Adolescence

Yes, of course we were pretentious — what else is youth for? We used terms like “Weltanschauung” and “Sturm und Drang,” enjoyed saying “That’s philosophically self-evident,” and assured one another that the imagination’s first duty was to be transgressive. Our parents saw things differently, picturing their children as innocents suddenly exposed to noxious influence. . . . On our behalf they dreaded the closeness of adolescent friends, the predatory behaviour of strangers on trains, the lure of the wrong kind of girl. How far their anxieties outran our experience.