ABSTRACT
This essay is based on the widely acccepted theory of Michel Foucault that “Sexuality…is the name that can be given to a historical construct” (1979, 105). Foucault's conception of “the social construction of sexuality” has been amplified by Sue Cartledge and Joanna Ryan as “the intricate and multiple ways in which our emotions, desires and relationships are shaped by the society we live in” (1983, 1). Following Nancy Armstrong (1987) and Elaine Showalter (1992), I also accept it as axiomatic that in Russia, as in other societies, literature has played an important part in constructing the history of sexuality.
