Pauline Manford’s schedule is the first thing you need to know about her. Her schedule is her attribute: St. Paul had his sword, Pauline has the 1920s forerunner of iCal. In Edith Wharton’s Twlight Sleep (1927), it is not a gadget that keeps the wealthy protagonist on task; it is rather an intelligent, working-class, overly capable secretary—a woman, of course.

As I teach Don Quixote once again, I am struck by how difficult it is to avoid converting the book into either a tragedy or a satire.  Auerbach should provide a remedy, but his discussion of the novel's "gay wisdom" does not seem to speak to students.