Mezhetnicheskie otnosheniya v nastoyashchee vremya otnosyatsya k aktual'nym obshchestvennym problemam, osobenno tam, gde ryadom zhivut lyudi raznykh natsional'nostey. Narody Kavkaza izdavna umeli nakhodit' obshchiy yazyk s sosedyami, chto otmechali vse pisateli i poety, pobyvavshie v etikh krayakh. Sud'ba Lermontova tesno svyazana s Kavkazom, chto nashlo otrazhenie v ego poezii i proze. V romanticheskikh poemakh ("Cherkesy," "Kavkazskiy plennik," "Izmail-Bey" i dr.) on vospeval geroicheskuyu storonu zhizni gortsev, osobennosti ikh byta, obychai gostepriimstva, kunachestva i osuzhdal krovnuyu...