----- Original Message -----

Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 8:17 AM

Subject: Pushkin's bio

At the URL below there is a review of T.J.Binyon's biography of Pushkin (mentioned recently on NABOKV-L). In The Guardian a month ago there was Binyon's own account of how he had started to learn Russian in the army. The Guardian also said that he received some prize for his bio. A little but typical excerpt from WashingtonPost.Com:

"Though he could be courageous and witty, and though he valued honor above all, it's no exaggeration to say that Pushkin all too often conducted himself like a lout and a vulgarian."

T.J. Binyon, a professor of Russian at Oxford, is actually an expert on crime fiction.

The reviewer said "This will surely become the standard account of the poet in English."
God forbid.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38713-2003Nov13.html