Ｊｏｔｔｉｎｇｓ　ｏｆ　Ａ　Ｊｏｔｔｅｒｅｒ　Ｈｉｓｔｏｒｉｃａｌ　Ｅｓｓａｙｓ

"Originally entitled “Diary of a Dodderer"", as implying an account of day to day events by a doddering old man, “fourscore and upwards"" (like Lear), this book has been retitled so as to imply occasional jottings on this and that, in the way that fancy flies, or the “stream of consciousness"" made fashionable by James Joyce. Then, to preserve the all-important alliteration, the “dodderer"" has been transformed into the newly minted and coined “jotterer"". In this book, so far from recording mere day to day events, the author has followed his stream of consciousness into the “dark backward and abysm of time"", into the Christian heritage of the Bible and the Classics, with emphasis on William Shakespeare and his “mighty opposite"", Francis Bacon, and their impact on the modern world."