Lermontov's only full-scale novel, which prophetically describes the duel in which he later lost his own life. The hero of the novel, Pechorin is an intense individual, a military officer who kidnaps beautiful daughter of Circassian tribesman, and who, according to Lermantov's own introduction, is a composite portrait, made up of all the vices which flourish, full grown, amongst the generation of the time.