The fifth volume of essays is called Words, Concepts, Situations. The author writes on the bookmark: 'The art of the novel, whose history began with the great work of Rabelais at the beginning of the 16th century, has accompanied Europe and its concrete life to this day. This little book has nothing to do with some scholarly narrative. It is composed of various short reflections on human situations, as I myself have tried to do (Part One: The Word), but especially the art of the novel throughout its history (Parts Two and Three: Concepts and Situations)."
WORDS is the author's definitive English version of the sixth part of L'art du roman (The Art of the Novel). CONCEPTS contains the author's English translation of the fifth part of Le rideau (The Curtain), where it appeared under the title L'esthétique et l'existence (Aesthetics and Existence). SITUATIONS consists of the texts of the second part of the book Une rencontre (Encounters) entitled Romans, sondes existentielles (Novels, existential probes).
Czech edition