Reading James Elkins, A Short Introduction to Anneliese, Unamed Press. It is the second volume of Five Strange Languages. Elkins explains, ‘You can read each book by itself. They are entirely independent of each other. Each is different, with its own style, mood, and stories’, adding, ‘A Short Introduction to Anneliese begins with a 200 page rant. . . At its center is a hundred-page chapter in which Anneliese talks about long books.’

I’m midway through this delicious rant, a place to pause and take breathe, trying to resist the propulsive force towards Chapter Seven, the one about the long books. It is calling to me, some human call, that compels me to listen to the work. It brings to mind a Stella Gibbons’ coinage: thought-whelmed.