Cold Sweat

Alan Bennett

  • Forms of Talk by Erving Goffman
    Blackwell, 335 pp, £12.00, September 1981, ISBN 0 631 12788 7

I am meeting my father at the station. I stand at the barrier as the train draws in and see him get off. As he walks along the platform he catches sight of me and waves. I wave back and we both smile. However, he still has some considerable distance to cover before reaching the barrier. Do I keep a continuous smile on my face during that period, do I flash him an occasional smile or do I look away?

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[*] Most recently in A View from Goffman edited by Jason Ditton. Macmillan, 289 pp., £15, March 1980, 0 333 24524 5.

[†] Picador, 285 pp., £2.50, 14 August, 0 330 26445 1.