https://jaidevd.com/tags/dogs/ Recent content in Dogs on Jaidev's Blog Hugo en-us Fri, 24 Apr 2026 01:49:12 +0530 https://jaidevd.com/posts/remembering-peru/ Fri, 24 Apr 2026 01:49:12 +0530 https://jaidevd.com/posts/remembering-peru/ <blockquote> <p>Knowing as I arrived that this would be the last time I would see her, I had reminded myself that a dying Carmen Callil was still more Carmen Callil than she was dying.</p> </blockquote> <p>—Julian Barnes, <em>Departure(s)</em></p> <p>It is tempting to interpret this deceptively simple sentence as a description of a good death. If dying does not erode your identity, it is perhaps a good death. Barnes&rsquo; last (i.e. his latest, and also literally his last) novel constantly circles the themes of identity, memory and death. He keeps saying that memory is identity. And, as with Carmen Callil, he also seems to claim a small victory over death on her behalf—as long as people remember her for who she really was.</p>