When people want to mock my inky profession, they usually wheel out that old insult: ‘Nobody ever erected a statue to a critic.’ To which I always reply: ‘Oh, but they did!’ Go to Zwickau in Germany and you will find a fine statue of Robert Schumann, just outside his birthplace. Does it show him playing the piano or writing one of his symphonies? No, he’s sitting on a chair, chin resting on hand, head tilted quizzically –
