"I was born on the sixty of July, 1937, in the Pietermaritzburg Mental Hospital, in South Africa. The reason for my peculiar birthplaces was that my mother was white, and she had acquired me from a black man. She was judged insane, and committed to the mental hospital while pregnant. Her name was Bessie Emery and I consider it the only honor South African officials ever did me—naming me after this unknown, lovely, and unpredictable woman." (Chapter 1, 1)

"I have always been just me, with no frame of reference to anything beyond myself." (Chapter 1, 3)

"Whatever my manifold disorders are, I hope to get them sorted out pretty soon, because I've just got to tell a story." (Chapter 1, 8)

"In a cold and loveless country like South Africa his warmth of heart and genuine friendliness is like a great roaring fire on the white icy wastes of the Antarctic." (Chapter...