“The Brothers
Karamazov, by Dostoyevsky. I was required to read this book in English
class during my freshman year at Haverford College, but I never finished it. I
seriously doubt that Dostoyevsky ever finished it. So I figure if the president
read it, he could tell me what happens.”—Humorist Dave Barry, on what book he
would require the President to read, in “By the Book: Dave Barry,” The New York
Times Book Review, February 3, 2013
Barry wrote this during the administration of Barack
Obama, who might well have read some Dostoyevsky during a Literary Humanities
class at Columbia University. (Come to think of it, even George W. Bush might
have tried to wrestle with it—though dismissed, not without justification, as
an intellectual lightweight, he might have tried to conquer the massive Russian
novel if challenged by Karl Rove, who had similar contests with the President
concerning books of political science and history.)
As for the current incumbent: Abandon hope, all ye
who enter here! His affinity for things Russian extends to deals and bare-chested strongmen, not for literary classics. Those are for losers. Or hadn’t you
heard?
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