Part 6: The Middle-Aged Man, pp. 269-286 Summary

Chap. 1- The narrator explains that the novel is constructed looking back from the point of Jaromil's death. The narrator imagines what story would be written from the point of view of the redhead girl, or of the janitor's son.

Chap. 2- Jaromil's time seems strange, with the rallies and the Communist revolution. From the present, with poet and secret police together, it seems absurd. The deceptions of poetry make everything seem true. The narrator then gives another view of the young poet.

Chap. 3- There is an apartment of a middle-aged man that can give the reader a better view of what happened to Jaromil. There is an unexpected visitor.

Chap. 4- The redhead girl comes to visit the middle-aged man, when she gets out of prison. He offers her food, and...