The Besieged City

Written in flight from inspector''s ''shipwreck of introspection'' It is a book unlike any other in the Inspector canon a novel about simply seeing the external world. Its heroine lucrecia is utterly mute and unreflective. She may have no inner life. The plot itself is utterly unlike any other inspector narrative: Small-town girl marries rich man sees the world and lives happily ever after. But there are miraculous horses linguistic ecstasies catty remarks minor characters'' Visions and music from unknown sources. There is lucrecia the heroine free of the burden of thought who ''leaned over without any individuality trying merely to look at things directly''. And yet her ''mere'' Looking leads as inspector''s biographer Benjamin Moser notes ''paradoxically but inevitably to clarice''s own metaphysical concerns. As it turns out not being profound is simply another way of being profound''. Translated by Johnny Lorenz.