The Gabriliad
December, 1974
During the Easter week of 1821, all government employees in the town of Kishinev were required to fast and to attend an endless round of religious services. One of the clerks--more bored and rebellious than all the rest--in the midst of the long liturgical chants, decided to write a poem. It was conceived as the longest, most mocking, most antireligious sex shocker in the Russian language.The 21-year-old clerk happened to be Alexander Pushkin, destined to become Russia's greatest poetic genius....
