“I think it’s to my parent’s credit that I had enough self-confidence.” writer Elif Batuman Ph.D. ’07 told the audience in Dinkelspiel Auditorium on Wednesday, “Whenever I thought I was bad at writing ...

Batuman’s follow-up to “The Idiot” follows the same character into her second year at Harvard. By Dwight Garner When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate ...

Many read to help process reality. A book’s ability to capture life experiences — though perhaps different from a reader’s own — provides a sense of comfort, a step closer to solidarity and away from ...

The author Elif Batuman and some of her favorites. Illustration: Eliana Rodgers The author Elif Batuman and some of her favorites. Illustration: Eliana Rodgers I’m always trying to live an easy life.

Literary sequels are difficult to pull off. I read Elif Batuman’s new novel, “Either/Or,” directly after rereading her 2017 novel, “The Idiot.” That’s 700 pages of the same naive adolescent character, ...

If you're honest with yourself, you'll admit that when you hear "Russian literature," you think of college classes you wish you'd cut -- and books that can seem as long as a Siberian winter. But in ...

There is a certain type of reader who, working her way through Proust, can think only of her own most recent heartbreak. She might be shy and bookish; certainly she is young. This reader might of ...

Elif Batuman teaches at Stanford University, and her first book of essays, “The Possessed,” dances between autobiography, travel-writing and literary criticism with dazzling flair and originality.

The title of Elif Batuman’s debut novel “The Idiot” echoes that of a certain classic by Dostoyevsky, and Batuman’s work does contain many nods to Russian literature. But perhaps more significant is ...

Literary sequels are difficult to pull off. I read Elif Batuman’s new novel, “Either/Or,” directly after rereading her 2017 novel, “The Idiot.” That’s 700 pages of the same naive adolescent character, ...

Elif Batuman is a doctoral candidate in literature at Stanford University. She is also a contributor to the literary magazine n+1. In Elaine Feinstein's new biography, the complicated life of Russian ...