If you have read Vladimir Peniakoff's memoir, then you will undoubtedly have an appetite for "With Popski's Private Army" by Ben Owen. It is the essential complement to Peniakoff's book, relating the perspective of his men. Ben Owen's book is a more intimate account of life - and death - in the ranks of the British Army's smallest independent unit, and leaves one missing the company of the men he so fondly recalls. The author gives a vivid portrayel of the warmth of comraderie set against the attrition and suffering of conflict,and breaths life into the discreet cameos of Peniakoff's book. Along with humour and pathos this book is richly adorned with accounts of breath-taking daring, skill and guile. This is a superb account of a vanishing breed, and I urge you to acquaint yourself with these remarkable men. Copies of this book are available from the author.

The World of Art (Mir Iskusstva) is the stuff of legends. The World of Art refers to both an artistic journal and an art movement that held sway in Russia at almost the same time. The movement was a break from the traditions of the fabulous "Wandering Artists (Peredvizniki). That group of artists was absolutely the most dominant in Russian art for more than thirty years. In order to understand the impact of the artistic movement "World of Art" we must go back some thirty years before to divulge some information about the existing order that was the Wandering Artistic Group.

The Wanderers were the first Russian artists to move out from under the umbrella of the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts so that they could paint what they saw as opposed to classical art that forced them to paint subject matters in the style of ancient Greek and Roman art. These painters became a part of the movement by the Russian intelligentsia that wanted to expose the injustices of the prevailing social order. They insisted on painting Russian life as it was. They became marvelous plein air painters depicting for the first time Russian nature in all of aspects. They took portraiture art to new heights and incorporated drawings as a pure art form for the first time in Russian art history. Before this drawings were used only as preparation for the main painting which was to follow.

The Wanderers boasted some of the most famous artists in all of Russian art history. Names such as Repin, Savitski, Savrasov, Surikov, Levitan, Makovsky, Yaroshenko, Shishken, Kunji, Ghe, and Kramskoi among many others. They painted the paintings that most Russian art critics would consider to be the very best of what Russian oil painting has to offer. For over thirty years and numerous exhibitions the work of these artists were all that mattered to the people of Russia. After some years of open conflict with the government and the Imperial Academy, it was the government that submitted to the artists. You must understand this before you can realize how important the World of Art was. It was incredibly important, if only for the reason that it supplemented the Peredvizniki. In reality it was far more that. Whereas names such as the art critic Stasov, and the great collect Tretyakov are indelibly linked to the Wanderers, equally important names such as Sergei Diaghilev and Leon Bakst are just as cemented to the movement known as the World of Art.

The World of Art appealed to a new and younger group of artists. They wanted even more freedom of expression and to paint something new and fresh. The icons of their movement were Serov, Kustodiev, Vrubel, Benois, Somov, Ryabushkin, Korovin, and Petrov Vodkin, and again many others. The World of Art brought a new focus on art that ranged from the sublime to the fantastic. In addition the World of Art incorporated the Russes Ballet and a new emphasis on Russian theater art. The world of art went to Paris and London and demonstrated to Europe that Russian artists ranked among the best in the world. It is safe to speculate that the reign of dominance of the members of the World of Art would have had a grater life span if it had not been for the Russian revolution and the subsequent turn to social painting that followed.

This book is rich in its art and its information. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in either art or Russia. The plates of the paintings are spectacular and should make anyone hungry for a trip to Russia and the Russian State Museum of Art.

The Defense by Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov is absolutely superb. It is all at once humorous, morosely serious, and fascinating. Of course, any book about an insane grandmaster has to be good. As a matter of fact, this book was so good that it was made into a movie, which was equally impressive. The best line out of the book, which I often shout out loud in public, is, "Your son is a cheat, just as you're a cheat. I'm surrounded by cheats!" My recommendation: read the book. It's a fantastic emotional roller coaster ride that leaves you out of breath! Oh, yes, and DON'T read the last line until you get there! It leaves your mouth agape and makes you go want to cry in your room for a few weeks.

