by IDRIS PARRY , Professor of Modern German Literature at the University of Manchester
'... a sea-front in South Wales, deserted in winter; we'd come out for morning roll-call, and I suddenly became aware of the buttons on the back of a greatcoat in front of me. It's not only in fairy tales that buttons are surprising and potent. I discovered this on that sea-front and knew there was a rainbow connection between that plain shape and what I jokingly call my immortal soul.'
