Everyone knows his name, but perhaps no one has actually read his works.

Not a single manuscript of Ivan Barkov’s erotic poetry has survived. For centuries, admirers of risqué verse copied his poems by hand, often with little concern for accuracy. The collection "Maiden’s Toy" was only published at the very end of the 20th century.

Neither "Luka Mudishchev" nor "The Empress’s Pleasures" were written by Barkov. In fact, many works attributed to him were never his.

So how did the myth of Barkov take shape? What do we really know about this 18th-century poet, whose verses, according to Karamzin, were "rarely unknown to anyone"?

Lecture by:

???? Elena Panisheva – cultural historian, literary scholar, and curator of exhibition projects at the State Literary Museum in Moscow.

???? Date: March 19, 19:30
???? Venue: Art-Podval, Limassol