A Hero of Our Time (Paperback)
Staff Reviews
Join the ne'er-do-well officer Pechorin on his adventures through the snowy Caucasus mountains as he cheats death, charms ladies, and generally makes the most of the Byronic hero archetype. Published in 1840, A Hero of Our Time is regarded by many as the first Russian novel and it's one of my all-time favorites.
— From Devon D. Staff PicksDescription
The first example of the psychological novel in Russia, A Hero of Our Time influenced Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov, and other great nineteenth-century masters that followed. Its hero, Pechorin, is Byronic in his wasted gifts, his cynicism, and his desire for any kind of action-good or ill-that will stave off boredom. Outraging many critics when it was first published in 1840, A Hero of Our Time follows Pechorin as he embarks on an exciting adventure involving brigands, smugglers, soldiers, rivals, and lovers.
This edition includes a new introduction, chronology, suggestions for further reading, maps, and full explanatory notes.
About the Author
Paul Foote was, until his retirement, a university lecturer in Russian and fellow of The Queen’s College, Oxford.
Praise For…
"Natasha Randall's English, in her new translation, has exactly the right degree of loose velocity. . . . (Nabokov's version, the best-known older translation, is a bit more demure than Randall's, less savage.)"
-James Wood, London Review of Books
"[A] smart, spirited new translation."
-The Boston Globe
"One of the most vivid and persuasive portraits of the male ego ever put down on paper."
-Neil LaBute, from the Foreword
