{"id":1074,"date":"2020-04-22T12:58:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T16:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/?p=1074"},"modified":"2020-04-22T12:58:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T16:58:08","slug":"eurasian-melange-in-a-hero-of-our-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/2020\/04\/22\/eurasian-melange-in-a-hero-of-our-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurasian M\u00e9lange in A Hero of Our Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Mikhail Lermontov, Tiflis, 1837<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Mckenzie Howell<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is impossible to categorize Russia as strictly European or as strictly Asiatic. The fact of the matter is that Russia is an expansive country, home to numerous cultures influenced by both the West and the East. That said, Mikhail Lermontov\u2019s 1840 novel, A Hero of Our Time<\/em>, effectively demonstrates nineteenth-century Russian identification with and emulation of Western Europe. Lermontov\u2019s rather westernized perspective reinforces the othering of Caucasian cultures throughout the novel. Nonetheless, Lermontov\u2019s perspectives still illustrate Russia\u2019s Eurasian m\u00e9lange. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mikhail Lermontov, Self Portrait, 1837<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

            Identification is an interesting\nsubject within A Hero of Our Time<\/em>, as\nLermontov relays information through several layers of narration. The novel is\nthe story of Grigory Pechorin, a restless, brooding noble officer stationed in\nthe Caucasus.  Told through several\nnarrators, Pechorin represents a Russian Byronic hero but also a quintessential\nman of empire.  The escapade with Bela, a\nCaucasian Princess \u201cgiven\u201d to Pechorin, is retold by Maksim Maksimich to the\nunnamed narrator; later this same narrator edits and frames the reader\u2019s\nintroduction to Pechorin\u2019s journal. These characters continually influence the\nreader\u2019s perspectives on events as well as other characters. It is therefore\nnotable that these characters share a specific trait: their upper-class\nEuropean Russian identity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The Western influence is arguably\nevident first and foremost in the various narrator\u2019s attitudes toward\nrepresentations of the Asiatic. In \u201cBela\u201d, the unnamed narrator continually\nregards his Caucasian surroundings with derision, declaring at one point: \u201cWhat\nwretched people!\u201d (Lermontov, 8). In fact, he bonds with Maksim Maksimich over\ntheir shared low opinions of these people, the latter disparaging Asiatics as\n\u201crascals\u201d and \u201cfools\u201d who scam travelers out of money and cannot be educated\n(Lermontov,4-8). According to David Schimmelpennick van der Oye, \u201cAsia was the one\nplace where Russians could be the Europeans\u2019 equals.\u201d (Oye,4) With that in\nmind, disparaging remarks such as these from our European Russian narrators\nmight be interpreted as attempts to see the Caucasus as the Western Europeans\ndo; that is to say, as inferior and Other<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More\ndeliberate cultural and linguistic references to the West, particularly to\nFrance, persist throughout the novel. The unnamed narrator refers to his\nluggage as a \u201cvalise\u201d, a French term which seems to have been employed solely\nfor its perceived elegance. Later, the unnamed narrator also references the\nworks of Balzac and Pechorin references les\nJeunes-France<\/em>, another needless French flourish (Lermontov,56,73). Later\nstill, Pechorin and Grushnitski demonstrate their Romantic repertoires by\nexchanging barbs in French (Lermontov,87-8,108). They eventually escalate to a\nmore deadly exchange of western origin: their duel (Lermontov, 155-6). In these\ndisplays, there is a demonstrated effort by the characters to emulate Western\nfashion and all its drama. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis then interesting to note that the narrators demonstrate similar patterns in\nregard to Asiatic culture, if perhaps more unwittingly. Almost as early as the\nunnamed narrator refers to his \u201cvalise\u201d, he notes Maksimich\u2019s \u201cCircassian\nshaggy cap\u201d, a subtle symbol of Caucasian influence on the character\n(Lermontov,4). Maksim Maksmich himself makes a show of his – rather limited –\nknowledge of the local languages in a manner which evokes the throw-away\nreferences of other narrators to Western European culture\n(Lermontov,11,14,16-7,20). This is certainly more subtle than the Western\ninfluence, but it is nonetheless evidence of cultural overlap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, while A Hero of Our Time <\/em>captures a period of westernization in upper-class Russian culture, it is evident that Russia is not completely devoid of Asiatic influence at this time. Russian characters such as the unnamed narrator and Pechorin may disparage the Caucasus, but the character of Maksim Maksimich represents an unwitting Eurasian m\u00e9lange of culture. A Hero of Our Time <\/em>acts as an ideal entryway to understanding Russia\u2019s empire and with it, Russian imperial attitudes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mckenzie Howell is a senior majoring in French and International Studies<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lermontov,\nMikhail. A Hero of Our Time<\/em>.\nTranslated by Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov and Dmitri Nabokov, Ardis Publishers,\n2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oye,\nDavid Schimmelpenninck van der. Russian\nOrientalism: Asia in the Russian Mind from Peter the Great to the Emigration. <\/em>Yale\nUniversity Press, 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mckenzie Howell It is impossible to categorize Russia as strictly European or as strictly Asiatic. The fact of the matter is that Russia is an expansive country, home to numerous cultures influenced by both the West and the East. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":781,"featured_media":1075,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/781"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}