 Boyd uses the diary form to explore how public events impinge on individual consciousness, so that Mountstuart's journal alludes almost casually to the war, the death of a prime minister or the abdication of the king.Boyd plays ironically on the theme of literary celebrity, introducing his protagonist to several real writers who are included as characters.The journal style of the novel, with its gaps, false starts and contradictions, reinforces the theme of the changing self in the novel.