For Friday: Lermontov, "Bela" from A Hero of Our Time

"An Uzbek Woman in Tashkent" by Vasily Vereshchagin

NOTE: I stupidly told you to read the first two stories for Friday, though we'll only have time for "Bela," since it's pretty long. You can read "Maksim Maksimich" for Friday, too, though we won't discuss it until Monday's class when we also discuss "Taman." So the questions below are only for "Bela."

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: How do both the Narrator and Maksim Maksimich reveal their own casual racism and "Orientalist" views on the people of the Caucasus in this story? Do you think Lermontov is trying to satirize Russian biases towards the East, or does he take these views for granted? 

Q2: What kind of character is Pechorin, and who might he remind us of from Candide? If he is the "Hero of Our Time," are we supposed to be impressed with him, or is he, too, a kind of satirical portrait? Similarly, how do the Narrator and Maksim Maksimich seem to respond to him?  

Q3: How does the story channel the Romantic sublime? What did Lermontov want to impress upon the reader (who at this time, would be readers who lived in the major cities of Russia) about the exotic world of the Caucasus? How does he help us see the beauty and terror of this strange land?

Q4: As the Narrator tells his story, he admits, "it is not a novella I am writing, but traveling notes...Therefore, wait a while, or, if you wish, turn several pages..." Why does the Narrator address the reader this way? And why might Lermontov had created the ruse of writing a novel about a man who is not writing a novel?