Left Bank: art, passion, and the rebirth of Paris, 1940-50

Introduction

I. War was my master. The fall

The choice

The fight

The desire

II. Modern times. A philosophy of existence

Lust and emancipation

A third way

III. The ambiguities of action. How not to be a communist?

Love, style, drugs, and loneliness

Action and dissidence

"Paris's gloom is a powerful astringent"

IV. Sharpening the senses. "They owned art while we were just full of dollars"

Stimulating the nerves

Anger, spite, and failure

Vindicated

Farewells and a new dawn.