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Bonn, November 23—We are still walking in sleep here. I keep thinking of this old poem:
Quhen Alexandre our kynge was dede
That Scotland lede in lauch and le,
Away was sons of alle and brede,
Of wyne and wax, of gamyn and gle.
Our golde was changit into lede.
Crist, borne into virgynitie,
Succoure Scotlande and ramede
That is stade in perplexite.
This Issue
December 26, 1963
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Best of The New York Review, plus books, events, and other items of interest
More by Neal Ascherson
A new book recounts the history of the Circle of Writing Chekists, a group of officials in the East German Ministry of State Security who wrote poetry as a weapon in the class struggle.
February 9, 2023 issue
Colin Thubron’s latest travelogue takes him down the Amur River and through the borderlands between Russia and China.
October 20, 2022 issue
November 20, 2021
More by Neal Ascherson
A new book recounts the history of the Circle of Writing Chekists, a group of officials in the East German Ministry of State Security who wrote poetry as a weapon in the class struggle.
February 9, 2023 issue
Colin Thubron’s latest travelogue takes him down the Amur River and through the borderlands between Russia and China.
October 20, 2022 issue
November 20, 2021
Neal Ascherson is the author of Black Sea, Stone Voices: The Search for Scotland, and the novel Death of the Fronsac, among other books. He is an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. (February 2023)
This Issue
December 26, 1963
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