'There were few books at home when [Harry Burton] was a boy, but one of them was "Don Juan". He read it before he was eleven - through a prepubescent frame, of course. "I saw nothing in it but comic adventures, sunny shores, storms, Arabian interiors and words, words, words. Many of these words I did not understand, but I did not therefore jump to the conclusion that they were indecent. All of them - or nearly all - jogged happily through my unreceptive brain leaving vaguely pleasing sensations in their wake.... Genius speaks to all hearts and to all ages".'