The Possessed

Since my husband Andre is taking Russian Literature and Russian Language (I'll call it 101) right now, I have a not quite insider's but sort of inner outsider's view of the crazy and marvelous world of "Russian books and the people who read them;" that being the subtitle of the excellent book "The Possessed" by Elif Batuman named for the story by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

One of the essays included in this collection was first printed in Harpers Magazine and Andre read it then; drawn in by the provocative question posed by the title "Who Killed Tolstoy?" The fact that one of his former Russian lit profs was a character in the essay only compounded his interest. For whatever reason, at the time I had ZERO interest in reading this essay.

When it was published in this collection and arrived at our bookstore though, I was immediately drawn in by the cartoon cover. (What? I like cartoon anything apparently.) And then within seconds of turning the page became completely captivated (captured) by the writing. This book is often hilarious, tongue-in cheek, and full of many interesting factoids, asides and straight-up gossip about the Russian writers we know and love and the surprisingly zany people devoted to studying them.

The following is an excerpt recounting an exchange between Isaac Babel's daughter Nathalie and Janet Lind; one of the organizers of a conference centred on her father's works:

"JANET," Nathalie said finally, in her fathomless voice. "IS IT TRUE THAT YOU DESPISE ME?"

Janet Lind turned to her calmly. "I beg your pardon?"

"IS IT TRUE THAT YOU DESPISE ME?"

"I can't imagine what makes you say that."

"I say it because I would like to know if it is true THAT YOU DESPISE ME."

"That is an extremely odd question. What gives you an idea like that?"

"I just think you were told that I'm a NASTY OLD WITCH."

"This is really extremely odd. Did someone say something to you?" Lind frowned slightly. "You and I have barely had any interactions."

"Even so, I had the impression- that you DESPISE ME."

This conversation continued for longer than one would have thought possible , given how clear it was that Janet Lind, for whatever reason, was just not going to tell Nathalie Babel that she did not despise her. Looking from Lind to Babel, I was struck by the nontrivial truth behind the Smiths song "Some girls are bigger than others."

After reading this book I've become obsessed with checking for updates on Elif Batuman's blog because I need a constant fix of her prose from now on.