Coda

Abstract

They were an extraordinary two weeks. They were spent in Toronto offering an intensive course on a subject of great importance to both our nations - feminism. The subject was also a new one for me. The students and faculty reacted to my hesitant speculations with a remarkable combination of engagement and disbelief, forcing me to re-examine my position on a number of issues, almost on a daily basis. Those two weeks were also a tribute to the dean's organizational capacities, which are, as all the world knows, nothing short of amazing. He managed to keep every moment of my visit filled - starting with breakfasts downtown, lunches with faculty from other departments of the university, conversations with students after class, night-time tours of the ethnic restaurants of the city, and then two hours of lectures a day, preceded, of course, by hours and hours of preparation (which many regarded as a just and proper punishment, given the length of the reading assignments).