At forty, Adam, an intellectual and writer "who comes from the other side of the ocean," and who is steeped in the belief that he is the last of his line, finds himself--dreams himself--in America. The promised land's gift to him is Aerea, youthful, radiant, an enchantress, essentially unattainable: their adventure is short-lived. Words, she tells Adam, are the obstacle that stands in the way. And scarcely has Aerea appeared in his life than she has walked out of it.
At forty, Adam, an intellectual and writer "who comes from the other side of the ocean," and who is steeped in the belief that he is the last of his l...
Marcel Proust's genius for illuminating pain is on spectacular display in this recently discovered trove of his correspondence, Letters to His Neighbor. Already suffering from noise within his cork-lined walls, his poor soul was not ready for the fresh hell when his neighbor Dr. Williams married a widow with small children.
Chiefly to Mrs. Williams, these ever-polite letters (often accompanied by flowers, compliments, books, even pheasants) are frequently hilarious--Proust couches his fury in a gracious tone. In Lydia Davis's hands, the digressive brilliance of his sentences...
Marcel Proust's genius for illuminating pain is on spectacular display in this recently discovered trove of his correspondence, Letters to His ...
