Please note that this essay was originally researched and written in May 1996, mostly (and most enjoyably) in the Round Reading Room of the (old) British Library in London. It has been revised here (in Tokyo in September 2024) with edits only to correct syntax and grammar. The original content of the essay itself in terms of its ideas and argument have not been altered. It is far from a perfect essay, and while there is quite a lot expressed here which I would wish to cut out, re-write, or elaborate upon, it remains what it is – an enthusiastic undergraduate’s essay. 

Not to be reproduced without the author's permission.