Name: The Benefactor
ISBN: 9780141976501

Susan Sontag

The Benefactor is Susan Sontag's first book and first novel. It was originally published in 1963, and introduced a unique writer to the world. In the form of a memoir by a latter-day Candide named Hippolyte, The Benefactor leads us on a kind of psychic Grand Tour, in which Hippolyte's violently imaginative dream life becomes indistinguishable from his surprising experiences in the 'real world'.

The Benefactor

'A highly original, brilliant tale of a self-centred, solitary dilettante whose dreams take over his life' New York Post Hippolyte is a wealthy bohemian with a surprising, violently imaginative dream life. Taking the form of a memoir, The Benefactor is the story of his psychic grand tour through increasingly strange mental landscapes. As Hippolyte tries to make his daily existence conform to his bizarre dreamworld, and reality and fantasy become more and more indistinguishable, will he be able to find peace? Funny, acrobatic, disturbing and profound, Susan Sontag's first book, published in 1963, is a wry pastiche of the nineteenth-century novel and a bold commentary on identity and the imagination. 'Originality, economy of language, brilliance . . . There is a Kafka-esque quality to The Benefactor' Newsday 'A major writer . . . she can make a real story out of dreams and thoughts' Hannah Arendt

Marine

Autobiographical in format, fantastical in tone, the story of Hippolyte unravels as the wealthy hero tries to construct a life rich in inner and outer experiences, only to find disjunction, in a new edition of the author's first novel, originally published in 1963. Reprint.

The Benefactor

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