Consciousness has to live, at least notionally, by extremes. It is by turns enthusiastic and cynical, believes and disbelieves. It wants to be snug and comfortable, but its peak moments, when it feels most alive, come out of crisis and extremes - illness, accident, bereavement, jealousy, longing. 'I wouldn't have missed it for anything,' it will say to itself about a quarrel or a war, some episode of general misery.

LRB 15 April 1982 | PDF Download