For an Ounce of Sin on the Millionth Anniversary (the Meaning of Lermontov’s Lesser Known Jottings)

Abstract

This article, on the two hundredth anniversary of Lermontov's birth, is devoted to the less canonical works of his poetic legacy - from the so-called junker period, during which Lermontov wrote numerous pornographic texts for his companions. Russian literary history has frequently tended to marginalize them as artistically insignificant. I explain them in the context of the entire poetic oeuvre as an example of a typical authorial attitude towards the predominant poetic languages of the time.