How Lermontov was remembered by his contemporaries

Akim Pavlovich Shan-Girey (1819-1883) – second cousin and one of Lermontov’s closest friends:

“He was in very poor health since childhood, so his grandmother took him twice to the Caucasus, to mineral waters. I also remember the family doctor Levis, on whose orders we were fed in the spring mornings with black bread and butter, sprinkled with watercress, and were not given meat. My grandmother had three gardens, a large pond in front of the house, and behind the pond there was a grove; in the winter there was plenty of space, but on the pond we split up into two camps and threw snowballs on the dam with bated breath, looking at the wall like Orthodox people. wall, clenched his fists, and I remember how Michel burst into tears when Vasily the gardener emerged from the dump with his lip cut to the point of bleeding.”

Ilya Aleksandrovich Arsenyev is a Moscow acquaintance and distant relative of the poet:

“This darling granddaughter, taking advantage of the boundless love of his grandmother Elizaveta Alekseevna, from an early age already turned into a domestic tyrant, did not want to listen to anyone, mocked everyone, even his grandmother, and neglected instructions.”

From the memoirs of I.A. Arsenyeva:

“Being very ugly, extremely awkward and malicious, he, having entered the age of youth, when passions begin to play out, could not please women, and yet he was terribly amorous. The inattention of the fair sex to him irritated and offended his boundless pride, which served as a reason on his part to the merciless scourging of women.”

Andrey Nikolaevich Muravyov (1806-1874) – poet, memoirist:

“When he was arrested for writing poems on the death of Pushkin, no one was allowed to see him. Only his grandmother was allowed, who went, and he kept shouting at her, and she responded with the sentence: “Misha’s bile is in excitement.”

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818-1883) – Russian writer, met with Lermontov at the end of 1839:

“There was something ominous and tragic in Lermontov’s appearance; a kind of gloomy and unkind strength, brooding contempt and passion wafted from his dark face, from his large and motionless dark eyes. Their heavy gaze strangely did not agree with the expression of almost childishly tender and protruding lips.”

Moses Egorovich Melikov (1818-1896) – artist, student of Karl Bryullov. The description of the poet’s appearance is made with the observation of a painter:

“Squat, small in stature, with a large head and a pale face, he had large brown eyes, the power of charm of which still remains a mystery to me. These eyes, with intelligent, black eyelashes that made them even deeper, made a charming impression on the one who was sympathetic to Lermontov. During outbursts of anger they were terrible.”

Evdokia Petrovna Rostopchina (1811-1858) – knew Lermontova from her youth, because she was S.P.’s sister. Sushkov – Lermontov’s friend at the Moscow University Boarding School. Lermontov was passionate about Rostopchina and dedicated several poems to her:

“A cheerful single life did not prevent him from visiting society, where he amused himself by driving women crazy, with the goal of then leaving them and leaving them in vain expectation…”

Nikolai Ivanovich Lorer (1795-1873) – Decembrist, transferred as a private to serve in the Caucasus. I met Lermontov in June 1840:

“Lermontov loved to eat well, had his own cook and dined most of the time at home. Four or five courses were prepared for lunch; ice cream was prepared daily.”

Lermontov’s second Alexander Vasilchikov:

“He was a naughty boy in the full childish sense of the word, and his day was divided into two halves between serious studies and reading, and such pranks that only a fifteen-year-old schoolboy could think of; for example, when a dish he loved was served for dinner, Then, with a loud cry and laughter, he would throw himself onto the dish, plunge his fork into the best pieces, empty the entire dish, and often leave us all without dinner.”

From the memoirs of A.N. Muravyova:

“He spoke extremely quickly. His lively and witty conversation was fascinating, jokes kept pouring in, but his loud and shrill laughter was unpleasant to the ear; more than once I asked him to “laugh more easily.”

