Two centuries of the Russian classics Two centuries of the Russian classics 2686-7494 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2025-7-4-352-373 Research Article Articles The Problem of Choosing a Source for the Reconstruction and Publication of M. Yu. Lermontov’s Poems of 1840 Kiseleva Irina A. red@rusklassika.ru 25 12 2025 7 4 352 373 authentic text intonation-semantic whole M. Yu. Lermontov autograph poems Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The article raises the question of choosing a source for the publication of M. Yu. Lermontov’s 1840 poems. The research highlights discrepancies between the text of these sources and the poems’ publication in scientific journals. It discusses the priority of the first collection of Lermontov’s poems over an autograph and a lifetime magazine publication. Preference is given to the text of the autograph; the manuscript most fully expresses the intonation and the semantic content. Special attention is paid to criticism of editorial conjunctures in Lermontov’s poems “How Often Surrounded by a Motley Crowd...”, “On Secular Chains...”, “Gratitude”, “There Are Speeches — Meaning...”. The article demonstrates the need to revise the established tradition in its publication. The principle of text’s authenticity is substantiated, which can be adjusted by the principle of grammatical correctness. Gachev, G. D. “Razvitie obraznogo soznaniia v literature” [“The Development of Figurative Consciousness in Literature”]. Gachev, G. D. Teoriia literatury. Osnovnye problemy v istoricheskom osveshchenii. Obraz, metod, kharakter [The Theory of Literature: Key Problems in Historical Interpretation. Image, Method, and Character], book 1. Moscow, Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union Publ., 1962, pp. 186–311. (In Russ.) Zakharov, V. N. “Kanonicheskii tekst Dostoevskogo” [“The Canonical Text of Dostoevsky”]. Zakharov, V. N., editor. Novye aspekty v izuchenii Dostoevskogo: sbornik nauchnykh trudov [New Aspects in the Study of Dostoevsky: A Collection of Scientific Papers]. Petrozavodsk, Petrozavodsk State University Publ., 1994, pp. 355–359. (In Russ.) Izmailov, N. V. “Tekstologiia” [“Textual Criticism”]. Pushkin: Itogi i problemy izucheniia [Pushkin: Results and Problems of Study]. Moscow, Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1966, pp. 555–610. (In Russ.) Kiseleva, I. A., and K. A. Potashova. “Stikhotvorenie M. Iu. Lermontova ʽK portretu’ (1840): poetika teksta i obraza” [“M. Yu. Lermontov’s Poem ʽTo the Portrait’ (1840): Poetics of Text and Image”]. Problemy istoricheskoi poetiki, vol. 22, no. 2, 2024a, pp. 25–49. https://doi.org/10.15393/j9.art.2024.13463 (In Russ.) Kiseleva, I. A., and K. A. Potashova. “Tekstologicheskaia kritika stikhotvoreniia M. Iu. Lermontova ʽValerik’ (1840)” [“Textual Criticism of M. Yu. Lermontov’s Poem ʽValerik’ (1840)”]. Nauchnyi dialog, vol. 13, no. 7, 2024b, pp. 276–292. https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-7-276-292 (In Russ.) Kiseleva, I. A., and K. A. Potashova. “Samarinskii spisok stikhotvoreniia Lermontova ʽValerik’ (1840): istoriia i znachenie” [“Samarinsky Copy of Lermontov’s Poem ʽValerik’ (1840): History and Meaning”]. Otechestvennaia filologiia, no. 5, 2024c, pp. 84–94. https://doi.org/10.18384/2949-5008-2024-5-84-94 (In Russ.) Kiseleva, I. A., and K. A. Potashova. “Formirovanie sostava korpusa stikhotvorenii M. Iu. Lermontova 1840 goda: problemy istochnikov i datirovki” [“Formation of the Composition of the Corpus of M. Yu. Lermontov’s Poems of 1840: Problems of Sources and Dating]. Otechestvennaia filologiia, no. 3, 2025, pp. 98–110. https://doi.org/10.18384/2949-5008-2025-4-98-110 (In Russ.) Potashova,  K.  A.  “Stikhotvorenie  M.  Iu.  Lermontova  ʽSosedka’  (1840): tekstologicheskaia kritika i interpretatsiia” [“M. Yu. Lermontov’s Poem ʽThe Neighbor’ (1840): Textual Criticism and Interpretation”]. Iazyk i tekst, no. 3, 2025, pp. 98–110. https://doi.org/10.18384/2949-5008-2025-4-98-110 (In Russ.) Pumpianskii, L. V. “Ob ischerpyvaiushchem delenii, odnom iz printsipov stilia Pushkina” [“On Exhaustive Division, One of the Principles of Pushkin’s Style”] Pushkin: Issledovaniia i materialy [Pushkin: Research and Materials]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1982, vol. 10, pp. 204–215. (In Russ.) Chernyshev, V. I. “Zametki o znakakh prepinaniia u Pushkina” [“Notes on Punctuation Marks in Pushkin”]. Pushkin i ego sovremenniki: Materialy i issledovaniia [Pushkin and His Contemporaries: Materials and Research], issue 5. St. Petersburg, Imperatorskaia akademiia nauk Publ., 1907, pp. 130–139. (In Russ.) Eikhenbaum, B. M. “O tekstakh Lermontova” [“On Lermontov’s Texts”]. Literaturnoe nasledstvo [Literary Heritage], vol. 19/21. Moscow, Zhurnal’no-gazetnoe ob”edinenie Publ., 1935, pp. 485–501. (In Russ.)