The article of which part is reproduced below. was penned by Bernard Levin for the Features section of the Times on 21 September 1991.. To my mind, it described the situation at the time and in particular a. recent meeting with a friend, during which I for the first time. admitted to someone other than my GP that I had. been subjected to a conspiracy of harassment over the previous. year and a half. >There is a madman running loose about London, called David. Campbell; I have >no reason to believe that he is. violent, but he should certainly be >approached with caution. You. may know him by the curious glitter in his >eyes and a persistent trembling of his hands; if. that does not suffice, you >will find him attempting to thrust no fewer than 48 books into your. arms, >all hardbacks, with a promise that, if you should return to. the same >meeting-place next year,. he will heave another 80 at you. > >If, by now, the police have arrived and are keeping a. close watch on him, >you may. feel sufficiently emboldened to examine the books. The jackets are >a model of uncluttered typography, elegantly and simply laid out; there. is >an unobtrusive colophon of. a rising sun, probably not picked at random. >Gaining confidence - the lunatic. is smiling by now, and the policemen, who >know about such things, have significantly removed their. helmets - you >could do worse than take the jacket off the. first book in the pile. The >only word possible to describe the binding is sumptuous; real cloth in. a >glorious shade of dark. green, with the title and author in black and gold >on the. spine. > >Look at it more closely; your eyes do not deceive you -. it truly does have >real top-bands and tail-bands,. in yellow, and, for good measure, a silk >marker ribbon in a lighter green. The paper is cream-wove and. acid-free, >and the. book is sewn, not glued. > >Throughout the encounter, I should have mentioned, our loony. has been >chattering away, although what he is trying to say is almost impossible. to >understand; after a time, however, he becomes sufficiently coherent. to make >clear that he is trying to sell the books to. you. Well, now, such quality >in bookmaking today can only be for collectors'. limited editions at a >fearsome price -. #30, #40, #50? > >No, no, he says, the glitter more powerful. than ever and the trembling of >his hands. rapidly spreading throughout his entire body; no, no - the books >are priced variously at #7, #8 or. #9, with the top price #12. > >At this, the policemen. understandably put their helmets back on; one of >them draws his truncheon and the other. can be heard summoning >reinforcements. on his walkie-talkie. The madman bursts into tears, and >swears it is. all true. > >And it. is. > >David Campbell has acquired the entire rights to. the whole of the >Everyman's Library, which died a lingering and shameful death a decade. or >so ago, and. he proposes to start it all over again - 48 volumes this >September and 80 more next year, in editions. I have described, at the >prices specified. He proposes to launch. his amazing venture simultaneously >in Britain and the United States, with the massive. firepower of Random >Century at his back in this country,. and the dashing cavalry of Knopf >across the water, and no one who loves. literature and courage will forbear >to. cheer. At the time this article was written I had believed. for some time that columnists in the Times and other journalists had been making references. to my situation. Nothing unusual about this you may think, plenty. of people have the same sort of ideas and obviously the. papers aren't writing about them, so why should my beliefs. not be as false as those of others? What makes this article so. extraordinary is that three or four days immediately preceding its publication, I had a meeting with a. friend, during the course of which we discussed the media. persecution, and in particular that by Times columnists. It seemed to me,. reading the article by Levin in. Saturday’s paper, that he was describing in some detail his "artist’s impression" of that meeting. Most telling. are the final sentences, when he writes, "The. madman bursts into tears, and swears it is all true. And it is." Although I did not "burst into tears" (he. seems to be using a bit of poetic licence and exaggerating) I did try. hard to convince my friend that it was all true; and I am able to concur with Mr. Levin, because,. of course, it is. At the beginning of the piece Levin reveals a fear. of being attacked by the "irrational" subject of his story, saying "I have no reason to. believe that he is violent, but. he should certainly be approached with caution". This goes. back to the xenophobic propaganda of "defence" against a "threat" which was seen at the very beginning of the harassment. The. impression of a "madman running. loose" who needs to be controlled through an agency which assigns to itself the. mantle of the "police" is also one which had been expressed. elsewhere. In the. final paragraph of this extract, his reference to Everyman’s Library as. having "died a lingering and shameful death a decade or so ago" shows clearly what sort of conclusion they wish to. their campaign. They want a permanent. solution, and as they are prevented from achieving that solution directly, they waste significant. resources on methods which have been repeatedly shown to. be ineffective for such a purpose. 5699