Oh, there is no fanatic like a convert. And Nabokov's writing in the English language bestows his found tongue with rapture. This is Nabokov's finest (I suppose in this 21st century, I just don't find Lolita shocking! shocking! the way its rookie readers must have) and one of the top ten novels of the 20th century.

Surprisingly, you'll find that this book composed of a 999-line poem and the commentary written on that poem by a colleague, has a plot. It is ingenious, twisted, brilliant. One of the most finely crafted works of art ever. I've picked up the word "replete" in relation to art from Steven Pinker, and this work is repleteful. The words, the language, the structure, the social criticism, and most of all, the beauty, as I contemplate and re-contemplate this work, grow ever more replete.

I love this poem. "I was the shadow of the waxwing slain/ In the false azure of the windowpane" and its delicate rhymes and trips and footfalls are savored with every single re-reading. He brings an outsiders perspective to the language with rhymes we don't "see" but hear: "Come and be worshipped, come and be caressed / My dark Vanessa, crimson-barred, my blest" and it sometimes feels like he's introducing you to a new English language.

So who wouldn't like this book, I suppose, should be a question the reviewer should try to answer. Well, I just can't imagine anybody that's ever bought a novel not liking this one, so I suppose if you're a pure non-fiction reader, this ain't for you. And Nabokov is a bit bloodless at times, you won't find the wild, sloppy joy of a Kerouac, or the brawny aggressiveness of a Hemingway, but finely finely crafted and turned and polished words delivered impeccably, perfectly.

Please, please, read Pale Fire. The more of us that carry Nabokov's masterwork in our hearts, the more he will have "lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky"

Among Nabokov's very best books, few present such serious challenges to the reader as "Pale Fire". Even fewer provide such enormous rewards, especially if said reader brings an open mind and a serious attention to detail. What kind of book, exactly, is "Pale Fire", anyway? A longish poem with annotation and index? A wildly experimental novel that flaunts every convention for the sake of innovation? An elegiac reflection on days gone by or a wickedly comedic parody of scholarship and the artistic urge? It is all those things and more, a watershed in English-language literature, the apotheosis of Nabokov's craft as writer and satirist. For the record, the crazed, domineering Prof. Kinbote (mastermind or madman? You decide) is rivaled only by Humbert Humbert when it comes to delusional, obssessive narrators--talk about unreliable, not to mention fascinating beyond belief. What are we to make of his claim to be the exiled King of Zembla? Where, if not only in his over-ripe imagination, is Zembla and what, if anything, does this country have to do with the poet Shade and his dead daughter? There is the question of the hired assasin "Jakob Gradus", too, though, like Zembla, Gradus might or might not be anything more that an invention of Kinbote's (if Kinbote himself is actually Kinbote and not an imposter claiming to be a man who might be an imposter as well...you can see where this is going, can't you?) "Pale Fire" is a puzzle, one that makes strenuous demands upon the reader, one that cannot be read straight-through (there are page references in the annotation, after all--you'd do well to pay attention to them) or merely "skimmed". If you have the patience to immerse yourself in Nabokov/Kinbote's topsy-turvy world of intrigue, artistry and (perhaps?) the supernatural, you are in for a bracing read. There's no other book out there like "Pale Fire", it could only have come from the brilliant mind of Nabokov and it is splendid, indeed. A word to the wise: Read the book ALL THE WAY to the very end. What might seem like peripheral information is actually critical if you intend to crack the novel's deviously intricate code.

What an unusual piece of fiction! Beginning with a substantial poem, the real story begins after the final stanza, hidden among the weft of the poem's critique and annotation. The main character is the literary critic himself, unwitting of his true role in the story he weaves. Nabokov's masterpiece thrives on many levels, as poetry, as critique, as one man's story, and as the dark mystery revealed as we explore the mind of the critic.
Nabokov has much in common with Joseph Conrad. Both explore what is mysterious amid the mundane, and both present an intrigue that does not impose on the poetry of language or the fullness of character. In fact, in Pale Fire, it is because of the skill and fullness that the story's mystery is sustained.
This odd tale is like a perfectly constructed puzzle. Its many intricate and intriguing components are compelling in their own right, and they further compel the reader to explore their intricate possibilities. And when, finally, the pieces come together as a whole, we are left with a beautiful and troubling portrait, a bit of delicious poetry and prose, and a joyous "Aha!!" .

