A Hero of Our Time is indeed a portrait, but not of one man. It is a portrait built up of all our generation's vices in full bloom. You will again tell me that a human being cannot be so wicked, and I will reply that if you can believe in the existence of all the villains of tragedy and romance, why wouldn't believe that there was a Pechorin? If you could admire far more terrifying and repulsive types, why aren't you more merciful to this character, even if it is fictitious? Isn't it because there's more truth in it than you might wish?

Latest episodes of the podcast Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Yurevich Lermontov

• 01 Book 1 Bela Chapter 1
• 02 Book 1 Chapter 2
• 03 Book 1 Chapter 3
• 04 Book 1 Chapter 4
• 05 Book 1 Chapter 5
• 06 Book 1 Chapter 6
• 07 Book 1 Chapter 7
• 08 Book 1 Chapter 8
• 09 Book 1 Chapter 9
• 10 Book 1 Chapter 10
• 11 Book 1 Chapter 11
• 12 Book 2 Maksim Maksimych
• 13 Foreword to Books 3, 4 and 5
• 14 Book 3 The first extract from Pechorin's diary
• 15 Book 4 The second extract from Pechorin's diary
• 16 Book 5 The third extract from Pechorin's diary Chapter 1
• 17 Book 5 Chapter 2
• 18 Book 5 Chapter 3
• 19 Book 5 Chapter 4-5
• 20 Book 5 Chapter 6-7
• 21 Book 5 Chapter 8-9
• 22 Book 5 Chapter 10-11
• 23 Book 5 Chapter 12-15
• 24 Book 5 Chapter 16-18
• 25 Book 5 Chapter 19
• 26 Book 5 Chapter 20
• 27 Book 5 Chapter 21
• 28 Book 5 Chapter 22