Summary

In the chapter titled “Mirror,” the Visitor narrates the story of Volkhard W., a former actor who worked in Nazi propaganda films. In his later years, he married and divorced repeatedly, and also drank and gambled. He now has a large collection of mirrors, but cannot see his own reflection because he has glaucoma.

This is followed by the story of Ricardo Soto in “Geology.” Ricardo is Cuban, and a former volcanologist. He has a daughter, Camille, but Camille's mother, a woman named Valentina, disappeared while the couple lived in Chile shortly after Camille's birth. Ricardo has never married or had a serious relationship, and he is lonely. He has recently learned that he has cancer, and it is spreading. He goes to the tobacconist and buys two cigars, offering...