This is my suggestion about reading 'Lolita' - the first time, delve into it without the benefit of annotations. Read an edition other than Appel's, or - if you're a stronger person than I am - simply ignore the numbers in the margin. Digest it for what it is, explore the story, create opinions and thoughts in your own mind. Even the most learned scholar will feel ignorant at times - Nabokov is, unquestionably, a genius of language and allusions - but I cannot stress enough how vital it is to read this book as an outsider. Allow a few months to go by. And then delve heartily into this annotated edition. The insights provided by Appel are gems, and makes an entirely new experience of the story. He's a passionate scholar and that is reflected in his careful detail, his concern with Nabokov's input, and his personal voice coming though the notes. Some of the notes hit you over the head, a few things seem glossed over, and his obsession with Nabokov's other works get slightly tedious to someone who isn't as dedicated to the author as Appel is. However, on the whole, the notes are absolutely precious and give a depth to the book that is continually lurking behind the surface during a first-time "ignorant" reading. I would have been horribly disappointed at the plot disclosures, as well as terribly confused at times, if I had read this version when I first read the book. But to the reader "in-the-know," Nabokov's genius shines through, as does his humor and sly cleverness that don't neccessarily pop out at first. The notes range from the purely practical (translations of the interspersed French phrases) to the explanatory (literary history is invoked at the most unlikelist of places) to the anecdotal (Nabokov's own musings, his expertise in entemology, etc). But take my advice - read it first without the notes, and then go back. You'll thank me!

LOLITA is one of the greatest novels written in the English language...that much is indisputable, except by pc-evangelists who are quick to brand characters "heroes" and "villains." The relationship that develops between Humbert and Lolita is an odd one, nevermind their age differences. Their relationship is one of an S/M variety, as each character's pleasure and empowerment depend upon the other's sexual frustration and vulnerability. And arguments can be tossed both ways, as to which character tortures and preys upon the other.

But nevermind this barrage of psychoanalysis: read LOLITA for yourself and decide. After all, LOLITA is about much more than sex: it deals with post-war sensibilities, relations between America and Europe, censorship, etc. It's one of the most beautiful, wickedly funny novels of the 20th century. Nabokov details so much about American culture at this time--more so than in many other novels I've come across.

(Also, the annotations are a pleasure in themselves, especially if you're a literary buff who likes guessing the origins of character names and likes pondering the significance of particular cultural/literary allusions.)

Full disclosure: I credit "Lolita" with turning me into the lit geek recovering English major type that I am today. Read it when I was eighteen; got sucked in on the first page by the haunting echoes of Edgar Allen Poe. No mere mortal should be able to perform the tricks with the English language that Nabokov got away with in this book.

Get the annotated edition. On a first reading it's more fun to puzzle things out for yourself, but when you go back (and you will) Appel's notes will show you everything you missed the first time around.

Much has been made over the supposedly pornographic nature of this book. Far more fascinating to me is its hilarious depiction of all that was middlebrow tacky in postwar American pop culture -- particularly tourist culture.

Screw "On the Road." "Lolita" is the ultimate road novel.

My father and I had gotten into a deep discussion on film, since we both consider ourselves moviegoers or rather open-minded critics to all film genres, and the name Stanley Kubrick had popped up. I was familiar with Kubrick's work- Dr. Strangelove, Clockwork Orange, of course, Full Metal Jacket, and The Shining. More of his recent work. Well, Dad's an English and Lit. major and he told me about one of Kubrick's earlier films entitled Lolita. He said it was about a middle aged man who's pathetically infatuated with a young 12 year old girl. Pedaphilia. Very Kubrick, I had thought. But what had interested me most was that the novel upon which the movie was based on, written by Vladimir Nabokov had ranked so high among the top 100 novels of the 20th Century. That was what engaged me into interest with the book.

