Part 3: The Poet Masturbates, Chaps. 1-14, pp.93-114 Summary

Chap. 1- Jaromil's father is arrested by the Nazi Gestapo, and later it is learned that he dies in a concentration camp. After the war, Maman is out of money and has to get a job, while the lower floor of her villa is taken over by her sister.

Chap. 2- Maman looks in the mirror at her still pretty face. She does not know how her husband, the resistance fighter died.

Chap. 3- Jaromil now has reproductions of cubist paintings on his wall. He has fine features like his mother and still looks very young.

Chap. 4- Jaromil is nervous about his manhood. This is a common problem with lyric poets. He looks at women in the street but is afraid that they will look back.

Chap. 5-...