Summary

In the 1960s, the narrator traveled between England and Belgium several times. On one trip, he stopped in Antwerp and visited the zoo near the Centraal Station. He saw the Nocturama and can still remember the nocturnal creatures there. In his memory, he often conflates the Nocturama with the Centraal Station waiting room, where he sat while feeling unwell. It was here that he met Jacques Austerlitz, who was sketching the room and taking notes. He carried a worn backpack where he kept a camera that he used to photograph the space, too. He would later entrust “hundreds of [his] pictures” to the narrator (7).

The narrator and Austerlitz struck up a conversation and spent time together during the narrator’s visit. They usually talked about architectural history, of which Austerlitz had an “astonishing professional expertise” (8). He told the narrator about his work and...