"You prepare to recognize the unmistakable tone of the author. No. You don't recognize it at all. But now that you think about it, who ever said this author had an unmistakable tone? On the contrary, he is known as an author who changes greatly from one book to the next. And in these very changes you recognize him as himself." - Chapter One, page 9.

"Your attention, as reader, is now completely concentrated on the woman, already for several pages you have been circling around her, I have - no, the author has - been circling around the feminine presence, for several pages you have been expecting this female shadow to take shape the way female shadows take shape on the written page, and it is your expectation, reader, that drives the author toward her, and I, too, though I have other things to think about, there I...