Unspeakable Truths

The theme of abasement followed by salvation is a durable device in literature, but does it abide the complexity of how things really happened? Everyone is told just about as much as he needs to know, including the self. In Notes from Underground, Dostoevsky explains that recollection - memory, even - is fungible, and often leaves out unspeakable truths, saying, "Man is bound to lie about himself."

David Carr: The Night of the Gun