The author, who has previously been convicted, resolutely rejects the slightest attempts by anyone to identify himself with the heroes of this novel. There are a great many organizations, ministries and departments similar to the Syndicate in all countries. The characters in the novel are just cartoon figures, as they should be in comics; even the main character, named after me for convenience, is in fact a sketch of a lady with carelessly painted-over gray hair. And all her dreary adventures in a difficult country, long abandoned by me, were invented, taken out of thin air, pulled out of thin air. Drawn. I myself didn’t go anywhere at all, but all these three years I sat on my mountain, admiring the towers of Jerusalem, from which I would not have agreed to take my eyes off forever, for any amount of money...