I would like to thank Sigrid Rausing at Granta, Sudip Bose at The American Scholar, the editors of The Paris Review, Andrew Chan at the Criterion Collection, PEN America for hosting me at the Cavafy evening, Laura Martineau at Coda Quarterly, Robert Martin for including my piece in The Place of Music (Bard College), Whitney Dangerfield at The New York Times, my former student Leah Anderst for including me in The Films of Eric Rohmer: French New Wave to Old Master, Michaelyn Mitchell at the Frick Collection, Robert Garlitz for introducing me to the work of Fernando Pessoa, Youssef Nabil for allowing me to reprint his stunning picture on the jacket of this book, and the Corporation of Yaddo for a wonderful and productive stay. I particularly want to thank Jonathan Galassi and Katharine Liptak at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and last but certainly not least, my agent, Lynn Nesbit.