"A writer's wrenching, no-holds-barred confession about his experiences with bipolar disorder. Thomas Melle, a successful young novelist and playwright, suddenly sells off his library without knowing why he's doing it. His personal life disintegrates as his behaviour becomes more irrational. Drunken frenzies, wild imaginings, fantasies about sex with stars, broken relationships, professional scandals, scuffles with the police, and enforced stays on psych wards. take over Melle's life. Possibly the most, precise, intense account ever written of how it feels to suffer from bipolar disorder, The World at My Back is a triumph of truth-telling and a masterpiece of elegant literary expression. Balancing exquisite writing with fearless confrontations with brutally self-destructive actions, this book is a wrenching confession and a moving description of the search for emotional balance."--