Out of curiosity and to kill time, after so many years of forgetfulness, he enters a church and hears the Vespers for the Dead. Heavily upon his ears the music falls -- psalm after psalm, in antiphonal chant, as the singers toss up, like ditch-diggers,...
The Virgin had appeared to two children on a hill. By another coincidence, this Saturday was the eve of the Festival of Our Lady of Seven Dolours. And she appeared as Our Lady of Tears in that desert landscape of stubborn rocks and dismal hills. Weeping...
Durtal, a shy, censorious man, is writing a biography of Gilles de Rais, the monstrous fifteenth-century child-murderer thought to be the original for 'Bluebeard'. Bored and disgusted by the vulgarity of everyday life, Durtal seeks spiritual solace...