I remember once when I was ill, in Baltimore, Maryland, as a seven year-old, I had a kind of religious experience while looking at a picture book that had been made of the George Lucas version of Return of the Jedi. I was lying on a couch, covered in blankets, paging through the book, and when I reached the part where Yoda dies I became very emotional and began to weep. I think I had the flu then too, though I’m not certain that’s what it was. My family had only recently come over to the United States from Australia. My dad was doing a residency at Johns Hopkins.