«One day, standing at the window of his parents' house with his Hebrew teacher in old Prague, he carefully and slowly pointed out with his finger the places in the city that, like cardinal points - North, South, East, West - marked out his tiny world. There, on Celetná Street - he pointed - was the Institute; behind it, on the opaque line of roofs, domes and dormers, the University, where he graduated in Law, and to the left, a little higher up, the office...»