If I possessed half the idealism and candor of my friend and first reader, Captain Richard Fitzgerald Sullivan of the U.S. Army, I would consider myself fortunate. You’re one of a kind, Rick.
My friend Master Sergeant Jeff Fenlason of the 101st Airborne read and commented extensively on the manuscript. I can’t thank you enough, Jeff.
To the U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan who befriended me and technically foolproofed the book—you know who you are—I have no words to adequately express my thanks. I remain in awe of your objectivity, in gratitude for your unwavering enthusiasm, and in your permanent debt for your gift of friendship.
The Watch was prompted by a twenty-one-year-long dinner table conversation with the philosopher and classicist Thomas Bartscherer, lately joined by the poet and philosopher Joan Retallack. In the United States, Christie Hauser, Anisa Maqdisi, Scott Morgan, Ravi Ramaswami, Nasreen Samadpour, and Masha Svetlanoff diligently commented on drafts of the manuscript. Gerhard Stossel in France and Gian Carlo Trissino in Italy inspired me with their passion for Afghanistan and its peoples. Bill Mullen shared with me his love of the U.S. Army and its traditions, and Anna Nardo her knowledge of Louisiana and Baton Rouge. Connie Barnes, Monte Belmonte, Lorna Bieber, Barbara and Jeremy Dworkin, Suzanna Hermans, Patricia Hutchinson-Day, Bonnie Kassel, Pat and Archie Kutz, Barbara Meade, Jeff Mayersohn, Bill Newman, Lynne and Bill Reed, Jane Stuart-Andrus, Gary Weissbrot, and Jonathon Welch provided me with forums to discuss early versions of the book. My friend Claudia Ord inspired with her passion for the classics and her unflinching faith in the project; my sister, Joyshree Reinelt, held my hand when it needed holding.
Gratitude without measure to my friend Lila Azam Zanganeh for her gifts of warmth, empathy, and unstinting support.
Finally, moments before The Watch went on press, I received the unexpected and happy news that my U.S. editor, Lindsay Sagnette, was expecting a baby. Interpreting this as an augury for the future, I hope that the baby (publication date August 2012) will grow up in a world suffused with universal peace, love, and understanding.
PERMISSIONS
Sophocles, Antigone, tr. Robert Fagles (Penguin Classics, New York: 1984; reprinted with revisions 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987), pp. 60, 82. Copyright © Robert Fagles, 1982, 1984. Introduction and annotations copyright © Bernard Knox, 1982. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Limited.
Sophocles, Antigone, tr. Nicholas Rudall (Ivan R. Dee, Chicago: 1998), pp. 13, 15, 17. Copyright © 1998 Nicholas Rudall. Permission granted for the use of the material by Ivan R. Dee Publishers.
Alfred de Vigny, Servitude and Grandeur of Arms, tr. Roger Gard (Penguin Classics, London: 1996), pp. 9, 162. Introduction and translation copyright © Roger Gard, 1996. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Limited.
Tacitus, The Agricola and The Germania, tr. Harold Mattingly, tr. revised S. A. Handford (Penguin Books, London: 1948, Rev., 1970), p. 114. Copyright © 1948 by H. Mattingly. Copyright © the Estate of H. Mattingly, 1970. Copyright © S. A. Handford, 1970. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Limited.
Christina Lamb, The Sewing Circles of Herat (HarperCollins, London and New York: 2002), pp. 16–17. Copyright © 2002 by Christina Lamb. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Christina Lamb, The Sewing Circles of Herat (HarperCollins, London and New York: 2002), pp. 16–17. Copyright © 2004 by Christina Lamb. E-book rights for USA, Canada, and the Philippines reprinted by permission of David Godwin Associates.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1, 2: Epigraph Sophocles, Antigone, trans. F. Storr (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956), 349.
3: Nizam “relieve the shame of my mother’s son, left to rot as an unburied corpse” Adapted from Sophocles, Antigone, trans. Robert Fagles (New York: Penguin Classics, 1984), 82.
4: Nizam “and then we would both be left unmourned, unwept, unburied without the rites, an unexpected treasure for the carrion birds” Adapted from Sophocles, Ibid., 60.
5: Emily Sophocles, Antigone, trans. Nicholas Rudall (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1998), 15.
6: Frobenius Ibid., 17.
7: Irene Pappas Ibid., 13.
8: Medic Ibn Arabi, Stations of Desire, trans. Michael A. Sells (Jerusalem: Ibis Editions, 2000), 147.
9: the wise man Adapted from T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (New York: Anchor Books, 1991), 193: “Nine-tenths of tactics were certain enough to be teachable in schools; but the irrational tenth was like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and in it lay the test of generals. It could be ensued only by instinct (sharpened by a thought practising the stroke) until at the crisis it came naturally, a reflex.”
10: de Vigny Alfred de Vigny, Servitude and Grandeur of Arms, trans. Roger Gard (London: Penguin Classics, 1996), 162.
11: de Vigny Ibid., 9.
12: on Shame Adapted from John Jones, On Aristotle and Greek Tragedy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962), 179.
13: Taliban edicts Adapted from Christina Lamb, The Sewing Circles of Herat (New York: Harper Perennial), 16–17.
14: Tacitus Tacitus, The Agricola and the Germania, trans. Harold Mattingly, rev. trans. by S. A. Handford (London: Penguin Classics, 1948; rev. 1970), 114.
15, 16: Coda Sophocles, Antigone, trans. Storr, 367.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOYDEEP ROY-BHATTACHARYA was born in Jamshedpur, India, and educated in politics and philosophy at Calcutta University and the University of Pennsylvania. His novels The Gabriel Club and The Storyteller of Marrakesh have been published in eleven languages in sixteen countries.
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