In the spring of 1986, I worked in Copenhagen while remaining a resident of the city of Lund in Sweden. I was therefore classified by the Swedish state – or by the tax authorities more precisely – as a boundary-crosser. This was a designation which, after a time, I came to like very much, for it gave concise expression to my wish to regard myself as a person accustomed in different contexts to crossing boundaries. This book is itself of just such a character, an attempt to cross a number of intellectual (and personal) boundaries.

I wish I could say this is the conclusion of a research project, but according to my experience such things never end. As with one's other old heroes and relations, perhaps, they just gradually fade away. It is likewise difficult to say when it actually began. The idea of writing such a book developed successively while I was occupied with other things. Yet it was Jörgen Hermansson who, I think without knowing it, once gave me the idea of putting together a book such as this one. The degree to which I have able to make decisions which are both autonomous and good (in the sense of well-considered) falls now to others to judge.