Departure

Fiction becomes autobiography. Fiction is true. Confusing at first. Then powerful.

Julian Barnes finished his last fiction Departure(s) at the age of 80. That's a story within a story. Around fifteen years ago, he wrote about death in Nothing to be Frightened Of. The new book – the last one – explicitly talks about a man who lost his wife to brain tumour and is living with an incurable yet manageable form of blood cancer. And by "manageable", his doctor meant "unless there is another mutation, of which there is a five per cent chance."

Julian Barnes doesn't believe in cryonics. He isn't optimistic about reversing the process of ageing. He doesn't think the way out of death's trap is to extend the length of human life. Not that it matters. The tide would wash when time is due, like a terminus at the end of a journey according to Julian Barnes.

When Julian Barnes was younger, one of his rules was write each book as if it will be his last. It could have been the reason that his final one is the best.