Elif Batuman invites us into the tumultuous world of Selin Karadağ: one defined by both academic and social rigour throughout the novel. Elif Batuman takes the concept of the “campus novel” to a whole new level as her main character seems to be in a battle with time itself.
Despite the vast campus that surrounds Selin Karadağ, she cannot seem to find an escape from her past (with the wounds of her most recent relationship are still very much fresh, and constant reminders sprinkling further salt on her wounds), her tumultuous present (as she attempts to make it through the marsh, that is Harvard’s social scene, without getting bogged won beneath pressures and self-consciousness), and, finally, her uncertain future future (as she cannot imagine herself making a mark on the literary world, threatened by the exquisite Russian literature that she consistently comes across in her Russian classes, which mean that Selin Karadağ is not only having to grapple with her self-imposed comparisons with her peers, but also her literary predecessors.
Finally, however, Elif Batuman extends the novel beyond the campus lifestyle, thus propelling Selin Karadağ towards the realisation that she does really need to be “Either/Or”: she can pursue the aesthetic pleasures inherent to adventures, while also pursuing her rigorous literary ambitions. Furthermore, just as Elif Batuman’s novel is, clearly, intertwined by the works of Søren Kierkegaard, though still manages to exist beyond that realm, demonstrating how Selin Karadağ can be influenced by the past, both the literary past and her personal past, while projecting herself into the future.