The Affair’s Arc

Simple Passion

Traces the affair from the narrator’s first all-consuming waiting through separation and the return that cannot restore what was lost.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

Life Reoriented Life Reoriented from "Simple Passion". Life Reoriented A New Center The narrator’s ordinary routines continue, but A becomes their hidden purpose.

Life Reoriented from "Simple Passion". Life Reoriented A New Center The narrator’s ordinary routines continue, but A becomes their hidden purpose.

Life Reoriented A New Center The narrator’s ordinary routines continue, but A becomes their hidden purpose. She reads about his country and plans each meeting around him. Narrowed Attention Conversations and books matter chiefly when they seem to illuminate A. Her former interests recede as the affair organizes her days.

Waiting Regime Waiting Regime from "Simple Passion". Waiting Regime Suspended Days The narrator arranges errands and household tasks around the telephone.

Waiting Regime from "Simple Passion". Waiting Regime Suspended Days The narrator arranges errands and household tasks around the telephone.

Waiting Regime Suspended Days The narrator arranges errands and household tasks around the telephone. Even appliances become threats if they could obscure A’s call. A Single Future A promised visit turns waiting into frantic preparation. Her sense of self contracts around the moment he arrives.

Intimacy and Departure Intimacy and Departure from "Simple Passion". Intimacy and Departure Brief Fulfillment Their afternoons together give physical intensity to the relationship.

Intimacy and Departure from "Simple Passion". Intimacy and Departure Brief Fulfillment Their afternoons together give physical intensity to the relationship.

Intimacy and Departure Brief Fulfillment Their afternoons together give physical intensity to the relationship. The narrator knows each meeting is temporary even while inhabiting it. The Clock Returns A keeps his watch on, and dressing signals the end. She experiences the hours together as both fulfillment and impending loss.

Leaving France Leaving France from "Simple Passion". Leaving France The Separation A returns to his own country, ending the established pattern of visits.

Leaving France from "Simple Passion". Leaving France The Separation A returns to his own country, ending the established pattern of visits.

Leaving France The Separation A returns to his own country, ending the established pattern of visits. The narrator wakes in pain and struggles to fill the days. Vanishing Purpose Clothes, purchases, and routines lose their relation to him. His absence makes ordinary life seem emptied of its former direction.

The Unrestorative Return The Unrestorative Return from "Simple Passion". The Unrestorative Return A Sudden Visit During the war, A calls and arrives unexpectedly at the narrator’s home.

The Unrestorative Return from "Simple Passion". The Unrestorative Return A Sudden Visit During the war, A calls and arrives unexpectedly at the narrator’s home.

The Unrestorative Return A Sudden Visit During the war, A calls and arrives unexpectedly at the narrator’s home. Their familiar physical closeness returns, but the former story does not. A Final Recognition He leaves again days later, and she cannot expect anything more. The visit confirms that the man remembered and the returning man are different.

from the previous September

the first months of the affair

during the months of their meetings

six months before the narrator begins writing

20 January 1991