The Presidential Library spotlights Mikhail Lermontov’s life and career

October 15, 2020 marks the 206th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, one of the greatest and unsolved poets in Russia. The fact that Lermontov lived for only 27 years did not prevent him from leaving a huge literary heritage. The Presidential Library’s electronic collection “Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841)” contains materials that illustrate the extraordinary personality of the writer. The large-scale selection contains, in particular, rough versions of the famous literary works of Lermontov, his numerous drawings, memories of him, video lectures. The article by the famous literary critic Boris Eikhenbaum in the publication Literary Heritage. No. 45/46. M. Yu. Lermontov tells about an accidentally discovered manuscript with unpublished poems by Lermontov. Poetic works illustrated by I. K. Aivazovsky and V. M. Vasnetsov are of great interest.

Many authors of biographical sketches are looking for the roots of genius in the early childhood of the future poet, a fragile-looking child who lost his parents early - his mother died of consumption in 1816, while his father did not show zeal in raising his son. In this regard, the image of the poet's mother, captured in the electronic copy of the album “M. Yu. Lermontov": "Marya Mikhailovna, - we read the memoirs of a relative of the Lermontovs, - was gifted with a musical soul. Sitting her child on her lap, she was playing the piano, and he, leaning his head to her, sat motionless, the sounds seemed to shake his infant soul, and tears rolled down his face. His mother conveyed her extraordinary nervousness to him".

From the same album one can learn that little Mikhail, who remained after the death of his mother in the care of his grandmother, Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva, at her estate in Tarkhany, began to show poetic talent early on: “From the most tender age, grandmother watched her grandson's games. She was struck by his early love for the consonance of speech. Barely babbling, the child was happy to repeat the words in rhyme: "floor" - "table" or "cat" - "window" ... Smiling, he came to his grandmother to share his joy".

“The poet’s attraction to drawing did not leave the poet until the end of his life”, - says there, in the album “M. Yu. Lermontov". - When my grandmother, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, out of constant fear for the fate of her grandson asked him not to write poetry and not draw cartoons that made a lot of noise in St. Petersburg society, the poet said: “What can I do with myself when I cannot live like secular people live. Grandma asks me not to write any more poems and not take a pencil in my hands - I can’t, I can’t”.

Later, in an excerpt from the unfinished story, Lermontov, telling about Sasha Arbenin's childhood (to a large extent about himself), portrayed his hero as a "overly spoiled and most willful child"...

“A mentally developed, ardent admirer of Byron, Schiller and Russo beyond his years”, Skabichevsky says further, Lermontov, having become a student at Moscow University, continues to remain lonely, ironic and - for those around him - a somewhat strange young man.

“This ... did not depend on Lermontov's consciousness of his colossal mental powers, but was instilled in him by that caste isolation and arrogance, in the spirit of which he was brought up in his grandmother's house. <...> Arrogant alienation did not allow him to get close neither with Belinsky's circle, whose voice thundered then in the 11th chamber of state students, nor with Stankevich's philosophizing circle, nor with Herzen's frustrated circle. <...> Although everyone recoiled from him .., some incomprehensible, mysterious mood attracted him and forced him to behave with restraint in relation to him, at the same time envying the steadfastness of his gloomy disposition", - we read in the publication M. Yu. Lermontov, his Life and Literary Activity.

They will still meet with Belinsky in April 1840 before sending Lermontov to the Caucasus. With great doubt that they would find a common language, the critic went to this meeting, suggesting that it would not drag on. How wrong he was: the conversation lasted about four hours!

“There was so much truth, depth and simplicity in his words! - Alexander Skabichevsky cites Belinsky's words about Lermontov in the study M. Yu. Lermontov, his Life and Literary Activity., - <...> My God! How much aesthetic flair this person has! What a gentle and subtle poetic soul in him! .. No wonder I was so drawn to him".

By that time, Lermontov had already written “The Death of a Poet”, for which he was arrested and exiled. He was the author of "Demon", "The Novice", "Bela" and other brilliant works. By the way, the original scene of the poem "The Demon" was Spain, but the harsh beauty of the Caucasus so firmly settled in the heart of Lermontov that "it was here that the idea arose in him to move the scene of the poem "The Demon" to the Caucasus". Skabichevsky also writes that Mikhail Yuryevich dedicated this poem to his cousin Varvara Lopukhina. But neither this priceless gift, nor his letters and the restrained love bursting in them helped to win Lopukhina's favor. She got married.

Lermontov, who lost his mother so early and badly needed female understanding and participation, could not get them from any of the women he liked ... The poet went to the Caucasus with the fatal foresight of an imminent finale. According Alexander Herzen, “unfortunately for too much insight, he added another thing - the courage to express a lot without tinted hypocrisy and mercy. People who are weak and hurt never forgive such sincerity...”.

Martynov did not forgive. Lermontov died on Mount Mashuk during a senseless duel.

Lermontov would not have been a great poet if all-conquering harmony did not reign deep in his soul, if the tragic were not equated in his poems with the triumph of a jubilant, constantly renewing life. Only he could, looking at the smooth surface of the Gulf of Finland, almost impromptuly create "The Sail" - a seemingly simple and airy poem filled with deep enduring meaning.