Every now and then it makes sense to go back in time and read about lives of those that came before us. One finds people, whose ambitions, worries, joys, and sorrows are the same as ours, but people who behave in strange ways. One also learns about cultural norms, which made lives of those people of the past difficult in ways, which puzzle us. And also cultural norms, which made their lives superbly easy when compared the culture of relativism we immerse ourselves.
Aikamme sankari (A hero of our times) by M.J. Lermontov is such a book, a treasure drove for peeking in lives of the Russian upper class (aristocrats and officers) in the early 19th century. It tells the story of a young officer, Petsorov, in the Caucasus, in his own words, e.g. as his diary (thus avoiding the problems of implicit narrator or lack of one, that plaques contemporary novels). We meet Petsorov in his favourite business: seducing young, innocent girls, in ways (e.g. kissing on their palms, or asking them for a dance) which are outrageous and culturally inappropriate. He gets his way, he gets the virgins, but not the woman he really loves, of course. Following his endeavours one learns a lot of past people. Or at least Russians.Even though the story is written before Nietzsche was born, the main character is some kind of cynical ubermensch. Maybe the idea of such a character was popular back then.
In all, a book worth reading.
09.01.2007