Petr Vail' and Aleksandr Genis, who started out as journalists in their native Latvia, pioneered a brand of writing that came to be known as "essayism," a specific genre combining a lyrical style with methods used in cultural studies. The writer Sergei Donatovich Dovlatov, who was a close friend and colleague to Vail' and Genis, described them as "perhaps, the only writers in emigration that concentrated almost exclusively on essayism. Therefore one can only judge them as writers using the criteria applicable to essayism, while not forgetting the qualities that are typical for this genre--the originality of judgment, fluidity, and humor. In their work, they have incorporated traits that are very typical for the Western and American tradition of quality--wordplay, wit, and precision." Yet, Dovlatov did not foresee in the pair's witty style a natural striving for the independence that eventually led them away from literary criticism and...