“So my subject changed, was no longer a search for lost time, had become the way in which we remake the past to suit our present purposes, using memory as our tool.”

Salman Rushdie, “Errata: or, Unreliable Narration in Midnight’s Children,“ 1983

“What was it my father used to say? A bird stuck between two branches gets bitten on both wings. I would like to add my own saying to the list now, Father: a man stuck between two worlds lives and dies alone. I have dangled and been suspended long enough.”

Dinaw Mengestu, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, 2007