To Travel: More Or Deeper?

Georgian nature — Photo by Jairph on Unsplash

Whether I am a fool or a villain I know not; but this is certain, I am also most deserving of pity <…> My soul has been spoiled by the world, my imagination is unquiet, my heart insatiate. To me everything is of little moment. I become as easily accustomed to grief as to joy, and my life grows emptier day by day. One expedient only is left to me — travel. “As soon as I can, I shall set off — but not to Europe. Heaven forfend! I shall go to America, to Arabia, to India — perchance I shall die somewhere on the way. At any rate, I am convinced that, thanks to storms and bad roads, that last consolation will not quickly be exhausted!” Pechorin about himself From “A Hero of Our Time” by M.Y.Lermontov, Book I, Chapter IX (1840)

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Two things… or rather three things, to be precise, made me return to a novel that is widely considered to be one of the masterpieces of Russian Literature, and rightly so I may add, — “A Hero of Our Time” by Mikhail Lermontov. First — this book was my favorite piece of literature back in school. Mostly due to its unmatched protagonist (if one is even allowed to talk about Pechorin in such terms), but also because of the unique narrative structure, mixing travel notes with diary entries and adventure with romance. There are several different POV characters, which is an extraordinary thing for the literature of the time. Secondly — one of the courses I’m taking this semester involves studies of early Russian Literature, mainly Puskin and Lermontov. So it is basically my homework. Lastly — quarantine is a great chance to revisit old habits and cherished memories and experiences of the past. Especially if it’s a book or a movie that once left a deep mark on your life and personality.

The quotation that I began this story with was what particularly stroke my eye while reading. It made me think. Traveling and living on the road today is considered to be an almost indisputably positive phenomenon. We wholeheartedly admire travel bloggers and Instagram influencers with profiles full of colorful pictures from yet another vacation, hike, or beach holiday. We scrupulously count and recount the number of the remaining days on our annual holiday leave just to fit in another short getaway for the weekend. We want our lives to be colorful and full of experiences, which I believe to be a good thing. Still after reading this excerpt from Pechorin’s thoughts, I couldn’t stop myself from asking, whether the reasons for my passionate urge to discover new places and the beauty of our planet aren’t as far from the motivation that drove Pechorin as I would like them to be. My study profile is cultural studies. So it would seem that my reasons for traveling could be justified in the form of a quest that is rather intellectual and professional than consumeristic and escapist. But I might be stretching the truth here. Intellectual aspirations are no contrary to consumerism or escapism. In truth, they are a part of it.

My heart instantiate <…> My life grows emptier day by day

Pechorin was a spoiled brat. But he is also a character who’s deeply self-aware and conscious of his own nature and the influences he has on the world and the people around him. This doesn’t make him act selflessly and nobly though but rather drives him deeper into inanition. Despite this, Pechorin of all others was the one who taught me self reflection and how to be one’s own psychoanalyst.

Now I consider these lines to be sort of a warning. My life grows emptier day by day. We live in a tricky time today. But it might also be a great time to learn or to remind oneself of the difference between more and deeper. I’m in the middle of my Erasmus semester in Italy, and it is extremely hard to accept that there is no way to see all the places I wanted to see — travel to all the little villages, do all the hikes and swim on all of the cliffy beaches. But then again… Pechorin also wanted to see more. New places, new experiences, new passions. And it only made him emptier inside.

So let’s try and focus on deeper — who knows, maybe a routine walk to the nearby park can turn out to be more insightful than your future trip to an exotic country.

P.S. If you want to read Lermontov’s novel, here’s a link to English translation on Project Gutenberg.