The Four-Doored House evokes two key women in Pierre Nepveu's life. First, his granddaughter Lily, who he imagines maturing into a complex world, haunted by her memory of him as he is haunted now by her projected self, navigating an era awash in uncertainty and unease. Imbued with both wonder and disquiet, it is an aging poet's celebration of childhood, as well as a meditation on his own "future absence." There follows his celebration of C, the woman with whom Nepveu shares his nights and days. These are love poems dedicated to a companion who has aided him in finding "new phrases that reformulate the impossible." The culmination of a brilliant career, translated into fluent and thrilling English by Donald Winker, The Four-Doored House is Nepveu's most enduring work yet.
