SOURCE: Rancour-Laferriere, Daniel. “Lermontov's Farewell to Unwashed Russia: A Study in Narcissistic Rage.” Slavic and East European Journal 37, no. 3 (fall 1993): 293-304.

In the following essay, Rancour-Laferriere explores Lermontov's contempt for what he considered the backwardness of his native land expressed in “Proščaj, nemytaja Rossija,” Lermontov's farewell poem.

Anyone who has ever left Russia knows that the experience can provoke strong emotions. The most famous poem on this topic was written by Mixail Lermontov, apparently in April of 1841 on the occasion of his last exile from Russia to the Caucasus (Viskovatyj, 379; Manujlov and Nazarova, 204; Dinesman, 452; Maksimov, 1959, 91-92). Lermontov's emotions about departing from Russia were strong indeed:

Prоsaj, nimytay Rоssiy, Strana rabоv, strana gоspоd, I vy, mundiry gоlubyi, I ty, im pridannyj narоd. 

Byts mоzit, za stinоj Kavкaza Sокrоyss оt tvоik pasij, Ot ik vsividysigо glaza...