Introduction
- The setting
- In the novel Dan Shoenfeld, a fourth-year medical sutdent at Tulane, is working nights in the maternity ward of Charity Hospital. Between delivering babies, Dan types three extended letters into a hospital computer designed for writing up cases. His access code is LOVE, and he will eventually send the letters, one through Internet and two by mail, to three close friends with whom he spend a year in Paris after college.
Dan's first letter is to Bou, the woman he knew four years before in Paris, and with whom he is still hopelessly and somewhat abashedly in love. The middle third of the novel, BECK.DOC, is addressed to Beck. Beck was Dan's best friend in Paris and, for a time afterwards, became Dan's enemy. The third letter is to Margot, Bou's lover, who throughout the year in Paris and in the four years since has remained Dan's faithful friend.
- Introduction to the reading and audio tracks
- Explore this site's extended excerpts and recordings from a reading by Paul Kafka at the Eldredge Public Library in Chatham, Massachusetts on August 12, 1993. This was the 61st stop on his 62-city, twenty-six state, 18,000 mile, four-month tour.
Introduction by Anne D. LeClaire, acknowlegements.
This is just a short introduction by Paul Kafka to the reading from the chapter "Boutique Mademoiselle."