Publisher's Synopsis
FOR a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, myeyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say "I'm going to sleep." And half anhour later the thought that it was time to go to sleep would awaken me; I would try to putaway the book which, I imagined, was still in my hands, and to blow out the light; I hadbeen thinking all the time, while I was asleep, of what I had just been reading, but mythoughts had run into a channel of their own, until I myself seemed actually to have becomethe subject of my book: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between François I and Charles V.This impression would persist for some moments after I was awake; it did not disturb mymind, but it lay like scales upon my eyes and prevented them from registering the fact thatthe candle was no longer burning. Then it would begin to seem unintelligible, as thethoughts of a former existence must be to a reincarnate spirit; the subject of my bookwould separate itself from me, leaving me free to choose whether I would form part of it orno; and at the same time my sight would return and I would be astonished to find myself ina state of darkness, pleasant and restful enough for the eyes, and even more, perhaps, formy mind, to which it appeared incomprehensible, without a cause, a matter dark indeed.
