The Eleventh Edition

Essay by ismael12 March 2004

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In the short story "The Eleventh Edition" by Leo E. Litwak we notice Russ Hansen is heading in two different directions in his life. First, Russ starts off by being a follower of Professor Diekman's teachings, he does anything for him, he was ready to do anything to be like him and second the realities of real life where everything else matters.

At the beginning of the story, Russ moves away from his boring hometown and alcoholic father to go to University and start a new life in Detroit. Russ gets a job, an apartment and falls in love with his Professor's teachings. Russ is so much into his teachings that he even learned German to understand a session. Sooner or later Russ forgets everything about his hometown and his roots. He doesn't care about that and anything else for that matter except the amazing Professor Diekman. Soon enough, Russ realized that he didn't know where he stood and was so much into his books.

He was locked in his own, separate, far world. Before, nothing could distract him. Now, he wanted desperately every little sound. He was desperate for human connection. He would even go see the old man next door just to talk or listen to his stories, which he had already heard before about his wife and/or his neighbor Henry Ford. The old man had memory loss and was still in love with his wife who had died more than five years ago. The landlady kept giving him a hard time and told him to be quiet for Russ, even though it didn't bother him because he believes that getting old is our destiny too and that we should understand them more.

Soon, after first approaching the professor himself, Russ finally gets recognition for his work, papers...