For a single book to do Schulz’s work justice it would have to be about four times as long as this one.

That was the bittersweet conclusion I came to while figuring out what this book was going to be, and once I accepted it (however grudgingly), I was able to give myself limits and parameters (maximum page count for what we wanted to sell it for, etc.) that enabled me to finish. Otherwise I’d still be working on it.

It’s deeply flawed, which is entirely my fault—not the subject’s or anyone else’s—but at least it serves as a proper introduction to what I feel is one of the great single literary works of the second half of the twentieth century.