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Lermontov versus Marlinsky; or, \Vhy Grushnitsky Had to Be Thrown off the Cliff Chapter Six "PRINCESS MARY" AND A HERO OF OUR TIME "Princess Mary," by far the longest tale in A Hero of Our Time, dominates both the novel and its scholarly discussion. Critics ranging from Shevyrev to Eikhenbaum have insisted that A Hero of Our Time is "Princess Mary," and view the rest of the tales as secondary to this main one. Belinsky, on the basis of Pechorin's self-revelations-"Princess Marv" is written in the form of Pechorin's diary-asserts that "Princess Mary" solves the mystery of Pechorin , while the other tales of the novel construct it (1978, 3:393). Dostoevsky , in his comments on Lermontov's novel, tends to focus on the Pechorin of "Princess Mary"; Dostoevsky's portrayal of the Underground Man is, in fact, modeled on the content of Pechorin's diary.] Although it has recently become a commonplace to maintain that all the tales constitute integral parts of the novel, and although "The Fatalist" and "Taman" have been fruitfully explored and their significance established,'! "Princess Mary" still shapes and informs not only attitudes toward Pechorin, but the readings of the four other tales. What in these tales might have been interpreted as Pechorin's heroism suddenly becomes, from the perspective of"Princess Mary," deception, manipulation, pettiness, or viciousness. Critics of Pechorin feel justified in their accusations, due to the seeming sincerity of Pechorin's confessions. Since the events of "Princess Mary" are presented without the protective distancing of a narrator's voice, readers who have faith "in the literal meaning ofwords" (1) presume that Pechorin's diary must necessarily explain his enigma. Yet, as was already well known to Heine-and Lermontov refers to his comment on the insincerity of Rousseau's Confessions-a confession does not necessarily contain "the truth," and a diary entry is probably as "constructed" as any other narrative. "Princess Mary" seems less artful and more sincere than the other tales due to its thinly veiled emotions of hostility and anger. In an unpublished draft of the "Author's Introduction" Lermontov angrily responds to the attacks against his hero and addresses his readers with almost naive indignation: "and 13.3 Lermontov:~ Narratives of Heroism I'll tell you that you all are almost like him [Pechorinl, some are better, but many are much worse" (4:470). Such a personal and bitter attack is clearly out of place in Lermontov's ironic novel, and thus it is not surprising that he removed it from the preface. Nevertheless, this passage indicates to what degree Lermontov's bitterness toward society and its mores~a bitterness that Lermontov so clearly manifested in The Masquerade~informs, if not directs, Pechorin's own bitterness and aggressiveness. The author, who made "our time" part of the title of his book, has clearly much to say about his time. In this sense, Lermontov's novel continues the argument of The Masquerade , a play that presents Arbenin's mask-wearing environment in a most unflattering light. Perhaps because Lermontov failed to get his play published , he felt obliged to return to and develop this theme. In "Princess Mary" we are invited to explore another masquerade, another emblem of Russia's social ills. MARLINISM AS A PHENOMENON OF RUSSIAN CULTURE It will be recalled that the name of Prince Zvezdich, a character who together with the Baroness epitomizes the failings of Russian society and thus provides the foil to Arbenin, comes from Alexander Marlinsky's tale "The Trial" (1830). This is hardly a coincidence. I contend that the main thrust of "Princess Mary" is Lermo~tov's attack on his society's dangerous embrace of the cultural fashion I call~borrowing the term from the history of Russian literature~marlinism. Marlinism found its source in the work and personality of Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky (1797-1837), an epigone of Byron and Scott and the most popular Russian writer of the 1830s. It is LermontOY 'S work in general and his novel, A Hero of Our Time, in particular, that finally undermined Marlinsky's reign over the Russian cultural scene and exposed the unhealthy symbiosis between Marlinsky's fashionable writings and the conduct of the Russian public. The phenomenon of marlinism and its role in the cultural history of Russia deserves a much more penetrating scrutiny that it has received so far. Rather than viewing marlinism as a particular narrative style, as is usually done, I shall treat it...

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