"Masks" in M. Ju. Lermontov's "A Hero of our Time"

Abstract

In M. Ju. Lermontov's novel «A Hero of our Time» almost every person is wearing a «mask», trying to conceal his or her real intentions—or, on the contrary, taking advantage of the mask, doing or saying things otherwise condemned by the prevailing social conventions. This paper offers a brief analysis of the phenomenon and its function in the structure of the novel.