It's written so poetically, with such fervor that you tend to believe that Mr. Nabokov does in fact have Humbert's tendencies and mannerisms. The novel is quite funny, too. The scenes where Humbert Humbert contemplates a way to get Clarlotte Haze out of the picture are brilliant. The sex in the novel is unrestricted and even shocking if you (and you won't be able to help doing it) really visualize it. The dialogue between Humbert and Lolita is brilliant as are the moments when the shadowed Clare Quilty presents himself.

So it's smut, huh? Well, I wouldn't call it smut. Not at all. Believe it or not, this novel is a 100 percent love story. The old saying: "True love never dies", which I never really acknowledge. Humbert Humbert's desire for her was a result of the permanent damage caused from losing someone he had cherished in the past. Losing her, her youthful beauty, plummeted him into such a state of grief that he could only find escape with another "nymphet", as young as she may be, who could capture the image, that subconscious or maybe strongly conscious image that he adored. And though most can't relate to Humbert Humbert's odd infatuation, many can relate to his ability to feel passion for somebody. He is your average Romeo, ready to die or kill for his love. And though Humbert's actions are condemnable to society, we're witness to the fact that even society, that even strict regulations, can't diminish love if it's strong enough.

LOLITA, despite its horrific subject matter is an extremely well-written book. Its diversified tones make it a captivating and thoroughly interesting read. The narrative style is easy to grasp and since it follows the rhythm and pace of one's train of thought. However, it this case, it is the thought process of a mentally imbalanced, twisted but intelligent, pedophile with a sense of humor.

The manner in which the book was written, combining the tones of tragic seriousness and blatant humor, makes the reading bearable considering the nature of the subject matter. And, it is this stark contrast in tones that makes the book that much more poignant -- that Humbert, or anyone else for that matter, could maintain and use his sense of humor while discussing pedophilia is nothing short of amazing. His personality makes him likeable while his actions make him the subject of utmost despise. Humbert's appealing personality is even disturbing because any normal person wouldn't want to have anything whatsoever in common with a disgusting person like him.

The humorous quality of the novel, when brought to the forefront, quickly subsides with the knowledge of the sick and immoral thoughts and acts of the narrator constantly looming in the back of the reader's mind. The humor and light moments serve as buffers between those that are absolutely and utterly repulsive.

Humbert, throughout his analytical way of discussing various situations, seems to be trying to convey that he is normal and prove to the reader, and society on the whole, that there is nothing wrong with what he is doing. However, at times he seems more intent and desperate to prove to himself that he isn't doing anything wrong. He puts forth "good intentions" as well as the practices of other cultures as a defense, knowing that society would disapprove of his actions. There is a constant shifting between the reality of the situation and what he believes that it is. This psycho-analytical style is both provocative and disturbing.

From the beginning, Humbert idealizes Lolita, making her out to be something she is not. As the story progresses, he becomes more aware of who she is while she continues to grow up. It is always in Humbert's mind that they are close; in reality, they are, and have always been, in two completely different spheres.

Nabokov's 'Lolita' is controversial because of its subject matter. He takes a horrible deviant man and by adjusting the frame around him creates a work of art. What annoys us most about Humbert is our struggle to vilify his character and de-frame him from the story that Nabokov so brilliantly composes. Nabokov somehow creates a tension in the reader: how much should we judge and indeed convict Humbert Humbert (as we are left/invited to do at the end of the novel)? While our judgment is secure in claiming his actions are completely wrong we cannot help but sympathize with the narrator.

It is widely agreed that Nabokov is a master prose stylist. His prose is beautiful. I find that certain parts sound wonderful when read out loud. Nabokov's use of alliteration helps this vocal sense of his work (e.g. 'The distraught father went on to....fetch his delicate daughter'). It is possible to hear the narrator speak rather than the reader read his words off of the page.

The most pleasant surprise for me was the humour of this work that is intertwined throughout most of the novel. Humbert's portrayal (usually negative) of the characters he comes into contact with is very funny. The puns and wordplay contribute to the playfulness of Nabokov's language (one look at the Annotated Lolita and I see how many puns I missed). It is this humour that draws in our sympathy unawares.

