Reciprocity

Abstract

Suppose you are an American academic. I am an English one. We are on exchange visits to each other’s universities, and have exchanged houses. Having met a crowd of boisterous Americans, I should like to throw a party in your house on the night before I return to England. I know what this will lead to — cigarette burns on the chairs, beer stains on the carpets — but this doesn’t greatly concern me: I won’t have to live with the mess afterwards. Meanwhile you have met a crowd of unrestrained Brits, and you would like to throw a party for them on the night before you leave …