The Possessed
Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
- Paperback
304 pages
- Release Date
27 April 2010
Summary
The Possessed draws on Elif Batuman’s articles in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and n+1 to tell the true story of one woman’s intellectual and sentimental education and her many strange encounters with scholars devoted to classic Russian writers. In a series of intertwined essays about her life—and other people’s lives—in the world of Russian literature and scholarship, Batuman has written a funny, smart, and self-deprecating book about Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov and the academics who worship them. It is full of stories of ice palaces and giant apes, conference disasters and excursions into Uzbek poetry; but there is also wisdom, and deep appreciation of the great Russian novels. Elif Batuman is a true original.
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781921656644 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1921656646 |
| Author: | Elif Batuman |
| Publisher: | Text Publishing |
| Imprint: | The Text Publishing Company |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 304 |
| Release Date: | 27 April 2010 |
| Weight: | 274g |
| Dimensions: | 45mm x 138mm x 210mm |
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Critics Review
‘Hilarious and remarkable…Rich in historic detail about Russian authors and literature and thoughtfully constructed, each essay is an amalgam of critical analysis, cultural criticism, and serious contemplation of big ideas like that of identity, intellectual legacy, and authorship.’ * Literary Hub *
‘In this delectable collection of essays, [Batuman] describes her travels to such perplexing locales as Tolstoy’s former estate, Uzbekistan, a monastery on an Adriatic island, and graduate school. Hers is a lifelong quest for the grandiose, the melancholic, and—crucially—the absurd.’ * Slate *
Elif Batuman
Elif Batuman was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey. She now lives in San Francisco. Her articles have appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine and the literary journal n+1. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundaton Writers’ Award and teaches at Stanford University.
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