Writing the biography of an intellectual or cultural figure, in which there are few if any familiar historical signposts, can be extremely daunting. Unlike the celebrity or the military or political personality, there are few if any incidents of action to recount. Rather, there are primarily ideas to describe, and the biographical subject’s thought processes and interactions, insofar as these have been recorded, to explain and to evaluate. Thus, one must depend in large part upon the background and knowledge of (...) the reader to assist in making sense of the movement of the biographee’s thought. There are, of course, exceptions. Albert Einstein might be one, if only because he became a public figure and his upending .. (shrink)

In this book is the first meeting of Andreĭ Astvat︠s︡aturov the prose writer with Andreĭ Astvat︠s︡aturov the philologist. In this book of essays "Chaos and Symmetry", Astvat︠s︡aturov, as befits a philologist, is a sophisticated researcher and connoisseur of literature: classical Anglo-American and modern Russian. He will explain why in Oscar Wilde's The Canterville ghost" the ghost is an artist, how William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" echoes ancient tragedy, and why Henry Miller peered into the void. He writes about the (...) features of the modern literary process as well as prose by Mikhail Elizarov, Roman Senchin, German Sadulaev, and other famous authors. Personal experience is mixed with literary observations. Biographical details are a continuation (or, conversely, the source) of the writers' work, and all together it forms an elegant mosaic, not devoid of some practical usefulness: it is helpful to look at the tips and tricks of others. (shrink)