What did Lermontov write when he was in the Caucasus?"Vestnik Kavkaza"In early December, for the first time in five years, Russian future high school graduates had to write an essay. Half of them chose topics related to war; 20% preferred philosophical topics and only 10% wrote essays dedicated to nature, the conflict of generations and Lermontov, whose bicentennial the country is celebrating this year. Russian schoolchildren probably don't know Lermontov that well. Meanwhile, a special place in Lermontov's prose works is occupied by his letters, which are similar to thematic essays.All in all, 54 letters of the poet survived and eight of them were written in the Caucasus. The head of the house museum of Lermontov, Valentina Lentsova, finds them very touching:"On 31 May 1837 he wrote to [the sister of his muse Varvara] Maria Alexandrovna Lopukhina in Moscow that he had sent a parcel - Circassian shoes for her sister, six pairs of them. These are very touching details - he thought about it, he liked them for some reason. And then he told her that sees a chain of snowy mountains, Elbrus out of his window every morning: 'And now, as I write you this letter, I often stop to look at these giants since they are so beautiful and majestic. Every day I climb the mountain. This alone returned strength to my legs'."On June 17, 1840, in a letter to a friend Alexei Lopukhin in Moscow, Lermontov described a theater in Cherkessk with a sense of humor and imagination. In another letter, a little later, on September 12, he wrote to his friends from Pyatigorsk: "Please do not be lazy. You cannot imagine how hard the thought that our friends are forgetting us is. I couldn't find a place for myself, I wandered all across the mountains and camps. Every day we had to do something, and one of them was rather heated and continued for 6 hours. We only had two thousand infantry against their six thousand. We had to fight with bayonets all the time. We lost 30 officers and 300 privates and 600 of their people remained there. Imagine that in the ravine where the "party" took place there remained the smell of blood. When we meet, I'll tell you the very interesting details. Only God knows when we will meet again. I am now almost completely recovered and I am leaving the resort to join my regiment in Chechnya."Valentina Lentsova reminded that "in the poem entitled "Valerik" Lermontov describes a terrible battle in a very honest way. He was the first to describe it in such a way. Later, Tolstoy gave an honest example in "Sevastopol Sketches." At the same time, Lermontov was the first to speak in this poem about the wrong nature of war for humans in general, about the fact that there is enough place on earth for everyone.""In 1841, while in Stavropol, the poet wrote a very funny letter to his grandmother asking her to tell his second cousin, Mayor Shang Giray, that Lermontov advised him to go not to America, but to the Caucasus, since it was closer and more fun," Lentsova tells us. "But no matter how much he loved the Caucasus, he wanted to lead a peaceful live in Moscow, publish a literary magazine. However, his dream was never fulfilled."
"Vestnik Kavkaza"
In early December, for the first time in five years, Russian future high school graduates had to write an essay. Half of them chose topics related to war; 20% preferred philosophical topics and only 10% wrote essays dedicated to nature, the conflict of generations and Lermontov, whose bicentennial the country is celebrating this year. Russian schoolchildren probably don't know Lermontov that well. Meanwhile, a special place in Lermontov's prose works is occupied by his letters, which are similar to thematic essays.
All in all, 54 letters of the poet survived and eight of them were written in the Caucasus. The head of the house museum of Lermontov, Valentina Lentsova, finds them very touching:
"On 31 May 1837 he wrote to [the sister of his muse Varvara] Maria Alexandrovna Lopukhina in Moscow that he had sent a parcel - Circassian shoes for her sister, six pairs of them. These are very touching details - he thought about it, he liked them for some reason. And then he told her that sees a chain of snowy mountains, Elbrus out of his window every morning: 'And now, as I write you this letter, I often stop to look at these giants since they are so beautiful and majestic. Every day I climb the mountain. This alone returned strength to my legs'."
On June 17, 1840, in a letter to a friend Alexei Lopukhin in Moscow, Lermontov described a theater in Cherkessk with a sense of humor and imagination. In another letter, a little later, on September 12, he wrote to his friends from Pyatigorsk: "Please do not be lazy. You cannot imagine how hard the thought that our friends are forgetting us is. I couldn't find a place for myself, I wandered all across the mountains and camps. Every day we had to do something, and one of them was rather heated and continued for 6 hours. We only had two thousand infantry against their six thousand. We had to fight with bayonets all the time. We lost 30 officers and 300 privates and 600 of their people remained there. Imagine that in the ravine where the "party" took place there remained the smell of blood. When we meet, I'll tell you the very interesting details. Only God knows when we will meet again. I am now almost completely recovered and I am leaving the resort to join my regiment in Chechnya."
Valentina Lentsova reminded that "in the poem entitled "Valerik" Lermontov describes a terrible battle in a very honest way. He was the first to describe it in such a way. Later, Tolstoy gave an honest example in "Sevastopol Sketches." At the same time, Lermontov was the first to speak in this poem about the wrong nature of war for humans in general, about the fact that there is enough place on earth for everyone."
"In 1841, while in Stavropol, the poet wrote a very funny letter to his grandmother asking her to tell his second cousin, Mayor Shang Giray, that Lermontov advised him to go not to America, but to the Caucasus, since it was closer and more fun," Lentsova tells us. "But no matter how much he loved the Caucasus, he wanted to lead a peaceful live in Moscow, publish a literary magazine. However, his dream was never fulfilled."
