This book was inspired by a meeting with Lou Albert Lasard, the last living mistress of the poet Rilke. Preface by Anais Nin.
Zoe is the story of a woman and her recollections at age seventy-nine of her lifelong love, Ritter, a renowned poet. The narrative, beginning in the present-day Paris, covers one-half century scarred by two wars and falls into reminiscence of her flight from her husband and child, the all-consuming love affair, its dissolution, her adventures with other men. These memories are set against the reality of her present age. As a once young, loved, beautiful woman, Zoe is coping with the decay of age and time, yet nonetheless displays a primal vitality in her actions, emotions, and perceptions.
This remarkable portrait of a woman–her many selves that are born and die in others eyes, her desire to steep herself in love, her special relationship to time–was inspired by Ms. Rovit meeting in France with the last living mistress of a great writer and imagining what her life may have been like.
A complement from Anais Nin
