Ancient texts and marital breakdown: Yann Martel’s Son of Nobody descends into implausibility

When I was a doctoral candidate at Oxford, I spent much of my time working in the papyrology rooms. Usually, my only company was the curator, a kind and learned Sardinian woman who is now a professor at the University of Milan.

One day, the news was that a famous novelist was coming to visit the Oxyrhynchus Papyri collection. “Have you heard of him?” the curator asked.

I had, but I’d never read his work.

“He has asked to be given a tour of the collection.”

The name of the famous…

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