Julian Barnes
π€ SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
That's a wonderfully sort of wise approach to it all.
I haven't got a vegetable garden anymore.
I used to have one.
And when I planted cabbages, they didn't do very well.
That's the only fault I can find with Montaigne's view of death.
I've certainly been thoughtful about it.
I've certainly been afraid of it.
And it's a kind of moot point if you're
Very familiar with the idea of death and the way it happens, whether you therefore enjoy life more knowing that it's so passing.
I don't know the answer to that.
Do you feel like you enjoyed life more because of your β Well, I actually think that people who don't think about death at all enjoy life probably just as much as people who do.
So that's a bit of a downside.
There must be some advantage, I think, in β
realizing and reflecting on the fact that you're not going to be here forever.
And in my case, I won't be here for 10 or 15 years.
Definitely not.
Probably.
But I don't think of what I've got as in any way comparable to what she had.
I've got something which will be with me for the rest of my life and I may well live a sort of normal span.
She had a catastrophic diagnosis and was dead in 37 days.