History of Russia
Vladimir Arbenin's love drama could be seen as reflecting Lermontov's feelings towards Natalya Ivanova whom he dedicated thirty poems in the early 1830s. Princess Sofja's prototype could have been Ivanova's cousin, Princess Gorchakova. Several of the student characters had their real prototypes too, among them A.D.Zakrevsky, whose article "The View Upon the History of Russia" was published in "Teleskop" (1833, signed A.Z.).