PREFACE

F O R E W O R D

'However old we become, we yet feel within ourselves that we are absolutely the same as we were when we were young.

This thing, which is unaltered and always remains absolutely the same, which does not grow old with us, is just the kernel of our inner nature, and that does not lie in time.

We are accustomed to regard the subject of knowing, 'the knowing I', as our real self. This, however, is the mere function of the brain, and is not our real self. Our true self  is that which produces that other thing, which does not sleep, when it sleeps; which also remains unimpaired when that other thing becomes extinct in death.

The Will itself is still exactly the same now as then. The Will itself, alone and by itself, endures; for it alone is unchangeable, indestructible, does not grow old, is not physical but metaphysical, does not belong to the phenomenal appearance, but to the 'thing in in itself'.'

'Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung' 

('The World as Will & Representation') 

Arthur Schopenhauer

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AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION 

The task confronting the authors was to describe as clearly as possible the childhood and youth of their subject. 

All the information found in this biography was provided by the subject himself, and so the book can hardly be described as an unbiased or objective account. 

This, however, may well be a strength, rather than a weakness, for it is the study of a child's remembered experiences – the joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. Maybe the memories have been distorted by the passage of time – but they are, essentially, the subject's memories, rather than the memories of those around him, and very suitably, as you will probably understand subsequently, the subject therefore become the centre of his own universe, with family friends, and even social, cultural and historical events orbiting round him. 

The authors have made no attempt to insert invented dialogue or any descriptions or judgements other than those provided by the subject. 

Far from being a 'post-modern', self referential piece of literature, this study is a simple, traditional biography, plotting one individual's progress through a world that had just emerged from one of the most shattering events in history – the Second World War.

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“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Abu'l-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm al-Khayyām Nīshāpūrī

(Omar Khayyám)

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PLEASE NOTE 

Certain chapters contain text which features explicit descriptions of adult themes.