Fiction. Translated from the French by Barbara Wright. In this classic later work from French novelist Nathalie Sarraute, one finds a "delectably austere, beady-eyed book.... Phrases that give rise to the scenes or episodes are ordinary enough until Sarraute imagines for them a context which turns them from bland civilities into weapons of psychological warfare. Friends meet and converse, in a cafe or in the street, and are all sociability; except underneath, where the best of friends can be the most savage of opponents. Sarraute resorts sardonically to metaphor to indicate what words will not capture: the shameful and ineffable animosities that... imperil our urbanity" (The Times Literary Supplement). This 1983 J. Calder Paperback is in good condition. Pages and cover lightly tanned. Minimal wear on top edge of pages. ISBN: 9780714539836 SKU: 1568105 This image is of the actual book.
