When I was 14, I had a nightmare. I am standing next to a wall, on the outside of a square enclosure. A man is disappearing around the corner. I pursue him, but before I reach the end of the wall, he has already vanished around the next corner. He continues to outdistance me as we walk round the square. As I am about to return to my starting-point, I realise that the man I am pursuing is now walking right behind me. Fearfully, I turn around. What I behold is my own terrified countenance, as in a mirror. Then I wake up.

LRB 21 March 1991 | PDF Download