Overview
- Abschied(e) was released today to coincide with Barnes turning 80, with the author stating plainly that it is his last book.
- In the text, he reveals a diagnosis of a rare leukemia his doctors characterize as not curable but controllable, a condition he has managed for years.
- The slim volume offers a candid, witty goodbye that blends memoir, anecdote and fiction to reflect on memory, ageing and mortality.
- Barnes remains publicly active, with a scheduled appearance to open Lit.Cologne in Cologne on March 7 alongside Robert Habeck.
- His longtime German translator Gertraude Krueger says she takes the 'last book' announcement seriously, even as Barnes told the Daily Telegraph he expects to keep writing, though not books.