Acknowledgements
Many are the debts I have incurred in the editing of this book, but the greatest debt precedes the actual process of editing, since it dates from my time as a visiting lecturer at Lund University in the late 1990s. It was there that I first met Lars-Håkan Svensson, now of Linköping University, and (briefly) Jesper Svenbro, of the Centre Louis Gernet—poets and scholars who had modelled their careers on their great mentor Göran Printz-Påhlson. Through them came a memorable introduction to Printz-Påhlson’s work, and to the man himself. That introduction enriched my own intellectual life, and I cannot repay the debt, except in a small way by dedicating this book to them.
I owe John Matthias of the University of Notre Dame my thanks for sharing his correspondence with Printz-Påhlson, and for his words of wise counsel throughout the process of editing. Thanks are due, too, to Elinor Shaffer of Cambridge University, for her foreword but also for her guidance and forbearance. Rupert Gatti and Alessandra Tosi of Open Book Publishers showed me more patience than I deserved, and I have been helped immensely by the efforts of my assistant at Lake Forest College, Octavio Oliveira de Araujo. The manuscript has benefited from comments by Marcel Inhoff of the University of Bonn, Jean-Luc Garneau and Richard Fisher of Lake Forest College, and Stefan Holander of University College—Finnmark, Norway.
I would be remiss not to thank the organisers and participants of a conference on the work of Printz-Påhlson at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in the summer of 2010. Their questions and comments proved inspiring and invaluable. The Swedish Academy made my presence at that conference possible, for which I offer my gratitude.
Closer to home, let me thank my wife Valerie and my daughter Lila for their encouragement, support, and love during the long, arduous, and happy process of an editor’s work.