The paper focuses on the use of defamiliarization techniques in some works of Russian conceptualist poet Dmitrij Prigov and explores, in particular, how the canonical status of Aleksandr Pushkin and of his “sacred” texts has been challenged and modified by Prigov. He refers to Pushkin in a wide range of works, making use of ostranenie and causing therefore the audience to perceive these famous texts afresh: in one of his signature performance piece Prigov recites the first stanza of Eugene Onegin in various vocal styles; in his “Verses for George” protagonists from the opening lines of well-known Russian poems are replaced by the word dinozavr (dinosaur); and, finally, Prigov rewrites an entire section of Pushkin’s masterpiece in a special samizdat-style book. The paper aims to describe how defamiliarization and permanent distancing from any stereotypes become one of the most important tools of deconstruction and desecration in Prigov’s art.