Periphery without centre: system of narrators in the novel “Sketches of Russian Life in the Caucasus”

Sketches of Russian Life in the Caucasus was published in London in 1853, and soon after was proven to have plagiarised Mikhail Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time. Though following the original almost to the letter, the novel is conceptually different, nor does it justify its presumably ethnographic title, being didactic in its core. Like the original, it centres around three marginal narrators. This article aims at defining their role within the new pragmatics of the text. The article examines the novel Sketches of Russian Life in the Caucasus, by a Russe, Many Years Resident among the Various Mountain Tribes, as well as A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov, which it is based on. The methods used include the comparative, culture-historical, and hermeneutic ones. Following the wandering officer of the original, the nameless narrator of the novel’s first part remains the former, yet ceases to be the latter. As a result, not only does he retain his marginal status as a traveller, but also moves further away from the narrating officers. His outsider’s view of the characters, particularly Zadonskoi (Pechorin), thus, at first glance appears to be the most objective; in fact, however, it is subject to the European cultural context. Sorokin (Maxim Maximytch) largely retains the original features. However, his rejecting the local population is more evident, so is his religious vigour. Though he, the nameless narrator, and Zadonskoi are in some ways akin, the focus lies on their differences, mainly in age and worldview. As a result, Sorokin’s image is less marginal, with his role as a moral compass for both the protagonist and the reader emphasised. Finally, Zadonskoi himself remains a multi-marginal figure, yet unlike Pechorin has the potential for social integration. Though both Sorokin and the nameless narrator see him as strange and eccentric, in his own papers he unwittingly discovers a human in himself. The marginal status of the narrators, particularly the main character, obscures their national background allowing the focus of the narrative to shift towards universal problems, which are of paramount importance in the novel.

«Sketches of Russian Life in the Caucasus», Sketches of Russian Life in the Caucasus, A Hero of Our Time, Lermontov, the system of narrators, marginal narrator