“As a bringer of the word from Paris, Sturrock modestly describes himself as a mediator. The essays gathered here amount to far more. They bridge not only twoi cultures but also two critical styles, the journalistic and the academic, in a manner that illuminates their subjects, both literary and theoretical, with a uniquely fresh and lively intelligence.”—Christopher Prendergast, Kings College, Cambridge“For thirty years, Sturrock’s journalism has had a special role in the English-speaking world. He has brought us word of an extraordinary sequence of intellectual and artistic development taking place in Paris, and he has done so with unfailing lucidity, empathy and nuance. This collection, however, is more than an array of Sturrock’s think-pieces: it is a portrait of a metropolitan culture in bloom, a brilliantly stage-managed Parisian think-fest.”—Malcolm Bowie, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature, Oxford