{"product_id":"four-last-things-2","title":"Four Last Things","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Do you know what the last four things are? In the \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristian catechism they are Death, Judgment, Heaven \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eand Hell. But in our secular age they should perhaps be \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003echanged. I suggest - First Love, Friendship, Betrayal \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eand Death . . . These also happen to be the staples of \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ethe novelist. Is that the sort of thing you want?\"' \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThus Cornelius Marten asks the researcher who turns up one night \u003cbr\u003eat his house. Cornelius has forgotten his invitation to the young \u003cbr\u003eman. But the young woman who accompanies him seems strangely \u003cbr\u003efamiliar. Cornelius is flattered by their attention. He had thought \u003cbr\u003ehimself almost forgotten; his great works neglected. And Cornelius, \u003cbr\u003emonstrously selfish, whisky glass constantly in hand, his mind \u003cbr\u003eshifting between past and present, finds that his mysterious guests \u003cbr\u003erelease memories and truths he had preferred to forget. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe stories which follow \u003ci\u003eFour Last Things\u003c\/i\u003e complement and explore \u003cbr\u003esome of the same themes: the poet who has published only one\u003cbr\u003epoem; a bizarre stag night; a child who is haunted by his encounter \u003cbr\u003ewith the adult world of a religious maniac; a dreamed murder; \u003cbr\u003ean academic who stirs the ghost of Byron in modern Venice; \u003cbr\u003ethe shifts and deceptions of language and memory; and in a great \u003cbr\u003ejazzman's last wordless hurrah, a final flowering of beauty. \u003cbr\u003eThis irresistibly powerful volume by the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Good \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRepublic\u003c\/i\u003e, Leporello and \u003ci\u003eThe Contract \u003c\/i\u003econfirms William Palmer as \u003cbr\u003eone of our finest writers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54240865452376,"sku":"9780099584339","price":19.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780099584339_dfc2a88a-caa3-45fd-bda0-4bc26b20a40b.jpg?v=1765202409","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/four-last-things-2","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}