Chapters 1-3 Summary

Albert Albinus throws away his successful life for the unrequited love of a girl. He gets the idea of animating an Old Master landscape, a project requiring a thorough artistic knowledge and much cash, and faces technical difficulties in capturing the colors. After several producers scoff, Albert thinks of Alex Rex, who from the U.S. recommends that Albert finance the picture and advance him a large fee for designing it. While hearing brother-in-law Paul's fear of the risk, Albert snaps at wife Elisabeth, to whom he should confess his affair—or run away, see a psychoanalyst, or shoot the girl.

For nine years since marrying in Munich simply because it happens, Albert is faithful to Elisabeth, who thrills him no more than premarital loves. He dotes on her during pregnancy (although during her three-week confinement he is tempted to...