The Return and Its Aftermath

Simple Passion

Traces how A’s unexpected January visit disrupts the narrator’s imagined ending while confirming that the original relationship cannot be recovered.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

War as Background War as Background from "Simple Passion". War as Background A Public Crisis The narrator writes against the outbreak of war between Iraq and the Western coalition.

War as Background from "Simple Passion". War as Background A Public Crisis The narrator writes against the outbreak of war between Iraq and the Western coalition.

War as Background A Public Crisis The narrator writes against the outbreak of war between Iraq and the Western coalition. Reports from Baghdad create an anxious desire to know what will happen. Limits of Analogy The uncertainty resembles the narrator’s earlier anxious waiting, but the resemblance has limits. The war allows no comforting fantasy or imaginative resolution.

The Unexpected Call The Unexpected Call from "Simple Passion". The Unexpected Call A Voice Reappears A calls after a long absence, and the narrator recognizes his voice immediately.

The Unexpected Call from "Simple Passion". The Unexpected Call A Voice Reappears A calls after a long absence, and the narrator recognizes his voice immediately.

The Unexpected Call A Voice Reappears A calls after a long absence, and the narrator recognizes his voice immediately. Panic and tears arrive before she can understand the sudden possibility of seeing him. Frantic Preparation She dresses and makes up in the half-hour before his arrival. The old rituals return with startling speed.

The Hotel and the Drive The Hotel and the Drive from "Simple Passion". The Hotel and the Drive A Changed Man A looks wearier, and the narrator notices changes in his hands and nails.

The Hotel and the Drive from "Simple Passion". The Hotel and the Drive A Changed Man A looks wearier, and the narrator notices changes in his hands and nails.

The Hotel and the Drive A Changed Man A looks wearier, and the narrator notices changes in his hands and nails. They make love, then dress and travel together through the Paris region. A Brief Physical Continuity They kiss and touch at traffic lights on the way to his hotel. The gestures recall their intimacy without restoring its former context.

The Story Question The Story Question from "Simple Passion". The Story Question Recognition in Transit Driving alone through the La Défense tunnel, the narrator asks where her story has gone.

The Story Question from "Simple Passion". The Story Question Recognition in Transit Driving alone through the La Défense tunnel, the narrator asks where her story has gone.

The Story Question Recognition in Transit Driving alone through the La Défense tunnel, the narrator asks where her story has gone. The encounter has not supplied the continuation she once imagined. Hope Withdrawn She concludes that she can hope for nothing more. The return shifts the conflict from waiting for reunion to accepting its insufficiency.

A Date Outside the Story A Date Outside the Story from "Simple Passion". A Date Outside the Story Another Departure A leaves without a second meeting and says he will call.

A Date Outside the Story from "Simple Passion". A Date Outside the Story Another Departure A leaves without a second meeting and says he will call.

A Date Outside the Story Another Departure A leaves without a second meeting and says he will call. The narrator does not ask what he means or when it might happen. Meaning in Meaninglessness She feels the visit scarcely belongs to their former story. Its unreality gives the passion a final meaning precisely by confirming its lack of purpose.

6 February 1991

the first Sunday of the war

20 January 1991

on the drive back after the visit

three days after A’s return