Beschreibung

In this mesmerizing and exquisitely rendered debut novel, a long-lost letter links two characters, each searching for meaning against long odds. In St. Petersburg, Russia, world chess champion Aleksandr Bezetov begins an improbable quest by launching a doomed – and potentially lethal – dissident presidential campaign against Vladimir Putin. In Cambridge, MA, thirty-year-old English lecturer Irina Ellisonvhas inherited Huntington‘s disease from her father and struggles hard with a sense of purpose. When Irina finds an old, photocopied letter her deceased father had written to the young Aleksandr Bezetov – asking how one proceeds in a lost cause – she decides to travel to Russia to find Bezetov and get an answer for her father, and for herself. A Partial History of Lost Causes explores the possibilities of courage, the endurance of memory, and the stubbornness and splendor of human will. DuBois’ writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Playboy and elsewhere. DuBois, born in 1983, was recently honored by the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” program.
The d.a.i.- reading group will deal with A Partial History of Lost Causes in their session on Friday, 15th of March at 18:15 right before the reading of Jennifer duBois at the d.a.i. In English, parts of the German translation Das Leben ist groß will also be read.

In cooperation with the US-Embassy (http://germany.usembassy.gov/), OSIANDER (http://www.osiander.de/) and the Aufbau Verlag, Berlin (http://www.aufbau-verlag.de/).

Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Tübingen (d.a.i.)

Karlstrasse 3
72072 Tübingen

Lageplan