Bob Blaisdell

Bob Blaisdell is the author of Creating Anna Karenina: Tolstoy and the Birth of Literature’s Most Enigmatic Heroine (Pegasus, 2020) and the editor of The Wit and Wisdom of Anthony Trollope (Blackthorn Press, 2003).

Articles

When Tolstoy Met Trollope: On Sophie Ratcliffe’s “Loss, a Love Story”
Bob Blaisdell reviews Sophie Ratcliffe’s “Loss, a Love Story: Imagined Histories and Brief Encounters.”
Bob BlaisdellApr 17, 2024
- Literary Criticism
- Memoir & Essay
You’re Such a Character: The Knausgaard Behind Knausgaard
Bob Blaisdell examines the public life of autofiction icon Karl Ove Knausgaard.
Bob BlaisdellDec 30, 2023
The Open Presentness of Past Moments: On Gary Saul Morson’s “Wonder Confronts Certainty”
Bob Blaisdell reviews Gary Saul Morson’s “Wonder Confronts Certainty: Russian Writers on the Timeless Questions and Why Their Answers Matter.”
Bob BlaisdellMay 17, 2023
- Literary Criticism
Chekhov Large and Small
Bob Blaisdell examines new biographies of Anton Chekhov by Michael C. Finke and Donald Rayfield.
Bob BlaisdellFeb 15, 2022
- Biography & Autobiography
Mr. Mudrick Is 100
Bob BlaisdellJul 17, 2021
Troy Is Burning: Anne Carson and Rosanna Bruno Reimagine Euripides’s “The Trojan Women”
Bob Blaisdell is engrossed in Anne Carson’s reimagining of Euripides’s “The Trojan Women,” illustrated by Rosanna Bruno.
Bob BlaisdellJun 19, 2021
- Comics
Writing Isn’t a Sacred Activity, It Is an Ordinary Activity: A Conversation with Karl Ove Knausgaard
Bob Blaisdell talks with writer Karl Ove Knausgaard.
Bob BlaisdellJan 8, 2021
Rapt Rereadings
Viv Groskop’s new book is a passionate love letter to the classics of French literature.
Bob BlaisdellAug 14, 2020
The Nose Nose: On Gogol’s “And the Earth Will Sit on the Moon: Essential Stories”
Bob Blaisdell reviews “And the Earth Will Sit on the Moon,” the recently published collection of stories by Nikolai Gogol.
Bob BlaisdellApr 27, 2020
- Around the World
- Fiction
Just Dying for It: On Tolstoy’s “Lives and Deaths: Essential Stories”
Bob Blaisdell gets to the bottom of Leo Tolstoy’s “Lives and Deaths: Essential Stories,” translated by Boris Dralyuk.
Bob BlaisdellFeb 15, 2020
- Around the World
- Fiction
Constance Garnett: A Heroic Translator
Bob Blaisdell remembers the translation genius of Constance Garnett.
Bob BlaisdellNov 7, 2019
The Stars Her Destination: On Sara Wheeler’s “Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age”
Bob Blaisdell tags along with Sara Wheeler through “Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age.”
Bob BlaisdellNov 5, 2019
- Around the World
- Memoir & Essay
The Good Doctor: On Maxim Osipov’s “Rock, Paper, Scissors”
Bob Blaisdell appreciates “Rock, Paper, Scissors: And Other Stories” by Maxim Osipov, translated by Boris Dralyuk, Alex Fleming, and Anne Marie Jackson.
Bob BlaisdellApr 9, 2019
- Around the World
- Fiction
Granted: The Best
Bob Blaisdell pores over “The Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” and “My Dearest Julia: The Wartime Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Wife.”
Bob BlaisdellFeb 7, 2019
Tolstoy Untangled: On Donna Tussing Orwin’s “Simply Tolstoy”
Bob Blaisdell appreciates “Simply Tolstoy” by Donna Tussing Orwin.
Bob BlaisdellDec 25, 2018
- Biography & Autobiography
- Literary Criticism
Knausgaard and War and Peace
Bob Blaisdell struggles with Tolstoy and Knausgaard.
Bob BlaisdellOct 7, 2018