A Hero of Our Time

Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841) was most famous for his poetry, but during his short life he also published a handful of observant psychological novels. A Hero of Our Time is one of his best, a collection of five interlinked stories that together become a character study of a cynical, self-absorbed, and aimless young nobleman. "My whole life has been merely a succession of miserable and unsuccessful denials of feelings or reason."