During the five years that followed his retirement Peter Stern worked as a visiting Professor for periods of some months, the first and longest of which was spent at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts. He felt deep gratitude for this invitation and for the unrivalled beauty of the little house in the woods, some miles from the campus, where he was allowed to live. I know he would have wished to thank the President and Faculty at Williams once more for their kindness to both of us.

He was honoured by two invitations, one to the University of California at Irvine and the other to the Vienna Kunsthochschule where he deputised for the Head of the General Studies Department who was on leave. In all these posts Peter Stern had the delight of lecturing and teaching without the burden of administrative duties, and all of them brought us new friends and opportunities for exploring. From Vienna we visited Hungary for the first time, in the depth of winter. For this and our participation in some enchanting social occasions we had many people to thank, especially Dr Bernhard Stillfried of the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

The general editorship of the series Landmarks of World Literature for Cambridge University Press was a rewarding and educative task of these years.

During this enjoyable and busy retirement the material of the present book was reworked and assembled, but at the onset of Peter's brief last illness still not fully prepared for publication.