About Alex Gruzenberg

Alex was born in Moscow to a family of Russian classical musicians. He played violin professionally for twelve years, stopping shortly before entering Cambridge to read Modern Languages. His degree involved the literature, fine art and cinema of Spain, Italy, and the Spanish-speaking Latin America. It also featured a year abroad in Seville, where Alex had spent three years as a kid. After graduating with a First and the Robinson College Languages Prize, Alex spent three years in a relentlessly wild fever of unsuccessfulness. He returned to Cambridge for an MPhil in Film and decided it was time to write for Varsity. Alex's most discernible writing influences are Roger Ebert, Alfredo Relaño, and Seth Godin. He says Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is the greatest work of art he's ever come across. He's fascinated by what he calls "the narratives of thought"—the storytelling processes by which people change their minds and evolve their perspectives. His blog entries concern his areas of relative expertise.