Sidebar: Notes on Joseph Grand and Franz Kafka

Or, the banality of goodness

Robert Duvall as Joseph Grand in the 1992 film adaptation of Albert Camus’ The Plague

In legal terms, a sidebar is a discussion that occurs in a law court between the lawyers and the judge held out of earshot of the jury; in journalism, a sidebar is a short article placed alongside a main article, containing additional or explanatory material; but to my mind, a sidebar is also a small bar off from the main bar where a small group can sit over a quiet drink and converse, away from the din of the crowd. These sidebar pieces – for paying subscribers and special guests, my judges – are a combination of all three.