Nabokov is not satisfied with just having the reader deal with the Humbert/Lolita relationship. He is also critiquing postwar America. His description of motels and their evolution into hotels illustrates the dynamic scenery in the novel. The background continually changes but the main drama remains static; Humbert is just as fallen at the beginning of the novel as he is at the end.

Vanity Fair calls 'Lolita' the most convincing love story of our century. Debates will continue to rage regarding whether Humbert loves Delores. Can a sinful, obsessive, deviant man love? Is Delores made into an object? Is she an object of love? I question whether it is a love story but it definitely is a convincing story.

Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited written by Vladimir Nabokov is a rather enchanting, but poetic book about the author's early life. A recollection of his youthful years remembering is father as more liberal-minded and his mother as he describes her as very beautiful.

The author takes on a trip though time, a time soon to be shattered by the Soviet dictatorship. The author writes in a style that commands the English language, but with a foreign taste, making for an interesting read. The author's choice and usage of words will challange you so, be prepared to with a good dictionary and the meaning may be the secord or third usage.

The life style in St. Petersburg and the surrounding countryside are recalled by the author in a writing style wholly his own as he uses all the powers of an excellent writer to convey this intensely human, yet cultured story.

The book has splendid country estates, nostalgia, lost childhood and paint a rather unique picture of a loving family suddenly torn from peace to terror of the Bolshevik Revolution. We are taken on a tour de force through England for education, An emigre life in Paris and Berlin.

But most of all the book is a work of nostalgia and lost childhood written with a unique style by a master stylist of the English language.

Nabakov is indisputably one on of the greatest prose-stylists of the 20th century. Nabokov utilizes his full range of writing tricks, styles, and poetics to describe his life in "Speak, memory."

Nabakov describes his youth in a spiral like fashion. Ironically, yet vividly, he emphasizes a lot on the little and seemingly insignificant things that we remember, despite being well traveled and cultured. Such as the first pen, crazy stewards, and annoying college room mates.

However, this ain't a book to read in the bathtub, folks! Equip yourself with a dictionary. Otherwise, you may drown! It will take you a while, maybe the first fifty pages to get the hang of his writing. It has a foreign tune to it with very complex words. If you are patient then you will savor his dreamy-like way with words.

However, a reader may be offended by Nabakov's personality reflected by "Speak, memory ". He is arrogant, pampered, and unstable. He never ever talked of the peasants before or during the Russian Revolution. He even hardly scratches the surface of his long stay and experience in America. It's hard to tell if he eschews events and feelings that are too foreign or offensive to him.

Obviously, it may be hard to hold his hand when one examines his stubborn attitude and the way he thinks. ( Look at the reviews above ) But for literary aesthetes, one can hold his hand when cherishing his elegant, dreamy, rich, complex, insights and use of language.

I have spent the summer drowning in Nabokovian puddles, but this autobiography is the least satisfactory yet. On the plus side it (naturally) contains some of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read. The seamless flow from concrete detail, scrupulous description, misty nostalgia to philosophical speculation is dizzying and inspired. The chapter on the author's mother is quite possibly the most gorgeous piece of writing in the language, but my favorite is the melancholy portrait of his uncle, a fascinating, loveable, moving character who might have enriched a novel. The battle between the natural and the human worlds are convincingly balanced, with history swooping in for final victory.

And yet Speak, Memory is fundamentally dislikeable. The tone grates: imagine a whole book written in the style of Nabokov's forewards - arrogant, didactic, humorless. That's what nearly kills it - the lack of Nabokovian playfulness. There are a couple of real-life events that are so shocking that they verge on farce, but in general the tone is reverent and uncritical, and the madness of Nabokov's greatest narrators has no place here.

The young Nabokov is thoroughly dislikeable (but then so is the Nab of the forewards), 'something of a bully' as he admits, but the episode with his brother was shameful, disgusting, and made me not want to read one of his books again. I'll get over that, but it's says something that one finds that monster Humbert more sympathetic than his creator. Of course, the narrator here isn't unadulterated Nab; he's as much a creation as any of his characters. He's just not a very interesting one, neither insane nor funny. As Michael Wood suggests, the absences in this very word-, idea-, people- and event-heavy book are some kind of a failure. What we're left with is literature's most stunning prose poem since Woolf's To The Lighthouse, with a big black hole in the centre.

