Alex Beam's "The Feud"

Alex Beam has been a columnist for The Boston Globe since 1987. He previously served as the Moscow bureau chief for Business Week. His books include three works of nonfiction: American Crucifixion, Gracefully Insane, and A Great Idea at the Time; the latter two were New York Times Notable Books.

Here Beam dreamcasts an adaptation of his new book, The Feud: Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship:

Inevitably, Sidney Greenstreet would have to play Edmund Wilson, who was a handsome and debonair young man, but in middle age came to resemble, well, The Maltese Falcon's Sidney Greenstreet.

There could be only one choice to play Nabokov -- George Sanders, the sardonic theater critic Addison DeWitt in All About Eve. Coincidentally, Nabokov and Sanders were both born in St. Petersburg, before the Russian Revolution caused their families to flee the country.

Visit Alex Beam's website and Twitter perch.

My Book, The Movie: Gracefully Insane.

The Page 69 Test: Gracefully Insane.

The Page 99 Test: Great Idea at the Time.

The Page 99 Test: American Crucifixion.

--Marshal Zeringue