Bursting into print with an impassioned poem on the death of Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov attracted unfavorable attention from the authorities while enjoying a high reputation in literary circles and beyond. He was of Scottish descent, and this bilingual volume celebrates him with new translations by 14 translator-poets, mostly Scottish. Although Lermontov declared in one poem that he was “not Byron,” he was greatly influenced by his reading of Byron and of Walter Scott. Having served in the Caucasus and taken part in dangerous engagements against the Chechens, like Pushkin he died in a duel of dubious legality. Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Mikhail Lermontov's birth, this book celebrates and showcases not only a great Russian writer, but also his Scottish heritage and the wealth of talent among the poets and translators of the United Kingdom and beyond.

Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841) is best known to readers as the author of A Hero of Our Time. Bursting into print with an impassioned poem on the death of Pushkin, he continued to attract unfavorable attention from the authorities while enjoying a high reputation in literary circles and beyond. Having served in the Caucasus, and taken part in dangerous engagements against the Chechens, like Pushkin he died in a duel of dubious legality. Peter France is an eminent scholar and translator of modern Russian poetry. He is joint general editor, with Stuart Gillespie of Glasgow University, of the five-volume Oxford History of Literary Translation in English. Robyn Marsack is an editor, critic, and translator, and is director of the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh.