In recent days, I seem to have been talking about dedications. I review Paul Johnson’s new book in the current National Review. The book is a brief biography of Mozart, and it follows several other brief biographies — of Churchill, Jesus, Socrates, and Darwin. There are yet more coming (and they’re all by Johnson, I mean to say). In my review, I mention Johnson’s dedication of the Jesus book: “To my mother, Anne Johnson, who first taught me about Jesus.” I further mention what is possibly my favorite dedication of all time: the one that Bruckner gave his ninth (and last) symphony, “To God the Beloved.”

Impromptus today is devoted to Kevin Williamson’s new book, The End Is Near and It’s Going to Be Awesome. The next two Impromptuses — is that the plural? — will be devoted to it too. The dedication of Kevin’s book reads, “For my father, who taught me more than he knows.”

A reader writes,

Hi, Jay,
One more book dedication for you: Love him or hate him, you’ve got to appreciate the dedication of John Cage’s collection of lectures and essays, Silence: “To Whom It May Concern.”

Yes, that’s a good one. So is a dedication that Al Franken gave one of his books, I’m afraid: “To Oprah.” (Oprah, remember, had a book club — maybe she still does — and caused many millions of copies to be sold. Franken was hoping she’d talk his book up. Don’t know if she ever did. Gotta hand it to him, regardless.)