The Last Son of Liberty

A strong, extraordinary individual, defying circumstances, conventions, and society itself and its laws, refusing to bow to the opinions of the crowd and confronting fate—such is the constant, regardless of time or place, hero of Lermontov's early works, which comprise this collection. More often than not, his rebellion is doomed, yet he continues the struggle—no matter the outcome, even if death turns into a unique triumph of poetic justice. Lermontov's youthful works are largely naive and influenced by Byron and Pushkin, yet they already clearly convey the extraordinary talent of the young poet and, even more interestingly, a clear range of themes that would become central to Lermontov's life is already established.