In these nine unforgettable and impressionistic 'tales of little madness', the Nobel Prize-winning author Le Clezio explores how the physical sensations we experience every day can be as strong as feelings of love or hate, with their power to bring chaos to our lives. In "The Day that Beaumont became Acquainted with his Pain", a man with toothache spends the night seeking ways to disown his throbbing jaw; in "Fever", Roch finds his mind transported by sunstroke; and, while in "A Day of Old Age" little Joseph tries to comprehend the physical suffering of a dying old woman. Set in a timeless, spaceless universe, these experimental and haunting works portray the landscape of the human consciousness with dazzling verbal dexterity and power.