Vladimir Sologub on Lermontov: "a joyless fantasy thirsting for grief"

Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841) was born on October 15, 1814. He had spent his childhood and early youth in the Penza estate Tarkhany by his grandmother Elizaveta Arsenyeva. The Tarkhany old men stories, eyewitnesses of the Yemelyan Pugachev uprising of 1773-1774, and retired soldiers of 1812 memories, as well as the stories of his French tutor, a former sergeant of the Napoleonic army, aroused the true interest of the future poet in the Russian history from his very childhood.

Mikhail Lermontov became interested in poetry while studying at a Moscow boarding school. During his years of study, he wrote about 60 verses and several poems simply for himself and not for publication. At the head of the poetry circle was a famous poet and a translator Semyon Raich.

According to the memoirs of the Count Vladimir Sologub, Mikhail Lermontov considered himself just a simple lover of the Russian letters and nothing more for a very long time. In 1841, right before the leaving for the Caucasus, he confessed to Vladimir Sologub that he had felt talent in himself and was ready to devote himself entirely to literature. "I will return from the Caucasus, retire, and then let's publish a journal together."

In the collection of the Rare Book Museum you will find both a printed copy of Vladimir Sologub's Memoirs and an electronic copy of it.

Another notable book from the collection is a Book of poems by the poet himself, edited with introduction and notes by Tatyana Tolstaya (1892-1965), an outstanding poetess, and an author of the "Lermontov's Childhood", 1959 the best work about the tragic childhood of the great Russian poet.