“In fact, to write any book is an act of practically fanatic devotion, he said, because to write a book is to insist on the possibility of a future in which the book might be read. Texts are transmission devices from here to there, self to other, now to then. Every book, I take this to mean, is a fan letter to the ultimate subject of affection and of desire—that is, to the reader. My “I” to yours.’m”