again on Massie's book

[Giampaolo Gandolfo]

>
>Allan Reid
>
>Professor of Russian
>Chair, Dept of Culture and language Studies
>
>PO Box 4400
>University of New Brunswick
>Fredericton, NB
>E3E 1A9
>
>Tel:    (506) 454-8649  Fax:    (506) 447-3166
>
>http://www.unb.ca/web/arts/Culture_Lang/
>
        Many substantial remarks have been made about Massie's book,
and I myself could point at platitudes and tautologies that my
colleagues have not mentioned (and the Italian translation has
probably worsened the final result).. But one thing I feel obliged to
add: several among my best students took up Russian literature after
reading it. In other words, they fell in love with Russian culture
thanks to this text (however questionable it might be), and I think
mine is not the only case. So, despite all its limitations as a
serious textbook, I must aknowlegde that it served an important
purpose (faute de mieux).
                                Giampaolo Gandolfo
Professor of Russian literature
University of Trieste (Italy)

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