Books by Nathalie Sarraute

Martereau is narrated by a tubercular young man driven by a compulsion to discover what lies behind faades, especially in relation to the adults around him. He's particularly interested in Martereau, his uncle's devoted friend and business associate. All in all, Martereau seems like a trustworthy, benign, self-sufficient man, but under the narrator's intense scrutiny--and Martereau's suspect behavior concerning a shady real-estate deal--his motives seem much more complex and seedy. In a subtle, skillful way, Nathalie Sarraute explores the difference between those who are wealthy and those who pretend to be so, and the manipulative way in which some people get ahead in the world.

Written when the author was eighty-three years old, but dealing with only the first twelve years of her life, this title is constructed as a dialogue between the author and her memory. It interrogates her interlocutor in search of her own intentions, more precise accuracy, and, indeed, the truth.