The Benefactor A Novel,9780312420123

The Benefactor A Novel

by
Edition: Reprint
ISBN13: 9780312420123
ISBN10: 0312420129
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2002-06-01
Publisher(s): Picador
List Price: $21.00

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Summary

The Benefactor, Susan Sontag's first book and first novel, originally published in 1963, introduced a unique writer to the world. In the form of a memoir by a latter-day Candide named Hippolyte, The Benefactor leads us on a kind of psychic Grand Tour, in which Hippolyte's violently imaginative dream life becomes indistinguishable from his surprising experiences in the 'real world.' Sontag's novel supplies a fascinating, knowing, acerbic portrait of a certain bohemian demimonde that flourished in France until quite recently. More important, The Benefactor is a novel about ideas-especially religious ideas-unlike any other: funny, acrobatic, disturbing, profound.

Author Biography

Susan Sontag is the author of four novels, The Benefactor, Death Kit, The Volcano Lover, and In America (winner of the 2000 National Book Award for Fiction). She has also published a collection of stories, several plays, and five works of nonfiction, among them On Photography and, most recently, Where the Stress Falls. Her books are translated into twenty-eight languages. In 2001 she was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for the body of her work.

Table of Contents

My childhood and university career. I find friends and become independent. My resolutions. On the difficulties of this narrative
1(12)
I have a dream, the ``dream of two rooms.'' Jean-Jacques and I discuss it
13(10)
Aftermath of the first dream. I accept a musician's hospitality. ``Dream of the unconventional party.'' I become the lover of Frau Anders
23(14)
Third dream, ``the dream of piercing the roof of a cathedral.'' Conversation in the park with a priest. I exchange a rosary for a ball
37(14)
I spend more time with Jean-Jacques. His ideas, his world
51(18)
My mistress and I take a trip to the city of Arabs. We enjoy the city and I abandon her to a merchant
69(14)
I return to the capital. ``Dream of an elderly patron.'' Professor Bulgaraux acquaints me with the doctrines of the Autogenists
83(16)
I become an actor. Lucrezia: another friendship. Later news of Frau Anders. On the proper narration of dreams
99(20)
A visit from an unhappy husband. The good intentions of Monique. Frau Anders returns to claim a new life. Fifth dream, ``the dream of the piano lesson:'' A crime
119(22)
Crime without punishment. I tell Jean-Jacques about the chess player. I visit with my father. The happiness of Monique. The resurrection of Frau Anders
141(22)
I build a house for Frau Anders. A proposal
163(18)
``The dream of the mirror.'' I return to my native city and choose a wife
181(10)
My marriage. Frau Anders in hiding. A fairy-tale and some anecdotes illustrating proper self-love
191(16)
My wife falls ill. A visit from Jean-Jacques and an act of violence. Professor Bulgaraux speaks at my wife's funeral. My grief
207(12)
A duel with Jean-Jacques. A dream inventory, and a nightmare, ``the dream in the Arena.'' I move into Frau Anders' house
219(20)
There are many styles of Silence. ``The puppet dream.'' Some aphorisms. A robbery and other arduous disciplines. Either I leave the house to Frau Anders, or she reappears after twenty years. In the latter case, I am evicted
239(20)
On the distribution of handicaps. A distressing rumor. An excerpt from my notebooks. On being old. On the difficulties of concluding this narrative
259

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