I was a Comparative Lit minor in college. I took courses in Dostoyevsky & Tolstoy as well as writers from around the world. As it happened, my prof was a Russian woman nearing eighty years old. I would describe her as looking like Nina Krushchev but not so pretty. She was barely five feet tall and as round as she was high. On the first day of class, she set the terms. “Front row is for Russians and boys … As are for Russians.” It was pretty clear that this child, neither Russian nor male, was going to be in the back praying for a B. Each year, the University had to appeal to some higher authority to allow Mme. Wolkonsky to continue teaching because of her advanced years and the old rules of forced retirement. She was a very good teacher if slightly prejudiced in favour of her countryMEN in specific, and men, in general. One day, Mme. relayed a story telling us what a “stupid” child she had been. Apparently, Tolstoy came to her home and she elected to run off out of doors to play rather than to sit at his feet enthralled. She finished this cautionary tale with this admonition,”Dostoyevsky great writer, Tolstoy greater writer. Tolstoy relative.” It seems our Mme. was kin to one of the world’s finest authors. We were smitten … from the row in the back. The B was an okay thing, too!