Ce qu'on appelle la postérité, c'est la postérité de l'œuvre. - Marcel Proust

Un uomo che dorme tiene in cerchio intorno a sé il filo delle ore, l'ordine degli anni e dei mondi. Svegliandosi li consulta d'istinto e vi legge in un attimo il punto che occupa sulla terra, il tempo che è trascorso fino al suo risveglio.

At that time, he was satisfying a sensual curiosity by experiencing the pleasures of people who live for love. He had believed he could stop there, that he would not be obliged to learn their sorrows; how small a thing her charm was for him now compared with the astounding terror that extended out from it like a murky halo, the immense anguish of not knowing at every moment what she had been doing, of not possessing her everywhere and always!

In a recluse, the most irrevocable, lifelong rejection of the world often has as its basis an uncontrolled passion for the crowd, of such force that, finding when he does go out that he cannot win the admiration of a concierge, passers-by or even the coachman halted at the corner, he prefers to spend his life out of their sight, and gives up all activities which would make it necessary for him to leave the house.