An early review of “A Sport and a Pastime,” states that to live for sex alone is to be less than human. I don’t know. On the face of it, Dean does pursue a rather narcissistic relationship with Anne-Marie, meaning he focuses more on himself than on her. (He likes mirrors). It could be said they care for one another; it could also be said they use one another. But—remember, I don’t think they’re real. They are imaginary characters the narrator manipulates like puppets. ‘Kay. S

Since writing last week’s post, I’ve been up around three a.m., worrying about what I wrote last time, worrying about the effect of my words. No one has of yet expressed any outrage and/or tearful accusation, but I know that often, people keep such things to themselves. What did I do? Well, I stated that the narrator entity in “A Sport and a Pastime” was imagining the story of Dean and Anne-Marie. I cut the diamond, best beloved. I could have said, “I don’t know if the story’