Writer Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with middle age against the last days and achievements of writers, painters, athletes and musicians who have mattered to him throughout his life. He examines Friedrich Nietzsche’s breakdown in Turin, Bob Dylan’s reinventions of old songs, JW Turner’s paintings of abstracted light, John Coltrane’s cosmic melodies, Jean Rhys’ return from the dead (while still alive) and Beethoven’s final quartets. Considering how things intensify and modify when an ending is within sight, he winds down with the Unbound publisher. Oh, and there’s stuff about Roger Federer and tennis, too.
