Portrait of a Man Unknown

In this major work of avant-garde literature, first published by Braziller in 1958, Nathalie Sarraute probes deeply into the nature of human relationships through her depiction of an elderly father and his spinster daughter. In his preface to Portrait of a Man Unknown, Jean-Paul Sartre applauded Sarraute for writing an "anti-novel," one that resists the traditional premises of plot and character. The narrator, a neurotic neighbor obsessed with the pair, shows the persistence of a sleuth, taking every opportunity to snoop and eavesdrop. He follows the couple's every step, awaiting the final explosion: the ultimate confrontation between the two characters over money necessary for the daughter's medical needs.