" The chronicler, who was present at these events and once more recalls what he witnessed, inscribes his experiences, in an act of self-mutilation, onto his own body. In the writing, he becomes the martyred paradigm of the fate Providence has in store for us, and, though still alive, is already in the tomb that his memoirs represent. "

― François-René de Chateaubriand , Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe