Simon Schama's books include
Patriots and Liberators: Revolution and Government in the Netherlands 1780-1813 (1977)
; Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel (1979)
, The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age; (1987)
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (1989),
Landscape and Memory (1995);
Rembrandt’s Eyes (1999); the
History of Britain trilogy
(2000-2002);
Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution (2006), and
The Power of Art (2007).
From his Q & A with Boyd Tonkin for
The Independent:
Choose a favourite author and say why you like him/her
Italo Svevo. I return to 'Confessions of Zeno' every few years. It's poignant, clumsy, elegant, funny - and the greatest novel ever written about failing to give up smoking.
* * *
Which fictional character most resembles you?
It has to be [AA Milne's] Tigger.
* * *
Who is your hero/ heroine from outside literature?
[Philosopher and theologian] Martin Buber. Because for him the core of being Jewish is an understanding of other people. "I-Thou": to put yourself in someone else's shoes.
Read
the complete Q & A.
--Marshal Zeringue
