Life...was nothing more than a system of atavistic contracts, banal ceremonies, preordained words, with which people entertained each other...The dominant sign in that paradise of provincial frivolity was the fear of the unknown

“Nothing resembles a person as much as the way he dies, and no death could resem…”

“At first he told them that everything was just the same, that the pink snails w…”

“The Marquis dusted off the Italian theorbo. He restrung it, tuned it with a per…”

“The weak would never enter the kingdom of love, which is a harsh ”