a summer residence of

the Russian tsars, went amidst the court intrigues and lies, resulting in creating his famous

drama, “Masquerade.” Lermontov’s unshared love to Varvara Lopukhina was reflected in his

prosaic work, “Duchess Ligovskaya” and other poetic creaions. And when Pushkin was killed at

the duel with d’Anthes in January 1837, Lermontov stepped forward with his famous poem,

“[On] The Death of the Poet,” in which he openly blamed the Russian tsardom and St.

Petersburg aristocratic society for the death of Pushkin, the Genius of Russian poetry.

This poem had produced an effect of an exploded bomb which resounded all over Russia.

The young poet was immediately arrested for slender and free thinking and sent to the Caucasus.

(During those days, the Caucasian mountains, located along the southern-western borders of

Russia and separating it from the Ottoman Empire, were the theatre of the on-going military

campaign between two countries. This also involved Russia’s own two-hundred-year fight

against the war-like mountaineers who populated this region). In these extremely dangerous but

incredibly beautiful mountains, Lermontov created his masterpiece – the first realistic novel in

prose in Russian literature, A Hero of Our Time. A part of this novel is “Taman” – a story of a

young officer which we have enjoyed reading as a part of this course.

Due to a strong support of a famous and influential poet Zhukovsky, a teacher of Pushkin

and the head of the poetic school of Russian Romanticism, and thanks to the endless requests and

support of his grandmother (who also exercised a huge influence in the high society), Lermontov

was returned back to the capital in 1841. Here he enjoyed a tremendous success as a new star on

the horizon of Russian poetry, yet soon after the arrival he fought at a duel with the son of the

French Ambassador to Russia and was exiled back to the Caucasus. In the mountain spa resort of

Pyatigorsk, where Lermontov stayed on his way to a new place of his exile, he met his former

friend and a future a rival, Martynov. There were also many fashionable young people from St.

Petersburg and Moscow, among whom were secret ill-wishers who knew his reputation in court

circles. Lermontov was both feared for his sharp tongue and envied for his fame. All this added

to an atmosphere of intrigue, scandal, and hatred around him. During one of the gatherings of the

local “water society” (i.e., aristocracy), the two friends, Lermontov and Martynov, went into an

argument, which was definitely provoked by others. Lermontov was called to the duel by

Martynov, accepted the challenge, and the next early morning was killed by Martynov between

Zheleznovodsk (another spa resort) and Pyatigorsk, amidst the magnificent nature. The circle of

Lermontov’s life closed: only two last figures have changed their places.

Lermontov’s poetic genius, if compared to that of Pushkin, is regarded by many as the

one which might have superseded the poetic gift of latter, should Lermontov remained alive

longer. Lermontov’s works, both poetic and prosaic, are often loved by the younger generation in

Russia more than those of other poets. During his short life, he had created an incredible

collection of poetry and prose, and it was beyond any doubt that his genius was capable of

producing many more works of a superb literary quality. Among these works are such

masterpieces as “I Love You with a Strange Love” and “Motherland.” During his second journey

back to the Caucasian exile, he produced such masterpieces of Russian lyric poetry as

“Argument,” “A Leaf,” “The Cliff,” “No, It Was Not You I Loved So Fervently,” “I go to the

Road Alone . . .,” and his last poem, “Prophet.” Lermontov’s poetic and prosaic motifs include

pride, solitude, endless search for the native soul and happiness, disbelief and a premonition of

the soon payback. At the same time, the descriptions of the beautiful nature of the Caucasus and

the endless love to his northern Motherland left beyond the blue mountains comprise a

significant part of Lermontov’s poetic universe. This comes along with the hopes that one day

Russian land will gain its freedom from oppression by the dictators and that its people would be

able to live freely. He was making plans to publish his own literary magazine and to write novels

but these plans fell short due to his untimely death.

Surrounded by selfish, jealous, and hateful aristocrats, the poet was neither understood

nor accepted by his circle and doomed to remain lonely. Their senseless conversations and a

complete absence of sincerity were making Lermontov’s communication with them impossible.

He was desperately trying not to break his connections with other people completely (numerous

evidences of this could be found in his personal correspondence), neither he desired to submerge

himself into a complete skepticism because it was destroying his soul. He tried very hard “to

push away the cold irony which [was] inevitably penetrating [his] soul” but, unfortunately, did

not succeed because the high society did not evoke any other feelings. The poet’s destiny in that

world doomed to become tragic.

A Hero of Our Time. “Taman”

This novel consists of several separate parts, or novellas, including “Bela,” “Maksim

Maksimych,” and “Pechorin’s Diary” which is subdivided, in its turn, into three parts: “Taman,”

“Princess Mary,” and “A Fatalist.” They all have one protagonist, a young, ambitious, proud,

ironic, often cynical, and quite lonely officer, Vladimir Pechorin. The novel also has two

Introductions both written by the author – the first one is placed in the beginning of the novel,

and another one, the Preface – before Pechorin’s diary. Such a structure allows the author to

create an effect of a reliable (even though, the first-person) narrator who takes his information

from the pages of an existing diary and from his own fantasy. At the same time this device is

used to separate the author from the protagonist of the novel and to reveal author’s controvercial

attitude to his hero. For instance, in the authorial Introduction, Pechorin is characterized as “the

portrait composed of all the vises of our generation in their fullest development.” Yet, in the

Preface to “Pechorin’s Diary,” the author says that he himself “became persuaded of the

sincerity of this man who is so mercifully revealed his own faults and vises” and that he hopes

that the readers will be able to justify the actions of this man [Pechorin] for which he was

previously blamed.

