Four Last Things

"e;Do you know what the last four things are? In the Christian catechism they are Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. But in our secular age they should perhaps be changed. I suggest - First Love, Friendship, Betrayal and Death . . . These also happen to be the staples of the novelist. Is that the sort of thing you want?"e;' Thus Cornelius Marten asks the researcher who turns up one night at...