Alexander Vasilyevich Meshchersky (1822-1900) – prince, officer, Moscow leader of the nobility. Warm friendly relations developed between him and the poet:

“In general, in single company, Lermontov was especially animated and loved stories, very often interrupting the most serious conversation with some joke, and often with obscene anecdotes, which I will not talk about, although they were witty and extremely funny.”

A. Charykov – officer, participant in military operations in the Caucasus. Met with Lermontov in Pyatigorsk in 1841:

“In general, his speech had a mystical character; he spoke very captivatingly, seriously; but it was noticed that the seriousness of his speech somehow harmonized poorly with the insidious smile that sparkled on his lips and in his eyes.”

From the memoirs of A.M. Merinsky:

“After dinner, Lermontov treated me to a pipe, sat down at the piano and sang very funny Russian and French couplets. He also danced deftly and well.”

From the memoirs of A. Charykov:

“He drank as much as he should, only, as it later turned out, wine had almost no effect on his nature, which was not at all heroic. Lermontov was much proud of this quality, because both in age and in many other ways he was a decent child.”

Mikhail Borisovich Lobanov-Rostovsky (1819-1858) – prince, was familiar with Lermontov from the literary “circle of sixteen”:

“In private and outside the circle of comrades, Lermontov was kind, his speech was interesting, always original and a little sarcastic. But in his society he was a real devil, the embodiment of noise, riot, revelry, ridicule. He could not live without not to mock anyone; there were several such persons in the regiment, and among them one, who was the favorite object of his persecution. True, he was a funny fool, who also had the misfortune of bearing the name Tiran; , which could not be heard without laughing; they sang it at the top of their voices in chorus in the ears of this poor fellow.”

From the memoirs of A.M. Merinsky:

“At school, Lermontov had a passion for pestering with his sharp and often even evil ridicule those of his comrades with whom he was more friendly. Of course, many repaid him in kind, and this amused him very much. Rarely among the cadets at school did not have any nicknames; Lermontov was nicknamed Mayoshka, a diminutive of Mayo – the name of one of the characters in the then fashionable novel “Notre Dame Cathedral.” This Mayo is depicted in the novel as a freak, hunchbacked. Of course, this nickname did not suit Lermontov, and he always laughed heartily. over it”.

From the memoirs of A.M. Merinsky:

“Lermontov was quite strong, especially had great strength in his hands, and loved to compete in this with the cadet Karachinsky, who was known throughout the school as a wonderful strongman – he bent ramrods and made knots as if from ropes.”

From the memoirs of A.P. Shan-Gireya:

“I have rarely met a person more careless than him regarding material life. When he subsequently began to publish his works, I often told him: “Why don’t you charge anything for your poetry? Pushkin was no poorer than you, but the booksellers paid him gold for each verse,” but he, laughing, answered me in the words of Goethe: “The song that flows from the mouth is in itself the best reward.”

From the memoirs of A.P. Shan-Gireya:

“Although he was not particularly zealous in his religious practices, he was neither an atheist nor a blasphemer.”

From the memoirs of N.I. Lorera:

“Lermontov’s character was that of a gentleman, aware of his mental superiority; he was selfish, dry, flexible and shiny, like a strip of polished steel, sometimes cheerful, spontaneous and witty, sometimes antipathetic, cold and caustic. But all these advantages, or rather disadvantages , were clothed in the national Russian form and amazed with their brilliant originality. For people who knew Lermontov well, he was an eccentric poet, but for those who did not know or knew little – a barich poet, an aristocrat officer, a serf owner, in the sense of the concept: if I want, I will be executed. , I want – sweetheart.”

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (1812-1870) – writer, publicist:

“He boldly spoke about many things without any mercy and without embellishment. Weak creatures, hurt by this, never forgive such sincerity. Lermontov was spoken of as a spoiled scion of an aristocratic family, as one of those slackers who die from boredom and satiety. Not they wanted to know how much this man fought, how much he suffered before he dared to express his thoughts. When Lermontov, sentenced to exile for the second time, left St. Petersburg for the Caucasus, he felt very tired and told his friends that he would try to find death as soon as possible. kept my word!”