The Benefactor A Novel [Paperback]

The Benefactor, Susan Sontag's first book and first novel, originally published in 1963, introduced a unique writer to the world. In the form of a memoir by a latter-day Candide named Hippolyte,The Benefactorleads 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.' Sontag's novel supplies a fascinating, knowing, acerbic portrait of a certain bohemian demimonde that flourished in France until quite recently. More important,The Benefactoris a novel about ideas-especially religious ideas-unlike any other: funny, acrobatic, disturbing, profound.

An extraordinary, imaginative achievement that plays over the reader's senses with boldness, grace, and daring. John Hawkes

A highly original, brilliant tale of a self-centered, solitary dilettante whose dreams take over his life. New York Post

Originality, economy of language, brilliance . . . There is a Kafka-esque quality toThe Benefactor. Newsday

Remarkable . . . Its ancestors are Baudelaire, Kafka, and perhaps in the distance Dostoyevsky and Proust. John Wain

A major writer . . . I especially admired how she can make a real story out of dreams and thoughts. Hannah Arendt

Susan Sontagis the author of four novels,The Benefactor, Death Kit, The Volcano Lover,andIn America(winner of the 2000 National Book Award for Fiction). She has also published a collection of stories, several plays, and five works of nonfiction, among themOn Photographyand, most recently,Where the Stress Falls. Her books are translated into twenty-eight languages. In 2001 she was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for the body of her work.