I found this book good when trying to fine an album, but disappointing because it shows albums which are not in print (sometimes not even explaining that the album is unavailable). The reviews are inconsistant because of the many critics. Also the star rating I found to be very confusing. The artist profiles are interesting and informative. The charts for each specific instrument are also interesting. I wish the personnel was identified for each album, then indexed like the Penguin Guide, which is a better quality publication when it comes to jazz CD guides. Overall good reading and a decent resource when looking for an album.

My reasons for liking this book is probably different than most people. As an LP collector, I welcome information on vinyl no longer in print. I also like the fact that this book tells you the original title for the LP. Many CD's change the title and add alternate cuts. If I am going to purchase CD's I'd prefer the programming to be just like it was on the original LP.

As far as the reviewer's being too easy with their ratings , I've purchased nearly 600 LP's and CD's from various sources over the past year and many of them I bought at the recommendation of this book, only 1 of them was not to my taste (The World Saxaphone Quartet's Tribute to Ellington).

I've also had the opportunity to utilize the penguin guide as well others guides, I actually found the Penguin to be way to critical on some of the greatest recordings in Jazz History. The Penguin also doesn't seem to be as user friendly to vinyl fans.

One area that this book may come up short is for fans of "Smooth Jazz" it is easy to see that the author is not a fan of this genre (neither am I for that matter)!

I'd recommend this book strongly to anyone wanting to purchase a Vinyl and CD collection. I'm sure an argument can be made for the Penguin book, it is also a sound option, but as for me I'll take the AMG!

I wore out my copy of the AMG during the Ken Burns telecasts for a good reason. This book provides the best capsule overviews of jazz artists and their recordings, both for the famous and the obscure. Some artists have CD catalogs so big that it takes a book such as this to get a handle on their music. While a book of this kind tends to get outdated very quickly because so many CDs go in and out of print all the time, it is useful in finding that one recording which can give you the essence of the artist and where to go next. Some of the critics have a tendency to be repetitive or gushing but for a book of this size and scope, they do a good job on the whole. I'm eagerly awaiting the next edition of this book, which is probably the best version of all of the AMGs.

Henry Jekyll is a renowned scientist and a respected man. But lately, his behavior has become strange, reclusive and mysterious. So his friend Utterson tries to find out what he's up to. In the meantime, terrible and strange things are happening by night in the streets of London. As the tale unfolds, we discover Jekyll's dangerous games with his own psyche. He discovers a drug that reveals his evil side, without any moral restraint, and gradually loses control of the drug. The narrative technique of Stevenson in this short masterpiece is simply perfect; its philosophical stand is frightening; its moral implications are relevant; and the construction of the story superb.

The onion-layer style serves very well its mission to reveal every event in a semi-slow but tense pace. The environment is insuperable: the dark, wet and gas-lighted streets of London, where Mr. Hyde's steps resonate frighteningly. The ending is horrifying and very well written and, overall, this is a gem of a book. It should be best read in loneliness, in the dark. It is much more than a simple horror novel, because it says something very real and very terrible: without moral restraints, our deeper self can be unbearably evil. It's true.

Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is an extremely well-written horror/mystery. While a relatively short novel, the intricately woven plot offers all the right details at different points. And at the end of the book, the characters all seem to make sense, with all of the given clues fitting very well.
This story of the nice, mellow Dr. Jekyll and his hidden mad-man persona, Mr. Hyde, is a classic clash of good and evil. The author does a wonderful job of keeping the reader wondering about each one's true identity. From Hyde's first trampling, to his murder, to the bitter end, he is portrayed as the exact opposite of Dr. Jekyll, despite an odd, hidden relationship. Only at the very end is the mystery compltely solved.
What makes the novel most unique is the inclusion of numerous other developed characters besides Jekyll and Hyde, such as Utterson, Lanyon, and Enfield. All in all, this is a timeless tale, a true stoy of inner conflict. What this novel lacks in length, it makes up for in well-developed characters, and a superb plot. A must-read.

