I began to think about writing The Life of Objects in 2006, during my five months in Berlin as a fellow at the American Academy. Without the gift of that fellowship, I would not have read the hundreds of journals and memoirs written about the war, and in particular Lali Horstmann’s Nothing for Tears and Hans-Georg von Studnitz’s While Berlin Burns, that served to awaken my curiosity and, in time, to lead me to my story. I am indebted to Gary Smith for inviting me to the American Academy, and for his care and advice.
I began to write the book at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland, where I was grateful to have the friendship of Úna Forde, Christine Tighe, Brian and Sheila Polke, and Heather Bourke.
I wish to thank Sabine Russ in New York and Miranda Robbins and Françoise von Roy in Berlin for their fastidious reading of the manuscript, and their astute, subtle (and imaginative) attempts to keep me, as much as is possible, from error.