Eclipse

Vision was his livelihoodhe was an international painter until five years ago. Then one May night in Greenwich Village, two drugged thieves senselessly attacked him and destroyed his sight with acid. Hugues de Montalembert's confrontation with evil here takes him into a labyrinth of despair, anger, unending painphysical and emotional. A rebellious man, he finds innovative outlets in this new life. He mocks his therapists, condescending friends, patronizing strangers, even tender, caring women. A passionate love affair with a Russian ballerina helps him heal within and without. He paints with bold words his new fears of silence, of perennial darkness, of crowded Manhattan streets, but he conquers. He re-learns to read, to hear, to walk, to swim. And he rejoices. He learns to live perhaps more intensely than before. This is a poetic, sensual, compelling storyall the more irresistible because it is true. Eclipse is ultimately an evocative definition of sight. November