“In all literary history, there had never been so great a success.” Demand for Rousseau’s Julie was so insatiable, copies were rented out at hourly rates... more »
At the Solovetsky Special Prison Camp — the “mother of the gulag,” per Solzhenitsyn — an intellectual and literary culture blossomed... more »
The Nobel Prize for Literature is beset by scandal. But this has nothing to do with sex. The scandal is that the prize ever had any credibility at all... more »