Do You Hear Them?

Author

Nathalie Sarraute

Original Work

Do You Hear Them?

Translator

Maria Jolas

Language

English

Year

2004

Publisher

Dalkey Archive Press

Country

United States

Pages

147

ISBN

9781564783295

0000

The setting of Nathalie Sarraute's Do You Hear Them? is a dinner conversation between a father and his old friend about a recently acquired pre-Columbian statue. As they discuss the merits of the piece and art in general, the father hears his children upstairs giggling. This childish mirth is barbaric and devastating to the father, for in their laughter he hears them mocking his "old-fashioned" viewpoint and the energy he wastes by collecting lifeless objects. In his mind, they have no respect for what has been of greatest importance in his life.— Google Books