“... his preface: ‘We are in the realm of craft, shape and, now and then, possibly even song.’ And Jan Zwicky, in her introduction to Booth’s translation, details the way the stress and play of vowel sounds in the final proposition of the book give it a certain musicality (‘Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen’). But, by the same ...”

“... Furman of Russia, Gáspár Tamás of Hungary and Slavoj Žižek of Yugoslavia, born in the 1940s; Jan Zielonka of Poland, born in the 1950s; and Ivan Krastev of Bulgaria in the 1960s.1 All save Zielonka were originally trained in philosophy, which – this being Eastern Europe – was no impediment to wider interests: Furman started his career as a historian ...”

“... is so cheeky. Now we’ve read Dylan Thomas, haven’t we, and some John Cowper Powys. And Jan Morris we’ve read. But who else is there?’ ‘You could try Kilvert, maam,’ said Norman. ‘Who’s he?’ ‘A vicar, maam. Nineteenth century. Lived on the Welsh borders and wrote a diary. Fond of little girls.’ ‘Oh,’ said the Queen, ‘like ...”