Ben is a fiercely self-made man. Born somewhere in Central Europe, he arrives in America after the end of World War II with his parents and watches as their lives are "emptied of meaning by the New World." But for himself: an exemplary career at Harvard and immersion in the good life - "good above all in its difference from the one in which he feared he might be confined." Nothing can slow his indefatigable and timely progress from pleasure to pleasure. He is gracious, generous, worldly, charmingly self-deprecating - and dead by his own hand before he reaches middle age.
The Man Who Was Late is the story of the last two year's of Ben's life, told by his closest friend, Jack, who pieces the facts together from his own memory and from the personal papers that come into his possession as executor of Ben's will. It is the story, most particularly, of Ben's tumultuous love affair with Jack's cousin Veronique, a woman whose dazzling beauty masks darkness and disquiet. With Veronique, Ben discovers "the vast bliss of being loved." But when her husband learns of the affair and a commitment to Veronique is required, Ben discovers his own fragility - and the brutal hold his past has on him. Business keeps him on a trajectory that circles the globe, from Paris to Tokyo, from Rio to New York and to Geneva. Meanwhile his thoughts travel in one direction only: away from Veronique and toward the self-loathing and inconsolable loneliness that lurk behind the gleaming facade of the life he has invented. And recounting the story, Jack comes to understand why Ben believed himself to be "late in the major matters of existence."
Beautifully rendered and profoundly affecting - at once elegiacal and sardonic - The Man Who Was Late is a powerful confirmation of Louis Begley's extraordinary novelistic gifts.
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From the Inside Flap:
"Begley writes with a contemplative wisdom that permeates his work....[He] has captured some of the wispy melancholy of midcentury fiction, and this feat in itself is mellifluous to both ear and spirit."
THE BOSTON GLOBE
A man without a country or family, a Holocaust survivor, Ben long ago left the wreckage of Europe and recreated himself as a brilliant financier. He rejects the comforts of love and is shocked to discover Veronique--beautiful, unwisely married, and all that Ben suddenly knows he has always needed. In their stolen hours and weekends, their deep commitment to one another fills their lives as nothing ever has. But the question remains: Can Ben finally take what he has always denied himself...?
From the author of WARTIME LIES.
About the Author:
Louis Begley’s novels include Kill and Be Killed; Killer, Come Hither; Memories of a Marriage; Schmidt Steps Back; Matters of Honor; Shipwreck; Schmidt Delivered; Mistler’s Exit; About Schmidt; As Max Saw It; The Man Who Was Late; and Wartime Lies, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize. His work has been translated into fourteen languages. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherKnopf
- Publication date1992
- ISBN 10 0679415114
- ISBN 13 9780679415114
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages243
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