A Wicked Irony: Rhetoric of Lermontov’s ‘A Hero of Our Time’

Mikhail Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time has long been acknowledged as one of the finest examples of 19th century Russian fiction and i masterpiece of psychological realism. Yet despite this recognition, there is little critical literature on Lermontov in the English language. A Wicked Irony is intended to fill this gap providing a detailed examination of the novel and a new interpretative approach.

Taking in turn each of these stories in A Hero of Our Time , the authors analyse the rhetorical strategies devised by the narrators. In so doing, they determine the nature of the irony running through the novel, and how A Hero of Our Time is one of the most convincing and compelling portraits of psychotic behaviour in any literature.