ion that is repeated many times throughout the novel: "How do we seize the past? Can we ever do so?" (14). Also, Geoffrey asks questions about Flaubert: "Why does the writing make us chase the writer? Why can't we leave well alone? Why aren't the books enough?... What makes us randy for relics? Don't we believe the words enough? Do we think the leavings of a life contain some ancillary truth?" (12). Also, there are arbitrary questions that Braithwaite hoped to have asked his wife: "What does the fiancée feel when she snaps open the box and sees the ring set in purple velvet? I never asked my wife; and it's too late now" (40). In his actions to write about Flaubert, Geoffrey is also on a quest for the truth. He needs to know the truth just because that is his personality. Geoffrey's feelings on knowing the truth are, "If you don't know what's true, or what's meant to be true, then the value of what isn't true, or isn't meant to be true, becomes diminished" (77). Geoffrey Braithwaite feels lost without the truth because "what happened to the truth is not recorded" (65). Why does he use Gustave Flaubert to try and get to the
             ...