Melville House Books

Orlando Figes

Monday came and went without any striking new revelations of stupefyingly childish behavior by Orlando Figes, although there were two developments that were the opposite of a surprise: as this Financial Times story reveals, Figes is now officially on “sick leave” from his job at Birkbeck College, University of London, and, David Price, his lawyer — the one Figes lied to and had send threatening letters to other historians — is no longer representing him. Of course, it’s not as if Figes will be without legal representation in the likely event he gets sued by every historian in the UK. After all, his wife is an attorney and — well, on second thought, he may be in even more trouble than he was on Friday.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.