A fusion of memoir, family chronicle, and author's commentary that provides a fascinating view into the lives and minds of two passionate scholars, and the rarefied and often treacherous universe in which they lived. Told with conviction and wry humor, Palimpsest of Consciousness traces the author's life from his beginnings as a stateless Russian child in pre-World War II Japan through his eventual journey to the United States, his meeting and marriage to the Dante scholar, Marianne Shapiro, and their life together. Along the way, we glimpse an extraordinary world, a place where classical music, baseball, ballet, a brother behind the Iron Curtain, a decades-long vendetta by corrupt academics, a family scattered across the continents, a birthday party for General MacArthur's son, and Hollywood High School co-exist in an unconventional balance. Towering above everything is the story of the couple's steadfast love for each other and for their magical daughter. But most delectably of all, the author reveals the real-life villains behind the academic scandal that fueled his earlier groundbreaking work, My Wife the Metaphysician, or Lady Murasaki's Revenge. Illustrated by photos from the author's personal collection, Palimpsest of Consciousness recreates the times and multicultural milieux of an exceptional family moving through a singular era of world history.