"Failure is now a trend: artists hold exhibitions on imperfection, scholars compile CVs of their near-misses and business gurus’ advice is to 'fail better'. Writing about one’s flops, though, is a tricky proposition. Failure is only interesting when it happens to the wildly successful –and even they might struggle to reveal the defeats that still sting, the ones most worth reading about. At 93, Hans Magnus Enzensberger has been prolific enough as a poet, essayist, translator and editor to be able to air his disappointments."

Times Literary Supplement