The benefactor

In the form of a memoir by a latter-day Candide named Hippolyte, The Benefactor leads us on a kind of psychic Gran Tour, in which Hippolyte's violently imaginative dream life becomes indistinguishable from his surprising experiences in the "real world". Sontag's bivek supplies a fascinating, knowing, acerbic portrait of a certain bohemian demi-monde that flourished in France until quite recently. More importantly, The Benefactor is a novel about ideas -especially religious ideas - unlike any other: funny, acrobatic, disturbing, profound. Susan Sontag is the author of three novels, "The Benefactor", "Death Kit" and the bstselling "The Volcano Lover", a volume of stories, "I, Etcetera", and several collections of essays, including the prize-winning "On Photography". She lives in New York City.