Look, I don't know whose work will stand the test of time, but I have you to thank as well. You're a Young Turk compared to me, and you always give props to my work. Thanks, Fred.

Kinda feel guilty that I didn't dedicate Sartre: The Origins of a Style to you. Maybe in the next edition?

Kinda feel guilty that I didn't dedicate Sartre: The Origins of a Style to you. Maybe in the next edition?

If there is one. I mean, I'm sure there will be, but that's not necessary, either way.

Look, everyone knows my debt to you for that work. Even if I pretty much did a 180 from the whole close-reading bit, I'll never forget where I came from.

Word.

Wow. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Okay, it's definitely not something I would have picked up for myself. I actually like doing the thinking and, if I understand correctly, you do, too…

Oh, sure, sure. I just know you lost your entire library when you had to escape from the Third Reich, so I figured something is better than nothing!

Well, as you say in your famous essay "Unpacking My Library: A Talk about Book Collecting‎": "O bliss of the collector, bliss of the man of leisure!" I actually enjoy finding the books, so as great a loss as it was, and as touched as I am by your generosity, I'm just going to start over… with a good attitude.

You can be intellectually vulnerable with me, Leo. I've been asking what world literature is for over half a century. Still not sure I have a solid answer.

Is it like world music, all about fusion and lots of drum beats and didgeridoos?

Well, no, not exactly. I'm not sure that's what world music is, but I know it's not world literature. When I think about world literature, I focus on common humanity. Even before globalization went wild, lives across the globe were becoming more unified. I'm not for Starbucks in Tibet, but I am into the idea that the context of our lives is becoming more about the world and less about the nation. Gotta focus on the positive… but maybe without the didgeridoos.