"Why? Because a woman's beauty does not belong to her alone. It is part of the bounty she brings into the… — J. M. Coetzee

Because he takes pleasure in her, because his pleasure is unfailing, an affection has grown up in him for her. To some degree, he believes, this affection is reciprocated. Affection may not be love, but it is at least its cousin.

What was ignoble about the Kenilworth spectacle was that the poor dog had begun to hate its own nature. It no longer needed to be beaten. It was ready to punish itself. At that point it would have been better to shoot it.

My case rests on the rights of desire,’ he says. ‘On the god who makes even the small birds quiver.’