A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov is a a psychologically probing portrait of a disillusioned 19th-century aristocrat. The novel is set in the Russian Caucasus in the 1830s. Grigory Pechorin is a bored, self-centered, and cynical young army officer who believes in nothing. With impunity he toys with the love of women and the goodwill of men.