Secular Eden : Paris Notebooks 1994-2004

Author's Note xv NOTEBOOK ONE PARIS-BORDEAUX-PARIS, JUNE 1994-JULY 1997 When the Promised Day Arrives 3 Dr le de Guerre 6 White Russians 10 Stendhal 13 Auxerre 1969 15 The Garden 18 Reductio 20 A Talking Head on the rue du Bac 22 The Seventh Winter 25 Bare Arm 27 Latitudes 29 About Children 30 Descartes at the Court of Sweden 32 The Country of Still Waters 33 Sheepfold 36 Cloudberry 37 The Land Bridge 39 Staggering Ashore 41 The Privileged Cell 43 At Saint Jacques 45 The Gaze of the Other 46 Mayday 48 The House of Pierre Loti 49 Origins of the Tango 50 To Whom It May Concern 52 God in France 53 Picardy 56 Three Love Poems 57 The Cave 59 The House of the Deportee 61 Theft of a Leather Jacket 62 The White Wine Landscape 63 Icy Pandemonium 65 Epiphany Cakes 67 Thaumaturge 69 NOTEBOOK TWO PARIS, AUGUST 1997-MARCH 1999 The Keeper of Wolves 73 Ren har 75 The Literal Version 77 North Great Georges Street 79 Hereafter 81 Newton's Apple 83 Mont Sainte-Genevieve 84 In the Royal Wood 86 Techne 87 The Forest Brethren 89 The Whaling Station 91 The Asthma Van 93 God the Watchmaker 94 Grandfather 95 Secular Eden 96 Rabbits at Orly Airport 97 The Stone 98 A Gulf Stream Ode 100 To the Fourteenth District 103 The Bathhouse 106 To My Wife 108 Reading Saint Augustine 110 NOTEBOOK THREE PARIS-DUBLIN-PARIS, APRIL 1999-DECEMBER 1999 The Place 115 Lighting Up 117 L dz 118 The Ball 120 Freeze Frame 122 The Other Shore 123 The Eldest Son 125 The Street of the Four Winds 127 Red Fox Country 129 Rogue Elephant 131 The Bird-Haunt 132 NOTEBOOK FOUR PARIS-SYDNEY-PARIS, JANUARY 2000-DECEMBER 2002 The Cure for Colourblindness 137 Antichrist 139 Matchbox Sculptures 142 The Writers Building 144 Noosphere 146 The Ghost of Kenneth Slessor 148 Sydney Awnings 149 Victrola Music 150 Caul 152 Facing Mecca 153 Breaker's Yard 155 The Air Mountains 158 Dunbar and Henryson 160 September 161 Doctor Benn 163 The Weeping Stone 165 The Black Door 167 Qatar 169 The Daughters of Lot 170 The Pleasure Thermometer 172 Pure Brightness Day 173 Self-Portrait in a Steel Shaving Mirror 175 NOTEBOOK FIVE PARIS, AUGUST 2003-JUNE 2004 McCrystal's 179 Windhoek 181 Birthright 182 Baobab 184 The Baker 185 The Black Book 187 Fabritius 188 The Angel of Meudon 189 Cacciaguida 191 Among the Infinities 193 Eve of Marriage 195 The Mystic Marriage 197 Benjamin Fondane Departs for the East 199