With Hong Kong as the setting, the master of the “new novel” creates a world of crime, intrigue, and passion dominated by Lady Ava’s mysterious Blue Villa. The novella unfolds over the course of only one evening, but the events of that night recur repeatedly, and the same moments are described from the perspectives of different characters. Robbe-Grillet creates an unsettling work that challenges his readers’ ideas about subjectivity and objectivity, fiction and fact, and the entire process of story-telling.
With Hong Kong as the setting, the master of the “new novel” creates a world of crime, intrigue, and passion dominated by Lady Ava’s mysterious Blue Villa. The novella unfolds over the course of only one evening, but the events of that night recur repeatedly, and the same moments are described from the perspectives of different characters. Robbe-Grillet creates an unsettling work that challenges his readers’ ideas about subjectivity and objectivity, fiction and fact, and the entire process of story-telling.