Book 1, From the Other Side: Chapters 9, 104, 10, 65, 11, 136, 12, 106, 13, 115 Summary

Chapter 9 and the nineteen chapters that follow it take place on an evening that The Serpent Club is meeting at Ronald and Babs' flat to listen to jazz recordings. As Horacio, La Maga, Étienne, and Perico walk in the rain, they argue over the possibility of art and literature to express truth. La Maga does not understand the argument, which aggravates Horacio. They arrive at the flat, where neighbors have already been complaining about the noise. Their friend, Guy Monod enters, who says he is unaffected by losing his mistress. Chapter 104 is a brief meditation on "life" as a metaphor. In Chapter 10, the Club is assembled and beginning to listen to records. Chapter 65 is a Serpent Club dossier for Ossip Gregorovius, detailing at length is different claims regarding his different homelands and mothers...