The Presidential Library is preparing for the 200th birthday anniversary of M. Yu. Lermontov

Currently, the Presidential Library is digitizing ten books associated with the biography of Lermontov. The editions were provided by the A. I. Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. Among the works are: I. Andronikov’s "Life of Lermontov," V. G. Belinsky’s "M. Yu. Lermontov. Articles and reviews," V. P. Avenarius’ "Biographical sketch"and others. These publications will be available on the Presidential Library’s website.

The Presidential Library collections contain another quite interesting book about the poet by N. A. Kotlyarovsky "M. Yu. Lermontov." The edition describes in colors the poet's life, his way of work and self-knowledge. Lermontov had a difficult way of life. He was always trying to find his purpose: "... he needed clarity in viewing the world and in understanding his role in it, because from the very childhood he was convinced that fate has brought him to the earth for some great feat. He had a great strength of character and talent but did not where to direct it. He regarded the world as a stage that awaited his entrance, his struggle for the ideals."

Difficult views on life and melancholic mood in the works of young Lermontov could also be a result of complex family vicissitudes. The poet was born in the family of army captain Yuri Petrovich Lermontov and Maria Mikhailovna Lermontov nee Arsenyev, the only daughter and heiress of Penza landowner E. A. Arsenyev. Marriage made against the will of her grandmother, was unequal and unhappy: the boy grew up in an atmosphere of family disagreements.

After the early death of his mother, Lermontov's grandmother herself took care of his education, completely removing his father from participating in it. In his book Kotlyarovsky says: "There is no doubt that the situation in the family ... had torn a whole bright page out of his youth, deprived him of family in the strict sense of the word, prevented the bloom of a variety of senses, which could hinder the development of the excessive tendency to melancholy in his soul, excessive meditation on his loneliness, on the bitter fate of his father, unhappiness of his mother and many other issues too difficult and dangerous to the child's mind."

But, despite the difficulties and hardships of his child's life, Lermontov did not break; on the contrary, he became passionately engaged in self-education. From childhood he was fluent in French and German, read a lot. In Tarkhany determined Lermontov’s keen interest in literature and poetic creativity. As a teenager, he became interested in the works of Pushkin, Byronic poetry. In the center of it - the hero, an outcast and a rebel, who is at war with society and tramples its social and moral norms; a "sin," a crime hangs over him, usually clothed in mystery and which outwardly appears as a suffering ("Corsair," "The Last Son of Liberty," "Demon").

Lermontov gained his first success and popular fame at the age of twenty-two, when he wrote a poem the day of death of Alexander Pushkin, "Death of a Poet."

Irakli Andronikov in his "Life of Lermontov" writes: "The poem was written so quickly that on the day of the death of Pushkin some writer recited it to a handful of young people in Wolff’s candy store. Right there, in confectionery, asking for ink and paper, everyone made a copy for himself, and in two days the verses spread all over the city, "they were rewritten, read and learned by all."

But not everyone could see and appreciate the talent of the great poet. The "Biographical essay" of V. P. Avenarius includes the following story: "When Lermontov was leaving St. Petersburg, taking his leave in the office of his superior, he had to listen to the following instruction:"Writing poetry is not your business! For this purpose there are poets, writers, and you're just an honorable man like me."

In thirteen years of his short work as a poet, Lermontov had made an invaluable contribution to Russian literature as the author of exceptional diversity of themes and motifs of the lyrics. Lermontov’s works penetrate into the depths of human soul, forcing to analyze, to understand, to know. During his short life, Mikhail Yurievich had written about three dozen of poems, about four hundred of rhymes, some prose, dramatic works. Most of them were published posthumously.

Lermontov himself was aware of his tragic fate, he had a presentiment of his early death (at the age of 27 the poet was shot in a duel on Mount Mashuk). In his poem "Dream" written in 1841, the last year of life, the poet describes his upcoming death.

To commemorate the birthday anniversary of the great Russian poet, the Presidential Library is preparing a collection of publications by Mikhail Lermontov. It will include both works from the collections of the Presidential Library, and the new arrivals – in total, about thirty books. The collection will be published on the website of the Presidential Library. The editions will be available to everyone.