He seeks to transform his art-novelty in the novel, some path untried, rejuvenation and resurrection. He strives to the uttermost boundaries of the tradition of writing, coming hard against a wall set at the limit of creative possibility itself; and there he stalls and vainly flounders. Until at last in his despair he finds himself groping toward a sinister power beyond his reckoning, one which might succor him, granting him the power to make the...