"Ti Noël heard the voice of his master, who emerged from the barber's with heavily powdered cheeks. His face now bore a startling resemblance to the four dull wax faces that stood in a row along the counter, smiling stupidly." —Part One: I, The Wax Heads, page 15

"The poison crawled across the Plaine du Nord, invading pastures and stables." —Part One: V, De Profundis, page 33

"With wings one day, spurs another, galloping or crawling, he had made himself master of the courses of the underground streams, the caverns of the seacoast, and the treetops, and now ruled the whole island." —Part One: VI, The Metamorphoses, page 42

"Meanwhile the actress, faded and gnawed by malaria, avenged her artistic failure on the Negresses who bathed her and combed her hair, ordering them whipped on the slightest pretext." —Part Two: I, The Daughter of Minos and...