divine comedy; Lara Vapnyar's new novel captures the tribulations of an aspiring muse.

These days, a muse is more of an ana_chronism than a viable career option. But not for Tanya, the Russian emigre who narrates Lara Vapnyar's hilarious first novel, Memoirs of a Muse (Pantheon). Casting herself as a modern-day Apollinaria Suslova-the beautiful, fiery-tempered woman who purportedly left the "maddening imprint of her foot" on Dostoevsky's best work-Tanya vows to find a great man of her own to inspire.

This, it turns out, is far easier said than done. Ignoring her relatives' advice to sign up for computer classes, the aspiring muse spends her free time roaming Central Park, eventually latching on to a promising candidate at a nearby bookstore: Mark Schneider, a middle-aged novelist who is flattered by her single-minded devotion. In no time, she's installed in his penthouse apartment, brewing him organic coffee, attending literary soirees in which she feels out of place, and spinning elaborate sexual fantasies for his entertainment-one of which unforgettably involves her former history teacher and a portrait of Lenin. But despite her best efforts, ...