by Mikhail Lermontov
1839
translated by Paul Foote
A collection of previously published stories about Pechorin, a Russian
officer, who turns out to be hardly a hero. Said to be the first
Russian psychological novel. In my opinion, the author himself was more
interesting (he wrote this – his sole novel – between the ages of
21-25, killed in a duel over a trivial insult at 26) than his book,
which had awkward, obviously translated phrases (something I have an
automatic eye for these days), way too much purple prose and little
action/poignancy. On the other hand, when there was interaction and
emotion between the characters, it was excellent. All in all, fairly
good. I liked "Princess Mary" and "The Fatalist" best.
three stars
No comments:
Post a Comment