“But all that has ended. The world-mirror is broken, irreparably, it seems. About what is really going on in the lecture hall your guess is as good as mine: men and men, men and apes, apes and men, apes and apes. The lecture hall itself may be nothing but a zoo. The words on the page will no longer stand up and be counted, each proclaiming “I mean what I mean!” The dictionary that used to stand beside the Bible and the works of Shakespeare above the fireplace, where in pious Romans homes the household gods were kept, has become just one code book among many.” (…) “What do you think?’ she says. ‘What does your experience tell you? And is difference such a bad thing? If there were no difference, what would become of desire?” J.M. Coetzee. Elizabeth Costello. (1999): p19 en 23.