I WRITE for myself, that is, for my friends—known and unknown, past, present, and yet to come. It is you who gave me the courage to write a book about communism, love, and friendship—with what results, only you can judge. Some of you saw only the beginning, some of you saw only the end, some of you were there from the very beginning to the very end, some of you read everything, some of you never even read a word, some of you spoke much and well, some of you chose the silence that compels beyond speech, some of you I have yet to meet, some of you I might never meet. To all of you goes my gratitude for imposing on me so great a debt—a debt I can never repay.
Some creditors: Jonathan Arac, Mieke Bal, Jonathan Beller, Renu Bora, Randall Craig, Sara Danius, Cathy Davidson, Daniela Daniele, Leland Deladurantaye, Sylvia Divinetz Romero, Frederick Dolan, Ramez Elias, Barbara Gastaldello, Ambreen Hai, Susan Hegeman, Rosemary Hennessy, Caren Irr, Pierre Joris, Stefan Jonsson, Gene Kuperman, Amy Lee, Carolyn Lesjak, Barry Maxwell, Natalie Melas, Mary Moessinger, Richard Morrison, John Mowitt, Antonio Negri, Don Pease, Nicole Peyrafitte, Christopher Pavsek, Michael Rothberg, Kevin Rozario, Michael Ryan, Steven Seidman, Roy Sellars, Steven Shaviro, Barbara Herrnstein Smith, Julianna Smith, Michael Speaks, Mike Stoffel, Kenneth Surin, Neferti Tadiar, Helen
-xi-