Ah, the classical dark tale of Dr. Jekyll and his mysterious, vicous, murderous counterpart, Mr Hyde. One of my favourite books, one that combienes science fiction and horror like few have others have done so well.

A book of suspense and mystery, it is foremost a book about psychology, exploring the sweet duality of Good and Evil. And though Hyde may be Evil, i have doubts about Jekyill being Good itself. No, the doctor is merely a troubled soul longing for freedom, and that's what Hyde gives. Freedon without consequences, a theme of debate even nowadys.

Stevenson's work is simply grounbreaking. It explores so many things: ethics in science; the limits of science and knowledge; how science may affect people. Like The Invisible Man, it talks about the tribulations of scientists and what are their limitations. It's also a dark view of science, for it makes it as something without benefits in the end.

But besides this, its still a horror story, a classical one, with all the old ingredients: dark nights; the london fog; a murderer walking about the streets after the next victims. And he does find a couple of them. In my chilliest moments, i like to think Jack the Ripper himself reed this book and decided to make it true.

Mikhail Lermontov was a poet by genius, a romantic at heart, yet by the time of his death at 26, he had already become something of a disillusioned realist. This tension between streaks in his personality is expressed openly in "A Hero of Our Time": the novel starts out as a romantic adventure beautified with most exquisite imagery, but is later transformed into a disquieting tale of manipulation and dark deeds.

The setting for this novel (which is really a loosely connected string of short stories) is the wild Caucasian mountains, to which Lermontov himself had been "exiled" to fight against the fierce Chechens. After the death of Pushkin, Lermontov took it upon himself to keep the great poet's legacy alive. The authorities did not take kindly to Lermontov's endeavour, and transferred the young officer to the war zone.

To 19th centrury Russian writers, the experience of the Caucasus and of 'Asiatics' in general was of tremendous value as a gauge of the value of Russian civilization. Juxtaposing Russian high society with the people of the steppes and the mountains became a familiar device in Russian literature, just like American Indians were used to symbolize the natural/unadulterated or the uncivilized/savage in American literature.

However, in "A Hero of Our Time" the officer Pechorin transcends the boundaries between culture and nature. In the early chapters of the book, Pechorin's adventures are described from outside, and seem extraordinary, bizzare, yet captivating. Later on, other stories are recounted in Pechorin's diary, and they draw a different picture of the modern hero: disillusioned, hateful, and profoundly unhappy. Life is a game which he has long mastered, he knows exactly how to play into people's pride, vanity and passion. Yet, at unlikely moments, a stir of long-forgotten emotion briefly produces a vulnerable, human hero with whom we, despite ourselves, are forced to identify...

A Hero of Our Time introduces a most memorable character, Pechorin, who, had the novella been named after him, would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Eugen Onegin in fame. He derives from the same tradition as Onegin, that of the 'superfluous' man, though he moves beyond his predecessor (and prefigures others) in the degree to which he reeks havoc on a personal level. The novella consists of stories only nominally connected, and it is fair to say that the second half is better than the first. The centrepiece is the diary of Pechorin which contains a full narrative of his 'adventures' at a small holiday town. It just has to be read to be believed: it is 'lady-killing' and 'white-anting' at its clinically destructive best. Readers of Eugen Onegin will notice similarities, though the prose form allows much deeper characterisation, for which one is certainly not sorry. Lovers of later 19th-century Russian literature will appreciate this book in its prefiguring of characters and of settings in, among others, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov. Lermontov died young and in a very Romantic fashion (a duel); one can only be sorry that he did not live to write more.

Lermontov died age 27 leaving a body of poems and one prose work, a loose collection of stories about his 'anti-hero' Pechorin in "A Hero of Our Times"

The novel presents the misadventures of a Tsarist officer through the account of his early friend and through Pechorin's own diary. Pechorin is an immoral man, personifying the corruption of the early nineteenth century military classes in Russia.

For the concentration of the evils of Pechorin, for his treachery and seduction, this is a surprisingly 'modern' book, though written in the 1840s.

I recommend it for its economy and the strength of its portrayal of Pechorin. By his early death, Russian literature was robbed of a writer who may have joined the pantheon of the great Tsarist novelists.