I am grateful to the editors of the New Surveys series, Prof. Phillip Horky and Dr John Taylor, for the opportunity to write for the series and for their guidance during the publication process. I am grateful to Jamie McIntyre and Melanie Howe at Cambridge University Press, and Clare Roberts at the Classical Association, for essential assistance with publication. Hester Higton's meticulous copyediting saved me from a multitude of errors of formatting and expression.

Prof. Martin Goodman generously read a draft of the whole work and offered many beneficial suggestions and pointers throughout. I am also grateful to Bunny Waring, who read over Chapter 4 and offered me her insights. My colleagues at Newcastle University ensured that I had a highly congenial working environment, particularly Prof. Federico Santangelo, optimus princeps. The staff at the Philip Robinson Library in Newcastle and the Bill Bryson Library in Durham were unfailingly helpful and accommodating. Naomi Alderman took the time to respond to my queries about The Liars’ Gospel. Copenhagen University provided an excellent base for the final stages of revision, and I am grateful to my colleagues there, particularly Anders Holm Rasmussen, as well as Jesper Majbom Madsen at the University of Southern Denmark. All errors and shortcomings are my own.

In writing this book, I aimed to create something which I would have found useful as a student just beginning my (still unfulfilled) quest to make sense of this author. It is, therefore, appropriate that I dedicate it to three exemplary educators without whom it could not have been written: Val Carter, Prof. Martin Goodman, and the late Dr Simon Price.