During my drive to the Toronto airport from Stratford last Sunday, the CBC had a call-in show in which people suggested their "desert island books." One professorial type from California went on and on about this book by a German Jewish refugee named Erich Auerbach. I looked up the book on Amazon earlier this week and was delighted to discover it was Mimesis, a book I drew heavily upon many years ago as an undergraduate when preparing a paper on The Odyssey for a course in the Classics Department. I ordered a copy, figuring that I'll be able to appreciate the work much more now than I was able to then. The book has arrived and I am delving into the chapter on Shakespeare's Henry IV--about which I just finished writing another paper, ironically enough. And I was amazed to learn Auerbach moved to the States, taught at Yale, and lived the final years of his life right here in Wallingford!