Sofiia Parnok holds an unusual place in Russian literature for essentially two reasons. Hers was the first, and for many years the only, authentic lesbian voice to be heard in mainstream Russian poetry. Even today, the unmistakable lesbian nature of Parnok's love poetry distinguishes her work from that of other Russian women poets who may have shared her lesbian orientation but emphatically did (and do) not share her courageous desire to express her orientation in verse. Second, Parnok stands out among her contemporaries by virtue of her creative and artistic autonomy. She adhered to none of the many poetic schools, ideologies, or literary groups of the Silver Age. She rejected Decadence and Symbolism, which were at their peak popularity when she began to publish and which she might have been expected to gravitate toward, since the Decadents championed the lesbian theme. Though occasionally classified as an Acmeist, she...