Status Updates From The Lemon Table

'I go out by myself to dine alone and reflect upon mortality. Or I go to the Kämp, the Societetshuset, the König to discuss the subject with others. The strange business of Man lebt nur einmal. I join the lemon table at the Kämp. Here, it is permissible—indeed, obligatory—to talk about death. It is most companionable. A. does not approve.'

An unfinished Eighth symphony, a government pension, "my music had been used in the The Jazz Singer," a letter from K. worried about tempo markings—I believe the narrator in "The Silence" is Jean Sibelius.

'Now, dear Barnes, alas! The only book of yours you told me not to read was the only one available at the library. "Before She Met Me" has been taken out eleven times since January, you will be fascinated to know, and one reader has heavily scored through the word "fuck" whenever it occurs. However, he has condescended to read it all the way to the last "fuck" on p. 178.'