Warlight

by Michael Ondaatje

When you attempt a memoir, I am told, you need to be in an orphan state. So what is missing in you, and the things you have grown cautious and hesitant about, will come almost casually towards you. “A memoir is the lost inheritance”, you realise, so that during this time you must learn how and where to look. In the resulting self-portrait everything will rhyme, because everything has been reflected.