Do You Hear Them?

"The setting of Nathalie Sarraute's Do You Hear Them? is a dinner conversation between a father and his old friend about a recently acquired pre-Columbian statue. As they discuss the merits of the piece and art in general, the father hears his children upstairs, giggling. This mirth is barbaric and devastating to the father, for in their laughter he hears them mocking his "old fashioned" viewpoint and the energy he wastes on collecting lifeless objects. In his mind, they have no respect for what has been of greatest importance to him in his life."--BOOK JACKET.