Adventures in Russian Literature

[Alina Israeli]

This was a perfect example of a statement out of context which makes  
very little sense.

A slightly longer quote gives enough background:

Similarly self-effacing anecdotes are woven throughout "The  
Possessed," [The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the  
People Who Read Them By Elif Batuman]
which is part travel narrative, part memoir and part literary  
exegesis of works by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Babel, Dostoevsky and others.  
Ms. Batuman describes her failed relationships, her desperate  
attempts to get research grants and her strange summer studying Old  
Uzbek in Samarkand. In one chapter, she describes how she tried to  
get a $2,500 grant to investigate whether Tolstoy was murdered. "The  
man was 82 years old, with a history of stroke!" her skeptical  
adviser told her. "That's exactly what would make it the perfect  
crime," Ms. Batuman responded. She didn't get the grant.


On Mar 11, 2010, at 2:54 PM, Elena Gapova wrote:

> From today's WSJ:
>
> ...In one chapter, she describes how she tried to get a $2,500  
> grant to
> investigate whether Tolstoy was murdered. "The man was 82 years  
> old, with a
> history of stroke!" her skeptical adviser told her. "That's exactly  
> what
> would make it the perfect crime," Ms. Batuman responded.
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/ 
> SB10001424052748704784904575111503804014096.html? 
> mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_lifestyle
>
> e.g.
>
>

Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387 	fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu





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