Simple question arises: why does the author sympathize with Pechorin and what does he

blame him for?

A disconnected composition of the novel is important in the sense that the chain of

different characters not merely opens Pechorin’s own personality but also gradually justifies him

in the eyes of the readers. By clashing his protagonist with others, Lermonov displays his

extraordinary features and psychological strength. Pechorin constantly appears to be stronger,

better and nobler than the rest of the novel’s participants. And in “Fatalist” he already fights not

with the people but with his own fate. Yet all these victories do not bring him either honor, or

moral satisfaction, on the contrary, they gradually destroy him spiritually, and with each time his

personal solitude becomes more and more apparent. Likewise, each part of the novel reveals

Pechorin’s attempt to get closer, more intimate with the others, to learn more about their

characters, and to find some sort of a meaningful equilibrium in the relations with them. But each

time, his conflict with the others becomes more and more impossible to overcome and the gap

between him and them grows dipper. Not only Pechorin spreads evil around himself, he is also

able to find more of it in the surrounding reality. This makes him close to Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

In “Taman,” the earliest part of Pechorin’s life is presented. He is young and

inexperienced, his feelings are sincere and untamed, he is overcome with his memories and

passions, and is so sensitive that he cannot sleep after he has seen “a boy with the white eyes.”

People are interesting to him, he eagerly rushes toward danger, intruding the unknown. “Taman”

opens and closes with his speculations and revelations which testify about the difficulties and

bitterness of gaining his life experience, and about his attempts to treat people with a greater

indifference. But the nasty little town of Taman is described in the way that the reader cannot but

feel its attraction to Pechorin. The landscapes are romantic and through the filth of the habitat of

the locals (“nechistoe mesto” – lit. “a dirty place,” fig., a devilish place) the mighty beauty of the

eternal nature reveals itself. The moon, the clouds, a troubled sea are all living forces, and the

night landscapes increase the feeling of mystery which attracts Pechorin. The life of the people

on the shore seems to him an attractive puzzle which he is certain to decipher.

How do other people in this city treat this “nechistoe mesto”? Why does this place attract

and not push or scare Pechorin away? How does his attitude towards its inhabitants change

during the course of this novella? The blind boy who in the beginning causes Pechorin’s mistrust

due to his physical adroitness, at the end of it is called “poor” and is shown in the sincere grief.

Yanko who first seems a fearless man and a brave swimmer at the end is presented at cruel

towards the old woman and the boy and treacherous and fearing the authorities. Yanko’s

materialistic and even cynical conversations about his labor not being enough paid, about the

place where the riches are hidden and at the same time, his stinginess during the parting with his

former friends shakes Pechorin’s former perception of Yanko’s sincerity and romanticism.

In the similar direction the character of the undine develops. Initially, her poetic and

passion feeling towards Yanko is being described. To Pechorin this “true mermaid” seems to be

attractive and charming: her smile drags him as a bottomless mystery and an adventure yet to be

explored. But how drastically her appearance changes when they found themselves together in

the boat and when she wants to drown Pechorin! Her insidiousness turns out to be not romantic

but cruel.

In “Taman,” Pechorin is still naive and trustful, and makes numerous mistakes without

recognizing the true identity of the people in front of him. His interest in the life of the people

whom he does not know well but who seem to him very romantic, brave and naturally sincere, is

indeed boundless. This makes him approach the danger very closely and even to risk his own

life. However this attempt to get to know these people has been made in vain since they will

never accept Pechorin into their circle, will never recognize him as their comrade due to their

moral and social differences. That is why the deciphering of this mystery is so disappointing for

him. His hopes for adventure turn out to be disappointment and for a romantic date become a

dangerous fight. Namely this transformation infuriates Pechorin and not so much his sole desire

to defend his life.

Finally, after figuring out the true content of the circle of the “honest smugglers”

Pechorin rejects to grant them any exclusivity. These are the people who live off the results of

their dishonesty towards the others and who have submerged themselves in lies and evil deeds.

So why would Pechorin who searches for the elevated meaning of life need to deal with them in

the first place? Indeed, he blames himself for the intrusion in their circle which both lead to the

disruption of their dirty routine and became unnecessary to himself. He is ridiculing his own

curiosity and does not want any revenge. His aspirations and expectation to find a romantic life

and his passionate interest to human nature change with the apathy and indifference: he does not

care about what may have happened to the old woman and to the blind one. At the end of the day

he is above all of them: he is an officer and they are the smugglers, he is an aristocrat and they

are little people.

This is how the romantic mood of the protagonist has clashed with the miserable prose of

life. In this precisely lies the reason of Pechorin’s bitterness and self-irony.