“More particularly, having a largely German-oriented education has made me very responsive to 19th-century German literature.”
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A spy, like a writer, lives outside the mainstream population. He steals his experience through bribes and reconstructs it.
The monsters of our childhood do not fade away, neither are they ever wholly monstrous. But neither, in my experience, do we ever reach a plane of detachment regarding our parents, however wise and old we may become. To pretend otherwise is to cheat.
Most people like to read about intrigue and spies. I hope to provide a metaphor for the average reader's daily life. Most of us live in a slightly conspiratorial relationship with our employer and perhaps with our marriage.
My definition of a decent society is one that first of all takes care of its losers, and protects its weak.
