Death is the 'Nothing' of the title, family as well; though it wouldn't be a Julian Barnes book without memory also having some work done on it, 'Memory in childhood – at least, as I remember it – is rarely a problem. Not just because of the briefer time span between the event and its evocation, but because of the nature of memories then: they appear to the young brain as exact simulacra, rather than processed and coloured-in versions, of what has happened. Adulthood brings approximation, fluidity and doubt; and we keep the doubt at bay by retelling that familiar story, with pauses and periods of a calculated effect, pretending that the solidity of narrative is a proof of truth.' Inscribed to Barry Humphries by the author.
