Rosemary Jann, Professor of English and Cultural Studies, George Mason University.John Gross is the author of iThe Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters/i (1973) and editor of iThe Oxford Book of Aphorisms/i (1983) and iThe Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes/i (2006), among other publications. He was editor of the Times Literary Supplement from 1974 to 1981, and is currentlytheatre critic of the Sunday Telegraph.