Here is an essay on Elif Batuman’s wonderful novel The Idiot that I wrote for Commonweal. Very honored to appear there; I do love me some lefty Catholics.
Reading this novel and writing this piece gave me a chance to clarify some things for myself about “where the novel is heading” (gag me, but I don’t have time to word that better) and I think the results of that thinking will be helpful for a lot more people than just me.
Phil Christman 