A writer, or at least a poet, is always being asked by people who should know better: โWhom do you write for?โ The question is, of course, a silly one, but I can give it a silly answer. Occasionally I come across a book which I feel has been written especially for me and for me only. Like a jealous lover I donโt want anybody else to hear of it. To have a million such readers, unaware of each otherโs existence, to be read with passion and never talked about, is the daydream, surely, of every author.
W. H. AudenNo poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive, and quite a number fondly believe their wish has been granted.
W. H. Auden