Homer Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man

Though he is near death blind Rene an elderly ItalianFrench intellectual continues to make his annual conference abroad accompanied by his selfcentered loyal beautiful assistant Sibilla who may or may not be his lover Renes domineering mother strongly disapproves of Sibilla and his continual galavanting but Rene disregards her and goes anyway While in Spain Sibilla falls for a handsome young toreador who also captures the interest of Rene though it is hard to say whether his feelings for the bullfighter are fatherly or more romantic It is also unclear as to whether Sibilla and the bullfighter are lovers either Thus an enigmatic romantic triangle forms until Rene and Sibilla suddenly decide to wed The character of Rene seems to be closely patterned after Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges