Summary

As Joe’s literary fame and success grew, he and Joan traveled to many cities all over the world, where Joe received literary prizes and spent time with publishers and members of the media. In Helsinki, many reporters interviewed Joe at the hotel. Joe attends several events organized by the Helsinki Prize committee, and Joan remains generally silent, with an air of anger and unhappiness. Joan and Joe are both surprised to encounter Nathaniel Bone in Helsinki. Nathaniel, a younger man, is a literary critic and an admirer of Joe’s work. Nathaniel was a graduate of Yale University who worked as a writer of nonfiction, although he harbored ambitions to write fiction of his own. About ten years ago, Nathaniel had tried to develop a friendly correspondence with Joe by mail. In person, Nathaniel tried to convince Joe to let Nathaniel write an...