The Big U

"WHEN I THINK OF THE MEN WHO WERE MY TEACHERS, I REALIZED THAT MOST OF THEM WERE SLIGHTLY MAD. THE MEN WHO COULD BE REGARDED AS GOOD TEACHERS WERE EXCEPTIONAL. IT'S TRAGIC TO THINK THAT SUCH PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER TO BAR A YOUNG MAN'S WAY."

German political figure Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945 (from Hitler's Secret Conversations, 1941-44, translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens.)

I am indebted to the following people for the following things:

My parents for providing several kinds of support.

Edward Gibbon, for writing The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Julian Jaynes, for writing The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.

William Blake and William Butler Yeats, for providing Pertinax with inspiration.

Kathrin Day Lassila, for numerous and thoughtful disagreements.

Gordon Lish, for the most productive rejection slip of all time.

Gary Fisketjon, for buying me a beer in Top Hat in Missoula, Montana, on July 1, 1983, and other services beyond the call of editorial duty.