Dostoyevsky vs. Tolstoy: One Family’s Competitive Vacation in Russia
'Some readers gravitate toward Tolstoy, others toward Dostoyevsky. It is fun to assign camps to your friends and even more fun to argue in favor of your own inclination. The choice takes on a special resonance in Russia, however, where the arts are a central part of the national identity.
Recently I flew to St. Petersburg with my husband, Ian Frazier, and our daughter, Cora. We were meeting our son, Thomas, and his girlfriend, Olesya Elfimova, both of whom had flown in from Yekaterinburg, Russia, the “gateway to Siberia,” where Olesya grew up and where Thomas teaches English.
We are all writers (except for Olesya, who is a translator), and we have strong literary opinions. My husband has visited Russia many times. Even so Thomas has outstripped him in number of days spent there. He gave the rest of us a reading list that was heavily weighted toward Dostoyevsky.'>>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/travel/dostoyevsky-vs-tolstoy-competitive-family-vacation-in-russia.html?