Examining the opinions and influences, idiosyncrasies and personalities of writers as diverse as Shakespeare and Kingsley Amis, Cervantes and Milan Kundera, Professor Miller discusses and defends the profession of the author. He considers the question of the presence of authors in theirwritings, and of certain authors in the writings of others. He looks at the idea of artistic impersonality, at the shows and realities of absence and abstention which are to be found in modern literature. Central to the book is a concern with the memorial writings of Louisa Stuart (1757-1851) andPrimo Levi. Other writers considered are Samuel Richardson, V. S. Naipaul, Peter Ackroyd, the Polish writer Ryszard Kapuscinski and the Scottish writer James Kelman. There are essays on the enduring fascination of Hamlet, on imitation, replication and pastiche, and on recent authorial crises andcase histories. The book closes with a personal view of literary journalism, based on the author's experience of editing the London Review of Books during its first ten years.