One cold midnight in April 1947, Martin A. Hansen was walking through the woods on his way from the Norwegian railway station of Roa to the house where he and his wife were staying. The walk felt to him like the silent wandering of the dead toward a final, unknown destination. On his way he saw three figures who seemed as though they were characters from two of his own novels--characters he had created to be wanderers through history. At the point where he met them, his waiting and watching wife had seen a light that she assumed to be a lantern he was carrying. He carried no light, however, nor had he been accompanied by others. Not until he lay on his deathbed in June 1955 was he able to analyze this vision through a story that came to be called "The Guests." In this story the narrator is...