Pages 39-44 Summary

Zuckerman goes to Bolotka's apartment. Bolotka lives in squalor, but he says girls love to have sex with him here because it is exciting. Bolotka asks to try on Zuckerman's tweed suit to feel like a rich, American writer. He has a wife and children, but his wife hates him. The police threaten to throw him out of Prague and Czechoslovakia, but he refuses to leave because he has 16 girlfriends.

Bolotka tells Zuckerman the story of his life while he tries on his suit. Bolotka is nineteen and enters university to become a lawyer. He does not like law and wants to switch to Fine Arts. He arranges an interview with the school. The school takes out his record, which is huge. Bolotka says he does not understand how that is so because he is so young. The school tells him...