Through the combined effects of certain natural facts (connected with the passage of time), institutional acts (performed at various points within the university system) and bonds offriendship (forged over quite a number ofyears ofacademic life), I have lately become an occasional writer of forewords. It is certainly not a kind of work that dis pleases me; but it would be too much to say that I have learned to do it with ease. Quite to the contrary Writing a foreword is, it seems to me, an example ofa rather complex action (al though, of course, much less complex than writing the book it...

Through the combined effects of certain natural facts (connected with the passage of time), institutional acts (performed at various points within the university system) and bonds offriendship (forged over quite a number ofyears ofacademic life), I have lately become an occasional writer of forewords. It is certainly not a kind of work that dis pleases me; but it would be too much to say that I have learned to do it with ease. Quite to the contrary Writing a foreword is, it seems to me, an example ofa rather complex action (al though, of course, much less complex than writing the book it...